Friday, March 29, 2024

‘Stop the Squawk’: One Victoria man’s vendetta against a bird-deterring noise maker

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Victoria resident Darrell Pfiefer is sick and tired of hearing birds. But not real birds. Rather, a bird deterring device placed on the building across the street from him.

Pfiefer lives across the street from Bayview One, an apartment building located across the Bay Street bridge in Victoria West.

According to Pfiefer, “Bayview One operates a seagull noise deterrent on the roof of their building. The device generates a noise every minute for 15 seconds, every day, all day.”

You can hear what the device sounds like here:

“To most people the noise sounds like a constantly upset bird, but no bird makes that much noise in such a consistent way all day long,” he says.

Pfiefer has created a website to try and raise awareness about the Bayview Squawker and hopefully put an end to the incessant noises, which he says is in violation of nighttime noise bylaws.

The website urges any other residents who are annoyed by the noise to report it to the bylaw department of the City of Victoria.

“The more people who report the problem, the more likely that the city will eventually take action,” says Pfiefer. 

Although City council did mandate the device only be used during the day and at a lower frequency in September 2020, Pfiefer says he doesn’t want to stop there.

He hopes to eventually have the City prohibit the use of the devices “within 100m of dwellings.”

Instead of the squawking device, Pfiefer suggests Bayview go with a less disruptive option: falcon kites, which are currently in use at City Hall, Point Hope Shipyard, and the new Hillside Seniors residence.

If you’d like more information about the device, or have questions for Pfiefer, he has created a ‘Stop the Squawk’ email address and can be reached at stopthesquawkers@gmail.com.

One day, Pfiefer hopes to find some peace and quiet — free of artificial squawks.

Abby Neufeld
Abby Neufeld
Freelance writer for Victoria Buzz.

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