Ring Billed Gull Rescue and Emergency Response Fund

Ring Billed Gulls are dying by the hundreds if not thousands due to dehydration and being hit by cars as the immature gulls try to get closer to shade.  In previous years there had been a few thousand gulls that would nest here but this year there are upwards of 10000 gulls!  With traffic being rerouted off of I-75 on to Jefferson there are hundreds of birds being killed by traffic moving too fast and not being able to avoid the gulls as they try to cross the road to get to shade.  

1. Clean the dead birds off the roadway entirely

2. Still need “SLOW” signs and if traffic could again be restricted to one lane each way, it would also slow things down. Erin reported that that was the case the last time she went through and it seemed to be effective at slowing traffic.
 

3. Shade tarp still needed, maybe more than one—one for each open lot where they are nesting would be best (I’d say up to 4 tarps). They are not all in one lot.
 

4. Rescue may still be in order, but I did not see live injured birds in the roadway anyway
 

5. Long-term need to discourage nesting in the first place. A large cadre of volunteers may be needed next year to do the work—it would not be a one person job for sure.

Its horrible, there should never be a time where hundreds of birds are being killed and their carcases be littering the street, and Detroit Audubon wants to be able to protect these birds and put in preventative measures so that this doesn't continue to happen.