Massive flock of birds leaving problems for Detroit neighborhood

Image 1 of 2

It sounds like the plot of a classic horror movie - a massive flock of birds descending on a local street. While it's not quite as scary as the film, one Detroit neighborhood is trying to deal with this exact problem.

Every evening, hundreds - if not thousands - of birds fill the trees along Bingham Street. The neighborhood is on the city's west side near Schaefer Highway and Joy Road.

One neighbor, Loren Terrell, tells us the birds have always been there but really became a nuisance about 10 years ago when the city cut down a bunch of trees around the corner. Now, all the birds are confined to flocking to their street and roosting in their trees. 

The biggest issue is the bird droppings everywhere, covering people's cars who park nearby. Terrell says it's the same every summer and you can't park your car anywhere along the street.

"You leave your car in the street, I'll say overnight, and you come back and it'll look like it's painted white," he says. "You see ladies out in the morning scrubbing their cement. They clean the driveways; they try to rake up all the feeding. They do what they can to get rid of the flies, but you know it's coming back."

He and other neighbors are also worried about their health. They're constantly seeing dead birds, which attract bugs and flies in addition to all the droppings. 

Terrell says he isn't sure what kind of birds they are, but he knows he's seen robins and blue jays.