Oh, S*it! Swedish City Pestered by Hordes of Jackdaws

In the Swedish city of Karlstad (population over 60,000), the sky is not always blue. Sometimes, it can be actually quite black, with thousands of jackdaws blocking out the sun. Jackdaws seem to be thriving in Karlstad's accommodating cityscape, chirping, mating, eating and, eh, doing other things, directly on the city's attractions, city dwellers and their vehicles. None of Karlstad's sights has been spared, with birds seemingly having taken a particular liking to the main square and the luxurious City Hotel.

"We get a lot of complaints from hotel guests who park their cars outside," Anna Björkenstam Wedberg, hotel manager at Karlstad City Hotel in Karlstad, told Swedish national broadcaster SVT, adding that receptionists sometimes are forced to provide buckets, so that the guests can give their cars a cursory washing before getting it to the nearest car wash.

"I would assess that there are up to 8,000 birds in the center of Karlstad, and they keep growing in numbers," Sara Asker, conservation officer at Karlstad Municipality, told SVT, explaining that jackdaws do not have enough natural enemies to control their population.

​Since shooting or poisoning jackdaws, who are becoming a nuisance, is unthinkable for bird-loving Swedes, there are few options left for the municipality. Local caretakers are trying to keep sidewalks and benches clean, but reinforcements might be needed, since, say, a parked bicycle can become completely unusable overnight before a thorough washing. Previously, Karlstad City tried hanging signboards texted "Beware of Droppings," which helped to raise awareness, yet naturally failed to have any effect on the perpetrators.

According to Michael Sundholm of Karlstad Municipality, the city's best bet is providing inhabitants with information on where to avoid parking cars and bicycles. The city currently has no plans for a forcible reduction of the jackdaw population.

"Jackdaws are intelligent birds. When you shoot at them, they fly away at the first shot, and later they know what to watch out for, so at best you can shoot a single jackdaw per session, which provides almost no effect," Karlstad Municipality conservation officer Sara Asker told SVT.

 

 

As laughable as it may sound, bird droppings are no laughing matter. Growing cormorant populations in the Baltic Sea Region were previously found to be an environmental threat by Turku University, Finland. Caustic cormorant droppings reportedly increase the eutrophication process of the sea as well as negatively affect the numerous Baltic archipelagos' flora and fauna, leaving barren wasteland.