Seagulls Win the Battle of the Buzz

Seagulls that feast at the all-you-can-eat landfill in San Juan Capistrano won’t get indigestion from squadrons of radio-controlled model airplanes buzzing them.

A proposal by hobbyists to scatter thousands of the birds at the Prima Deshecha landfill using miniature Mark IV Spitfires, P-51 Mustangs and B-25 bombers never got off the ground.

So Orange County officials have reverted to an older method of shooing the birds -- periodic blasts from shotgun blanks.

The model plane idea was tempting, said Linda Hagthrop, a spokeswoman for the county’s Integrated Waste Management Department, which operates the dump -- especially since the county had recently entertained paying professionals to do what the hobbyists offered for free.

“Our goal is to keep the birds in the air and off the ground and out of everybody’s way,” Hagthrop said.

The gulls get in the way of workers and leave droppings on people, vehicles, and in nearby San Juan Creek. The agency’s efforts to keep the birds away are an attempt to head off more serious problems that could draw the attention of state regulators, Hagthrop said.

Over several years, the agency has tried 10 ways to control the bird population at the 1,530-acre dump, including firing a gun that resembled a small cannon, stringing wire above work areas, broadcasting bird distress calls from loudspeakers, using bright, mirrored lights and blowing whistles.

So far, the birds have won.

There were high hopes nearly two years ago when a falconer and his birds sent the seagulls scurrying. But the falconer was not able to keep handlers at the landfill 10 hours a day, six days a week.

And there was another problem. “The [falcons] would fly away,” Hagthrop said.

Hopes were dashed again after a promising five-week commercial trial with model airplanes. They chased off the birds and always came back. The agency received two bids for the project, both at a cost of more than $100 an hour, Hagthrop said.

The Orange County Modelers Assn. seemed to have the perfect solution.

“The reason that this seemed so good was that this was a ... benefit to both parties,” said Wade Kloos, president of the group. “We receive another location -- of which there are very, very few -- to engage in our recreation, and they get bird abatement for free.”

It wasn’t that simple.

There is not enough room in the active part of the dump for the 500-foot runway that the model planes, with 5- and 6-foot wingspans, need. Fuel spills from downed planes posed a risk to the chaparral around the landfill, Hagthrop said, and the group could not guarantee that someone would fly regularly.

“We’ve tried so many different methods,” she said, “and it’s disappointing that we have not been able to identify a quieter source of bird control. [But] we’re not giving up.”