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Does this look like fun?IT’S SUPPOSED to be a job, but Randy Adams’ (inset) work of chasing ducks on Lake Ballinger with a radio-controlled speedboat looks like pure fun. Adams, an employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will be controlling the lake’s bird population through January. His services were retained by the city of Mountlake Terrace. (Photo by Michael Homans)Bird harasser says it’s great-except when it rainsBy MICHAEL HOMANSMOUNTLAKE TERRACE -The duck saga at Lake Ballinger continues, with Randy Adams of the U.S. Department of Agriculture adding some fun, splash and explosiveness to the latest chapter.Using a radio-controlled boat and various pyrotechnics, Adams is working full-time to keep the waterfowl on the 100-acre lake at a manageable level.So far, he’s been successful: The number of birds is down to an estimated 150. That’s far below the 700 to 800 feathered creatures that have been known to congregate in past years.But more than being successful, Adams’ job looks like fun.Like a big kid, he often stands on the shore of the lake guiding the three-foot boat with his radio controls, grinning and chatting with curious observers.He’ll eye a small group of mallards paddling nonchalantly on the smooth lake, rev the noisy engine up to full throttle, and speed the boat across the water.In seconds the machine is moving at 45 mph, on a collision course with the now-nervous birds. With a frantic flapping of wings, the ducks take to the air, only inches away from being run down by Adams’ “waterfowl control device.”He has no intention of hurting the birds; he only wants to harrass them, and possibly make them leave the lake, he said.“I don’t know that I’ve ever hit a bird, but once I broke a prop from hitting something. I didn’t see any feathers or blood stains, though, so I don’t think it was a bird,” Adams said.Besides this job, which will last between two and three months, Adams has also worked at a lake in Olympia, controlling a similar waterfowl problem there.Asked if it was fun chasing birds all day, Adams said, “It’s not bad on a sunny day like this, but when it rains I get soggy.”When not driving his radio-controlled boat, Adams hits the water in a regular-sized skiff.He motors all over the lake, counting birds, chasing birds, and setting off fireworks.Pyrotechnically, he most often uses a special firework shot out of a .22-caliber pistol. The projectile shoots out of the gun for 75 to 100 feet, emitting a noisy, whistling screech.Like the boats, the whistler is intended to scare away the birds.The harrassment usually frightens most coots away, but the mallards tend to be more daring.“It takes a lot to scare a mallard,” Adams said.But neither the mallards nor the coots are a problem on the lake now, Adams said. And geese, which were once a major problem, are now rarely seen on Lake Ballinger’s waters.Adams has seen two flocks of geese fly over the lake, but none land. Some city officials have surmised that perhaps the geese have gotten word of Terrace’s tough new policies.“I think once the birds get condi-Continued on page 10-A
Newspaper Details
Edmonds Enterprise
Edmonds, Washington, US
Wed, Dec 17, 1986
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Everett P.
OR, USA 23 Aug 2024
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Edmonds Enterprise
