{"id":258150,"date":"2026-04-20T17:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/258150\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T17:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:41:11","slug":"fort-worth-residents-fight-to-keep-out-protected-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/258150\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth residents fight to keep out protected birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every few minutes, the quiet of a muggy spring evening in the Park Glen neighborhood in far north Fort Worth was broken by the clanging of pots, pans, air horns, and other noisemakers as residents looked skyward at unwanted guests.<\/p>\n

These residents have gathered every night for the past few weeks to scare away migratory egrets and herons that seem to like the suburbs. The birds, federally protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, have become yearly headaches for neighborhoods around the Metroplex as the birds flock to residential areas to nest.<\/p>\n

In 2025, egrets descended on trees overlooking Park Glen resident Kelly Rybarczyk\u2019s yard. Her yard was covered in thick, smelly bird poop. Her dog had to be tested for bird flu after getting a respiratory infection.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we had a very successful egret rookery here,\u201d Rybarczyk told the Star-Telegram on April 16. \u201cThat means about one egret, and then 1,000 of their closest friends built nests and had babies here. And that meant an incredible amount of animal waste, an incredible amount of deceased animals as well from the chicks and fledgelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Park Park Glen resident Kelly Rybarczyk walks the streets as she looks for egrets on April 16 in Fort Worth. Rybarczyk has taught herself and consulted wildlife biologists about the birds to educate her neighbors. Abigail Dollins abigail.dollins@star-telegram.co <\/p>\n

Videos taken by Rybarczyk in 2025 and shared with the Star-Telegram show birds sitting in a tree and calling at each other, with poop, feathers, and dead birds lining the ground below. Roughly 400 egrets nested in north Fort Worth last year, according to the city.<\/p>\n

Rybarczyk works in animal welfare, but she is not a wildlife biologist. She has taught herself about the egrets to educate herself and her neighbors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, they would very much like to come back and establish a new rookery,\u201d Rybarczyk said. \u201cThat means all of the residents and neighbors have to be out keeping these birds away every night, because they will, by nature, come back and try to build another nest, and it\u2019s not really sanitary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between roughly January and March, egrets will begin to appear as they stake out a nest for the season. Once the egrets nest, they become federally protected, and there is very little that residents or the city of Fort Worth can do. An animal control superintendent holds a permit to remove<\/a> a certain number of nests every year, but it\u2019s a last resort.<\/p>\n

\"Park Park Glen residents Yvonne Milord and Fran McCollum use cowbells to deter the egrets on April 16 in Fort Worth during a nightly gathering to deter federally protected egrets from nesting in their neighborhood. Abigail Dollins abigail.dollins@star-telegram.co <\/p>\n

Before that, though, residents are allowed \u2014 and encouraged by the city of Fort Worth \u2014 to deter them from landing in the trees.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the pots and pans \u2014 and Rybarczyk\u2019s tool of choice, a reusable air horn \u2014 come into play. The goal, as a neighborhood group started by resident Rick Sharon calls it, is to \u201cspot \u2018em and scare \u2018em.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe say we start between 5:30 and 6, and we\u2019ll run until 8 o\u2019clock or later, but it\u2019s based on the birds,\u201d Sharon, a retiree who lives in the neighborhood. He, like Rybarczyk, does not have a background in conservation. \u201cWhen they stop coming, we break up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rick Rick Sharon keeps a record of the egret sightings and roughly how many birds were spotted each night on April 16 in Fort Worth. Abigail Dollins abigail.dollins@star-telegram.co <\/p>\n

Sharon, who used ChatGPT to learn about the egrets, posts nightly updates in a Facebook group dedicated to the prevention efforts. Since the spotters began gathering, they say they have spotted and deterred hundreds of birds.<\/p>\n

Every evening, and sometimes in the early morning, residents linger in and near the intersection of Teal Drive and Navajo Way \u2014 last year\u2019s egret hotspot \u2014 and wait for egrets to appear.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s questionable, at first, whether they can tell if birds are actually egrets. But the pattern became clear. Smaller birds darted around, their small wings flapping rapidly. The egrets flew more slowly, their long bodies looking dark gray against the sunset as the sky turned to a pale purple.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, the spotters will start to bang and clang before they realize a group of birds are \u201cfriendlies\u201d \u2014 not egrets \u2014 and the noise will quickly die down.<\/p>\n

\"Cowbells, Cowbells, airhorns, and pots and pans are just a few methods residents use to deter federally protected egrets that roosted in Park Glen in the hundreds last year. Abigail Dollins abigail.dollins@star-telegram.co <\/p>\n

As Sharon has led the efforts, he\u2019s earned a nickname \u2014 the \u201cfield general\u201d of Park Glen.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Park Glen neighborhood has more than 3,300 homes, and my goal is not one bird roosting anywhere in the entire neighborhood,\u201d Sharon said. \u201cSo far, we\u2019re winning that battle this year. The last two years we did not.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are six species of birds that flock to neighborhoods and try to roost, said Rachel Richter, an urban wildlife biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife.<\/p>\n

Egrets have been a problem for North Texas suburbs for over 20 years, Richter said. In the 1990s, the city of Carrollton came under scrutiny<\/a> after killing and injuring birds in a rookery.<\/p>\n

The problem isn\u2019t new, Richter said, but it\u2019s a bit of a scientific mystery \u2014 why are the birds nesting in neighborhoods when, in the case of Park Glen, there\u2019s a lush green park just blocks away?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t really know why they are choosing neighborhoods over other available spaces,\u201d Richter said. As North Texas sees an explosion in suburban growth, the birds could be flying back to old haunts and finding sprawling neighborhoods instead of wetlands.<\/p>\n

But that may not always be the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also see situations where the birds are in the neighborhood and there\u2019s what seems to be a viable habitat, an open green space nearby, and the birds aren\u2019t there, and we don\u2019t really know why that is,\u201d Richter said.<\/p>\n

Residents said that while it may seem cruel to deter the plumed birds, they have caused extensive damage to homes and roofs. They have started a petition to ask Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to help get the legislation that protects the birds changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are pretty, they are,\u201d said resident Yvonne Milord, who was out with the egret busters the evening of April 16. \u201cIt\u2019s a fascinating sight to see 1,000 birds. No doubt it is. You just don\u2019t see it often. But the price is it lasts a lot longer than a couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Susan Susan Kerns gathers with other residents on April 16 for the Park Glen neighborhood\u2019s noisy nightly ritual to deter federally protected egrets from roosting. Abigail Dollins abigail.dollins@star-telegram.co <\/p>\n

Fort Worth District 4 council member Charles Lauersdorf said that more than $30,000 has been spent on the egrets, which has paid for overtime salaries of animal control workers to stand with neighbors during the evening watches, a cherry picker to remove nests, and tree removal to prevent the birds from having more places to build a nest.<\/p>\n

If a neighborhood begins to see egrets, Lauersdorf said, residents should deter them before they nest.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be proactive, and you got to be proactive early,\u201d Lauersdorf said. \u201cTake it seriously. They\u2019re not just birds. They\u2019re not just loud birds. They will cause damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city of Fort Worth has a migratory birds page<\/a>, where residents can learn more about their options and how to safely keep the birds out of their neighborhood.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Emily Holshouser<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Emily Holshouser is a local news reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every few minutes, the quiet of a muggy spring evening in the Park Glen neighborhood in far north…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-258150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-fort-worth","9":"tag-fort-worth-headlines","10":"tag-fort-worth-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}