Sound cannons at TTC’s Leslie Barns streetcar facility working ‘quite well’ in keeping birds from green roof
By AMARACHI AMADIKE, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The TTC’s Leslie Barns maintenance facility is home to a carhouse with maintenance and administrative support spaces, a storage yard for 100 Bombardier low-floor light rail vehicle (LFLRV) streetcars, and a substation building. Since a green roof was installed on the building in 2015, however, it has now also become a popular landing strip for 10,000 to 15,000 birds annually – visitors that have proven to be a nuisance for TTC workers who complain about the unsanitary nature of their presence.
Two weeks into TTC’s decision to use sound cannons as a deterrent for the seagulls that nest on the Leslie Barns rooftop, located on Leslie Street south of Lake Shore Boulevard East, it appears that the tactic is working.
TTC’s Senior Communications Specialist Stuart Green believes that their response to the nesting issue has, so far, been a success thanks to the netting that was previously installed on the roof.
“The sound cannons are more a back-up for the netting system,” he said. “The netting keeps them off the roof and the sound cannon keeps them off the netting. And it seems to be working quite well.”
Since the middle of March, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., the TTC has been using loud blasts to chase off birds that land on the Leslie Barns roof in hopes that they are discouraged from returning.
This is expected to continue until June, a duration that was purposefully picked to coincide with the birds’ nesting season – a nesting season that has increasingly attracted birds to the Leslie Barns’ green roof partly due to its close proximity to the lake.
“As each generation nests, they come back in multiples,” said Green. “It’s just increased exponentially over the years.”
According to Green, the mess made by seagulls this year is very light in comparison to past years in which employees had to be provided umbrellas to protect them from bird feces.
Although the sound can be heard up to a maximum of four times every hour, the cannons are only used based on necessity – depending on how active the seagulls are on a given day.
Between the times of 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m on Tuesday, Apr. 2, for instance, the cannon was only heard one time.
With Leslie Barns located in a loud part of the city due to the high number of commuters driving along Lake Shore Boulevard East, the cannon, which was fired at approximately 1:15 p.m., blended into the background, barely evoking any reaction from passersby.
Although TTC says the sound, if heard from within the facility, resembles a jackhammer, those who work in the surrounding buildings say they hardly notice the cannons.
“I haven’t heard anything since I’ve been here,” a security guard working at the adjacent LCBO told Beach Metro Community News.
Green said that the TTC’s community relations group has received no complaints about the operation so far.
The TTC had previously unsuccessfully tried other methods to get rid of the birds. At one point, the roof was covered with plastic sheets but this was abandoned because the plants in the green roof were dying. They also tried using the sprinkler system as well as making sure staff frequent the roof. All methods attempted so far have been chosen to ensure the birds’ safety.
“We worked with wildlife experts and they advised that once you break the nesting habits, they’ll find other places,” said Green. “Our hope is that this year we have zero nesting issues up there.
The TTC said that if the remaining months of the sound cannon operation are a success, they will continue to use these tactics in the future.
— Amarachi Amadike is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for Beach Metro Community News. His reporting is funded by the Government of Canada through its Local Journalism Initiative.
