Capitol Ideas: Marking Capitol upkeep as the crow flies

DES MOINES - The exterior of the stately Iowa Capitol Building is nothing to crow about these days.

A late-winter infestation of noisy, messy crows has made the Capitol grounds at times resemble a Hitchcock movie set in which unsuspecting pedestrians run a droppings-dodging gauntlet of trees laden with black birds swaying in the breeze. The rise of the ravens has left Capitol windows streaked with unsightly smears while sidewalks and handrails sport a gray and white mosaic that is not particularly fetching to the eye, even with the nighttime mood lighting that sets the gold-domed limestone building ablaze atop the Des Moines cityscape.

The murder of crows that has taken deadly aim at the Capitol grounds has left few things untouched in the occasional swarming fly-bys: the iconic reflective glass panels of the Wallace State Office Building, the Civil War cannons, the statue of Lewis and Clark with their westward gaze; even Lincoln and Tad stand coldly in quiet deference to the random humiliation dished out by these winged bombardiers.

The westward look may be appropriate in this case, said Ernie Colboth, a wildlife biologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who has been working with Des Moines officials to 'harass” crows causing a nuisance in the city's downtown area. The noise-making, fireworks and laser tactics being employed in the downtown area likely has caused the raging ravens to relocate in the wooded areas near the Capitol as a migratory stopover, Colboth said.

'If we weren't harassing them downtown, they'd still be there,” the USDA official said.

Colboth said the birds likely will break up and move on to nesting locations once warmer weather arrives. But Capitol visitors and regulars may have to endure another two weeks or so of filthy conditions.

'This has been the worst we've ever had it here for crows,” said Mark Willemssen, legislative facilities manager at the Capitol building. 'I mean they've been in the trees, but just on the buildings and stuff here, it's been really bad.”

Caleb Hunter, a state Department of Administrative Services spokesman, concurred that this year's crop of crows is 'worse than usual.”

'The crows have been around here for years, but I think the severity of it is a bit worse than what our experience has been,” he observed.

Hunter said officials have resigned themselves to the fact that they probably can't undertake a major cleanup until the birds have moved on.

'I think the most cost-effective thing is just to wait this out,” he said.

'Our plan was to wait until they vacate the space and then clean things up,” Hunter noted. 'We certainly are aware of the situation and it is pretty unsightly.”

With the end of the crow invasion in sight, state officials say things are looking up (literally). The sky is not falling, but at times it seems like pieces of it are.