Staff photo by Allison Potter
Jordan Miller, wildlife specialist with the United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, uses a starter pistol to fire pyrotechnics toward the cormorants gathered on power lines over the Intracoastal Waterway on Thursday, Feb. 21.
Last week, Jordan Miller of the United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, set off pyrotechnics at dusk on Feb. 20-21, to scare away the growing number of cormorants resting on the power lines that hang above the eastern side of the Heide Trask Drawbridge.
Town of Wrightsville Beach planning director, Tony Wilson, said the birds return to the area in large numbers at certain times of the year and that their droppings can become a nuisance. Wilson said the town received an especially high number of complaint calls about the issue two years ago from people using the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission public boat ramp and from residents.
Whenever the cormorants return in large numbers, the town contacts the North Carolina Department of Transportation to arrange for agents like Miller to scare them away.
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