Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Oregon Department of Transportation will start firing sound cannons to scare birds off the Interstate Bridge Monday. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

Tens of thousands of starlings migrate to the Portland/Vancouver area every winter. Many end up trying to roost on the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River – particularly on the lift spans.

ODOT spokeswoman, Christine Miles, says they make the catwalks, roadways, cars, bikes and pedestrians, dirty. 

Christine Miles: “The bridge crew plans to use propane orchard cannons to scare off the starlings from the interstate bridge. We do this because the bird droppings, they’re very unhealthy, it’s unsafe and it also does damage to the bridge.”

The cannons will run until the end of February for about two hours a day – in the late afternoon.

Miles says they’ve scheduled the firings to cause the least inconvenience for local residents.