hawk hired to fly over new Los angeles museum's glass dome to keep pigeons from pooping on it
A co-worker describes Spencer as “a real go-getter.”
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Today is Spencer’s day off, however, so he’s a bit more chill than usual. His belly is full of raw quail meat and he’s feeling too heavy to work. But he’s agreed, nonetheless, to leave the comfort of his Palmdale aviary where he lives with his brother, Shady, to meet The Times for an interview on the plaza of the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
Spencer is a trained Harris’ hawk, and his job is to fly above the museum and its gleaming glass dome to ward off pigeons that could nest inside the open-air terrace or mar the new landmark with poop. His efforts are appreciated now more than ever, as the Academy Museum readies to open on Sept. 30. The museum has just undergone an intensive, five-week building cleaning, with all 1,500 glass panels on its dome scrubbed for the premiere.
Today, Spencer has brought along his trainer, Lindsey Benger. Falconry-based bird abatement, she says, is a “natural, non-toxic form of pest management.” It’s more humane than setting out poisons and spikes on surfaces, and it’s more effective than hanging streamers or fake owls to scare off birds.
Benger, a falconer for almost 12 years, is a subcontractor through the Hawk Proz, which provides falconry services throughout the western U.S. The company has a contract with the Academy Museum to fly Spencer eight times a month, twice a week on average, for up to two hours each outing. When he started in 2017, Spencer visited three or four times a week because the pigeon problem was more serious.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-09-09/academy-museum-hawk-spencer
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