Arlington delivers egret invasion kits to homeowners

Some Arlington homeowners are ready to prevent a smelly and noisy invasion of egrets.

It's a problem every year as the federally-protected birds migrate for nesting, but this year city workers stepped in to help by going door-to-door offering a possible solution.

Among the supplies to homeowners are loud blow horns, predator mimicking balloons, bright streamers and water hose nozzles to spray the egrets.

"Everything in there is legal, so until they put an egg in the nest we can scare them off and do whatever we gotta do to make them go somewhere else,” said Ray Rentschler, Arlington Animal Services.

Once they begin nesting, egrets are protected by federal law. Homeowners said previous years have been messy and costly in the neighborhood.

"It cost me nearly $7,000 to have part of my roof repaired, clean out the gutters, trim the trees and paint. I have a redwood deck porch in the back. It was white with bird poop,” said homeowner Betty Robertson.

Arlington officials hope the egret kits can make a difference.