How do you deal with a few thousand unwanted birds? By bringing in bigger birds.

That’s the story playing out at a business in Waterloo’s north end this week, as employees of NCR have been told to stay home so attempts can be made to rid the property of its seagull problem.

Employees say the birds have been a problem for a few months. As many as 4,000 now show up at NCR on a nightly basis.

“We were trying to deal with them before they nested, but they were too quick for us,” said Deb Heier, an NCR employee who showed up Wednesday to check out the bird-ridding efforts for herself.

Heier says she’s been washing bird droppings off her car on a daily basis lately. Other employees have stories of using umbrellas to shield themselves as they walked out to their vehicles.

Eventually, a call was made to professional animal wrangler Jordan Worrell.

This week, she’s been showing up at NCR on a daily basis with a pair of hawks – birds she calls the “most effective” for getting rid of smaller birds.

Hawk

Because the hawks are large and aggressive, the seagulls won’t want to land on the roof while they’re there.

Instead, they circle around the building until they decide that the hawks aren’t going away anytime soon.

“By the end of the day, usually they’ll find somewhere else to go and roost overnight,” Worrell says. Every day that happens, fewer gulls return the following day.

While the hawks deal with the seagulls, humans are taking to the roof to deal with their habitat.

On Tuesday, 12 garbage bags full of seagull eggs were packed up and taken away. It was expected that nesting materials would fill another 100 bags.

NCR employees may be able to return to work next week, although Worrell will remain on-site for several weeks to ensure the seagulls don’t return.

With reporting by Marc Venema