BRIDGEWATER — Neighbors in the Martinsville section of Bridgewater are banding together to fight back an invasion of more than 100 vultures living in backyard trees, gathering on roofs, and circling overhead.



The vultures have been gathering mostly in a three- to four-block area along Davis Court, Perrine Road and Bittle Court east of Vosseller Avenue, west of Eastbrook Road and south of Washington Valley Road.

Tim Friar of Davis Court in the Martinsville section of Bridgewater said this isn't the first time he's had to deal with vultures around his home, but it's never been quite so bad as it has been since around January.

"I noticed them about two years ago and thought, now that's a big bird," Friar said. "Then I started to see an ungodly amount. It's just eerie."

Friar said that the vultures came back not long after Sandy blew through the area, and as of last week he counted at least 130 on his roof and on a neighbor's tree. The vultures typically have about a five-foot-long wingspan, tip to tip.

Friar said at first he called the Bridgewater municipal offices, which referred him to the Somerset County Animal Shelter, which handles township animal control issues. Shelter director Corrina Colldeweih told NJ.com her office hadn't received any calls about the vultures, but that she typically refers people to the Bridgewater Health Department.

Friar eventually got in touch with Nicole Rein, a wildlife biologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services office near Atlantic City.

Rein told NJ.com Wednesday the vultures tend to gather together in the fall and winter but aren't actually nesting, just roosting overnights in the trees.

"Vultures like pine trees and evergreen trees because they still have the needles that offer protection from the elements," Rein said. "They typically nest later in the season but they don't build nests in trees, rather on the ground an in caves or abandoned barns."

Rein said a theory discussed by Friar and his neighbors — that the vultures' normal habitat of trees had been knocked down by Sandy, and the birds moved to this area — has some validity. The migration could also be blamed on an increase in bird population that caused part of the colony to move elsewhere for more space, she said.

According to the USDA, vultures will peck holes in roofs, eat the insulation from around windows, and occasionally attack people or animals.

Rein said the best way to get rid of vultures is to hang a dead vulture carcass, or effigy, upside-down from a tree in the affected area, with the wings spread.

"The vulture effigy is a visual deterrent to the birds for that season but they may come back in future seasons," Rein said.

A real effigy can only be hung under a federal and state permit, which her agency can arrange, for about $400 to $500 dollar per carcass, she said.

Rein said she will be in Martinsville on Monday to hang the effigies, after being contacted by area residents.

Friar said that most of the 36 houses in the neighborhood have agreed to chip in, so it will end up costing between $10 and $20 per house for two effigies, one in the tree across the street, and another on nearby Perrine Road, another gathering spot for the vultures.

Patti Beitz is one of the neighbors collecting from homeowners for the effigy hanging.

"I've lived in the neighborhood literally most of my life, and never seen anything like this," Beitz said.

"The neighbors are banding together," Beitz said. "You can take 20 bucks and go to Burger King and blow it, but for 20 bucks for 20 families, you get this problem solved."

She said there used to be a chicken farm in the neighborhood when she was growing up, and the vultures triggered less-than-pleasant memories.

"It just took me back to that foul, horrible odor of birds and bird feces," Beitz said. "And come the spring, the flies are going to spread."

Beitz said she is especially concerned about the feces and bone parts the birds leave around the lawns.

CONNECT WITH US

• Follow us on Twitter



• Like us on Facebook



• NJ.com/somerset



"I've seen them drop pieces of bone and things from the air. They're not nice birds," Beitz said. "My grandson comes over and he plays — he is 7 and he's (on the autism spectrum) and he doesn't know — if he see something hard like that he picks it up."

She said that when she walks alone at night the birds starts gathering overhead about 30 to 40 at a time, circling slowly, coming slightly lower, little by little.

"My neighbors tease me," Beitzsaid. "They say, don't stand still too long. It's scary — they're dirty, they're not pretty, and they bring disease."

Jessica Guarino, Beitz's daughter, said that the problem just keeps getting worse.

"All we hear are feathers when we're outside," Guarino said. "It's like Alfred Hitchcock."

Guarino said she watched the vultures attack and eat a live newborn deer last week.

"We can hear nothing but the sound of feathers ruffling outside and I'm afraid they might at some point attack my son," Guarino said. "They are extremely aggressive and don't seem bothered by me videoing them fighting from a mere ten feet away."

Laurie McKee, another neighbor collecting funds for the effigy with Beitz, believes she found the evening roosting site for the colony at the corner of Eastbrook Road and Perrine, in the tall pine trees. She also suspects the vultures were displaced after Sandy.

"The woods and nature setting are part of what makes our neighborhood special — it's particularly beautiful in the spring," McKee said. "But this year something changed and the number of vultures exploded.

McKee said her vet at the Martinsville Veterinary Hospital warned her to keep small dogs on a leash and supervised at all times.

"There were so many circling when I walked my dog," McKee said. "It was creepy."

"They are becoming more aggressive with each other and with our garbage," she said. "They are creating a mess on the rooftops of our lovely homes. We are just hoping they don't turn into the same problem we saw with the Canadian geese not wanting to leave and ending up with a chronic problem.

Christine Henderson Rose, council president for Bridgewater, said Wednesday that she had not been made aware of the vulture issue but she would look into it further.