Starling soilings temporarily shutter city park, causes flight concerns
Feb. 25—Benches, plaques and even a life-size replica of a kneeling soldier at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial are covered in off-white spots.
The source? European starlings, a bird native to Eurasia and northern Africa, that have been sleeping and defecating at the Southeast Albuquerque park over the last month.
There are nearly 50,000 birds roosting in the area, which, in addition to creating an eyesore, is causing concern at the nearby Albuquerque International Sunport and Kirtland Air Force Base.
The city has closed the park and will use non-lethal methods, such as wrapping the nesting areas in tarps, to disperse the starlings that have occupied it.
"We wouldn't want visitors to be in this sacred space under these conditions, so we're going to take a break here. We'll see how many weeks it'll take before we reopen," Dennis Vasquez, deputy director of the Parks and Recreation Department, told the Journal on Tuesday.
He added that the issue had been on the city's radar for the past month, but the unusual situation left the department unprepared.
"They're one of the most populous bird species in the country and winter roosting is a common behavior, but in groups this size, it's kind of unusual, maybe unprecedented, for Albuquerque," Vasquez said.
The park sits along Louisiana SE, right next to KAFB and just a few miles north of runways at the Sunport, and the city's Aviation Department said there is concern the birds could be an issue for planes landing and taking off.
"This many invasive birds in proximity to the Sunport can be a serious life safety risk, and the Aviation Department does all it can to ensure wildlife are protected from harm while keeping aircraft safe," Leah Black, spokesperson for the Aviation Department, said in a statement.
She added the birds can be a hazard due to aircraft bird strikes and the department is "always monitoring for these kinds of potential risks."
On Tuesday evening, Vasquez along with Chad Buckland and Justin Hendricks of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Brian Boyd, from the city's Aviation Department, fended off birds from the park by waving tarps around for an hour at sunset, successfully deterring them from landing.
A date was not given for the park reopening. In the meantime, scheduled events at the grounds are being rescheduled or relocated.
"We know it's an inconvenience for the public, but ... we've just got to take care of what we have to do here," Vasquez said, noting the park should reopen by Memorial Day, which is on May 26.
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