By MADDY VITALE
Make that 3-0 with raptors in the lead again this summer — the third in a row — in the war against those pesky seagulls that would love to steal pizza and other goodies from Ocean City Boardwalk strollers and beachgoers.
East Coast Falcons once again used their no-nonsense approach to ridding the island of the gulls. This summer they used more raptors and handlers in the job, with 19 falcons, hawks and owls to chase the birds off the beaches, Boardwalk and other areas of town popular with summer tourists.
“This has been a good year,” East Coast Falcons owner Erik Swanson said on Labor Day. “We got rid of a lot of gulls. We have the right team and everything is working good.”
Ocean City is believed to be the only resort community on the East Coast that handles gulls in this way.
Since being contracted by Ocean City, East Coast Falcons, based in Lodi, N.J., primarily focused on the Boardwalk and the beachfront.
This year, more than in the previous two years, Swanson said his team has focused on the entire island.
“We extended coverage island-wide,” he noted. “We began that last summer and really have more coverage through town.”
In addition to Swanson, there are two full-time and five part-time handlers to oversee the hawks, falcons and an owl from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Monday was the last day the falconers were to patrol seven days a week. They began the full-time shifts the second week of May.
Starting Tuesday, the falconers go back to doing weekends through Columbus Day weekend.
On Monday, Swanson took Diambi, a falcon, out for patrol. Ozzy the owl, he pointed out, continues to fly at night. New birds, including Taters, a half prairie, half peregrine falcon, and Karen, a hawk, did a good job at keeping away the gulls.
But the falconers can only do so much.
“We had a lot of people feeding the seagulls this year,” Swanson said. “There are new people who come to the beach and don’t know the rules. Others don’t care. I’ve gone down to tell people don’t feed them on the beach.”
Swanson admitted, though, that it could be difficult. Sometimes, kids are just innocently tossing a French fry to a gull. Then it becomes many gulls.
“I tell the dads, maybe one fry, but no more,” he said with a laugh.
In 2019, Mayor Jay Gillian and the city administration hired East Coast Falcons after receiving numerous complaints about aggressive gulls menacing people for their food.
The final straw for Gillian was when he saw a dive-bombing gull “smack” a small child in the face. He has repeatedly characterized it as a public safety issue.
The raptors have been overwhelmingly successful in chasing the gulls back into their natural habitat, the bays, marshlands and ocean, according to city officials.
For Swanson and the rest of the falconers on his team, there’s a bit of celebrity that comes along with their unusual jobs.
When they are doing their patrols on the Boardwalk, they are usually surrounded by spectators interested in the raptors. People stop, ask questions and take cellphone video.
Falconer Ian Turner walked along the Boardwalk with an East Coast Falcons hawk named Karen. John Kellerman handled Taters, a falcon. They both described it as a good summer, noting that the birds were doing their jobs.
Both Turner and Kellerman chatted with vacationers interested in the birds. While they talked, the tops of restaurants and other Boardwalk businesses had few if any gulls along the Eighth through 11th Street sections of the Boardwalk.
Swanson said his team always appreciates the interest and respect that the public gives the falconers in their less than typical jobs.
“People seem to be very appreciative. We get really nothing but compliments all day long. Everyone enjoys the program,” he pointed out.
Swanson continued, “I get people who are unaware of the program. Then I explain to them what it is. They often respond, ‘That explains it. We couldn’t figure out why there were no seagulls.’ I never realized how important it was for people to have their food in peace.”
