Falcons Will Guard Ocean City On Weekends Through Columbus Day

Ocean City NJ

10 September, 2021

6:05 PM

Description

OCEAN CITY, NJ — For the third consecutive year, Ocean City has been getting its gulls in a row with a program that uses falcons, hawks and owls. The City contracted East Coast Falcons to scare away seagulls that depend on an unnatural supply of food stolen from humans. And there's still time to see them at work. On Tuesday, East Coast Falcons' reps transitioned from working daily full-time shifts to working weekends through Columbus Day. The birds fly over Ocean City to move the gulls away from the boardwalk and beach without harming them. As the raptors fly overhead, seagulls instinctively know to leave an unsafe area. However, the raptors are full when they fly, so they don't attack the seagulls. Mayor Jay Gillian and the city administration first hired East Coast Falcons in 2019 after they received "more complaints than ever" about aggressive seagulls. Read more: Ocean City Officials Praise Early Seagull Program Results Keep up to date with what's happening in your community by subscribing to your local Patch newsletter here.