Bye-Bye Blackbirds

"I'm satisfied with the operation. We had reasonably good success." commented Brigadier General John N. Brandenberg after surveying the combat zone last week. Littering a wooded area at Fort Campbell, Ky., were about 500,000 corpses--of blackbirds. Brandenberg did not mention that some 4.5 million other blackbirds were still very much alive in the trees.

The operation was the start of the U.S. Army's "blackbird control program." Last fall the birds had descended on southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee like a biblical plague. In addition to Fort Campbell's flock of 5 million, there were almost 10 million birds at the military arsenal in nearby Milan, Tenn.. and another 1.5 million in the town of Paducah, Ky. The blackbirds battened on feed meant for livestock, and their droppings might spread histoplasmosis, a lung disease. Before retaliating, the Army issued an environmental statement, and defeated court suits brought by two humane societies (TIME, Feb. 24). Then the battle began.

Paducah opened the attack. On a chilly, drizzly night, the town sprayed its roosting flock with a detergent that, in combination with the rain, removed insulating oil from the birds' feathers. Cold weather did the rest: 20% of the birds died. A few nights later, the Army went to work at Fort Campbell without waiting for rain. Huey helicopters sprayed the blackbirds with detergent, then fire trucks doused them with water. Meanwhile, the birds at the Milan arsenal have been left alone--until the next rainy cold spell. But the Army still stands a good chance of losing the war. The surviving blackbirds proliferate so rapidly that huge new flocks will doubtless return next year.

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