A few years ago, cormorants decided to make Loon Lake Island their home. However, the birds brought a unique problem with no easy solution. The city of Waseca says bird droppings are destroying the popular island. 

"They used to have a bar and hotel that was on the island back in the day," said Brian Tomford, Waseca County facilities director. 

During the summer, kayakers and canoers access Loon Lake on their way to Loon Lake Island. 

"We have a dock on the other side. They'll do a lot of bird watching," Tomford said. 

It's a popular lake for humans and birds. The migration brings a nice mix, but Tomford said things changed when the cormorants arrived. 

"Even the vegetation on the ground floor of the island is, I would say, 90 to 100% gone already," Tomford said. 

Tomford said excrement from cormorants is acidic and destroys trees and plants. Waseca is trying to avoid what happened on Sakatah Island near Waterville, where cormorants destroyed everything green. 

"Sakatah Island is pretty much done. It's desolate. Everything is brown on it, it was a nice island back in the day," Tomford said. 

To save Loon Lake Island, they've thought about using lasers to keep the birds away, but the island is too close to the airport. Sound techniques haven't worked, and they considered putting oil on cormorant eggs to keep them from hatching. 

"But you can't get up there to put that on there. You'd actually have to have a plane fly over and spray, but with the water, you don't want that stuff in the water," Tomford said. 

At one point, they even put goats on the island to try and scare away the cormorants. That didn't work either.

Now, they've received the go-ahead from the city council to shoot some of the birds to try to control the population. Tomford said it's a last resort, and even then, it's likely they haven't seen the last of the cormorants. 

"When they find a place to land and hatch their eggs, with plenty of food around, they are going to keep coming back," Tomford said.