This winter has been the worst year in recent memory with the coot population. It hasn’t just been a problem here at Coto, but a problem throughout Southern California, Nevada and Arizona. All regions are reporting coot populations nearly double the normal amount. The California Department of Fish and Game estimates that nearly 500,000 birds have migrated into Southern California this year (seems like half of them may be here at Coto)!
Coto is the perfect location for coots. We are one of the golf courses in the area that still overseeds (coots eat the rye grass out of the bermuda), we have nearly 14 acres of open bodies of water and plenty of natural habitat. Coots are really bad flying birds so they look for areas that are open and easy to land into the water. This makes golf courses very attractive destination for them. Once airborne, coots are some of the highest flying birds and can migrate great distances.
Controlling coots on a golf course is an extremely difficult task. At Coto De Caza, we have tried every method possible to control the populations and deter the birds from specific areas. Shooting the birds is not legal in Orange County. Although the Department of Fish and Game can issue depredation permits, they require the birds to be eradicated only by shotgun. Shooting a shotgun in a populated area of Orange County is not legal. Although there isn’t a silver bullet to eliminate the problem, here are the measures we have been/are using at the golf course to try and control the problem. Our best results this year have been in the form of a combination of several of these methods.
Outside contractor using 2 dogs, RC boat and a kite designed to look like a bird of prey
We purchased a specially trained coot dog for the golf course
Fencing around lakes
Fishing line grids across lakes to prevent them from landing
Bird deterrent sprays on the grass to keep them from feeding
Feeding coots in areas away from play
Fake coyotes, dogs, owls and birds of prey to scare birds from areas
Lasers at night- birds are scared out of the lake by the lasers
Strobe lights in the lakes
Harassment with boats
In the past two weeks, we have had some limited success using several of these techniques to reduce the populations slightly. Although we are not having great success with the coots, we have had very good success eliminating the Canadian Geese from the golf courses. During overseed, we had geese populations of 60-80 on both golf courses. Currently, there is a small flock that we have to chase out of the course every day that is less than 20.
You can help us. The more we can harass the coots and keep them off of the grass and in the lakes, the more success we will have driving them out. At this point, our goal is to get them to leave the property and migrate back home sooner than normal. With continued effort, we hope that we can be successful on this level.
