Saint Louis University is home to many night owls, but lately a new type of animal has been flocking to the academic environment.

A crow infestation is causing problems for students and maintenance workers, as Facilities Management has received complaints about the noise and bird droppings.

“It is a little creepy walking on campus at night and seeing [the crows] swarming around you,” freshman Lucas Bigford said. “I also have about 20 marks on my car because of the crow droppings.”

According to Thomas Valone, a behavioral ecologist in the Department of Biology, crows often gather in urban areas for winter roosts because of the big trees, open areas, unnatural lighting and food waste. Urban areas are also five to 10 degrees warmer than rural areas because of the heat island effect, which traps the sun’s rays into urban areas and creates a warmer environment for the crows.

“Nothing is unusual about it, this is a neat phenomena,” Valone said. “The West Nile Virus hit the crows hard and their roosts declined in the last three to four years. Ten years ago, there were thousands of crows around campus and it appears that their population has recovered.”

While this is a “neat phenomena,” maintenance workers have a different perspective, as they have had to power-wash park benches, sidewalks and cars multiple times because of the bird droppings.

“The cars in the back of the [Marchetti parking] lot are loaded with bird feces,” maintenance worker Terry Palmisano said. “I have been here 31 years and I have never seen so many [crows]. At night there are hundreds, and it is freaky when they are flying all over the place.”

Facilities Management has received complaints primarily from the areas near Marchetti Towers and DuBourg Hall regarding dirty cars and noisy crowing at night. To deal with the problem, Custodial Services has purchased two life-sized Great Horned Owl decoys to scare off the crows. The Great Horned Owl is a natural predator for crows, and these decoys will have a four-and-a-half-foot wingspan.

Jeff Macko, director of Custodial Services, said that the decoys would be placed near Marchetti and DuBourg to scare away the crows from those areas. The decoys are set to arrive later this week.

“There is not a lot we can do; we have looked at several control options such as poisoning, crow distress calls and putting chemicals on the trees,” Macko said. “We will see how effective the decoys are in driving the crows away.”