Officials to use electronic signs to warn drivers of flying birds

MANTEO - by Mary Ellen Riddle

MANTEO - The North Carolina Department of Transportation has agreed to use electronic signs to warn motorists approaching the William B. Umstead Bridge of low- flying birds.

While the wording has not been worked out yet, the signs would operate during the summer months when purple martins flock to the bridge in large numbers to form a pre migratory roost. The transportation department posted non electric warning signs this summer at either end of the bridge.

Local volunteers, operating under the auspices of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service , conducted a mortality monitoring program this summer at the bridge, where large numbers of purple martins congregated nightly in preparation for their migration south. During their dawn departure and sunset arrival to and from the roost, purple martins have been killed by traffic.

Peak roost numbers occur in late July to early August. Data collected from July 1 to Sept. 2 this year showed about 2,759 dead purple martins, mostly fledglings, counted at the bridge.

According to Purple Martin Conservation Association records, the bridge has been a roosting site for more than 20 years. Local anecdotal information suggests the purple martins have been using the bridge for 30 to 35 years, said volunteer field coordinator Alisa Esposito of Columbia.

This summer, Esposito joined transportation officials to view the roost by boat during its peak. About 100,000 birds were counted under the western end of the bridge, where they line up on a cable.

Esposito and representatives from local, state and federal wildlife groups met with state and federal transportation officials this week to present the findings and explore solutions. The species is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act .

The groups discussed closing the bridge during purple martin arrival and departure times, public education and putting up fencing on the western end of the bridge to keep the birds from flying into traffic.

Keith Watson , migratory bird biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Asheville , who is overseeing the Dare County project, cited the successful use of fencing at Lake Ponchartrain Bridge in Louisiana, where mortality rates dropped to zero. The fencing project was budgeted and erected within two years, Esposito said after the meeting.

Citing the cost of fencing and statewide competition for money from the Transportation Improvement Program , Anthony Roper, division engineer with NCDOT, said funding can be a lengthy process.

"It's eligible, but there's a finite amount of money," he said. "I think it would be very competitive, very difficult. Can we go through the TIP process and get funding by next June? Probably not likely," he said.

"We might be able to serve as a conduit," said Dare County Planning Director Ray Sturza , who suggested that the purple martin mortality issue be presented to the Dare County Board of Commissioners.

"You need a vehicle to get the project in the TIP," he said. "We regularly make presentations to DOT. I feel fairly confident that the county commissioners would embrace the concept and ask that it be included in the TIP, and once it ever is then it becomes a real thing and I have every reason to believe that it would get serious consideration. "

A proposal for Dare County to ask DOT to study the mitigation of purple martin mortality at the bridge is scheduled to be presented at the county commissioners' meeting on Monday, Watson said Friday .

"I'm optimistic that we can reach a solution," he said after Thursday's meeting. "It's going to take a lot longer than I hoped."