Loud booming sound heard overnight in Davis found to be bird cannon
DAVIS -- Loud booms could be heard night after night in rural East Davis, waking some neighbors from their sleep and prompting many to call county supervisors to ask for a solution.
"It sounded like gunshots, maybe shotguns," said neighbor Michael Perrone, who lives near Slide Hill Park.
The booms could be heard by neighbors on Friday, Saturday and Sunday beginning in the evening, then into the midnight hour and continuing on into the early morning hours.
"Mostly, it was puzzling, like why are they shooting in the dark?" asked Perrone.
Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza said his phone was ringing off the hook Monday by dozens of constituent callers upset by the noise.
Provenza, too, was startled by the bangs late Sunday night.
"It sounded like a gun going off or a cannon going off once a minute or every two minutes all night," said Provenza.
But it wasn't a gun.
Provenza said he and the county's agriculture commissioner Herberto Izquierda found the noisy culprit Monday: a nearby farmer setting off "bird cannons" near Road 104 and Covell Blvd.
That's a loud deterrent consisting of bangs and is meant to protect crops by scaring animals away. It's not uncommon on Yolo County farms.
"What was unusual was the way it was used, having it go off all night like that," said Provenza.
Is this a citable noise violation? In the city of Davis, yes, but not at the county level. No noise ordinance prohibits the use of these bird cannons, but it could be a nuisance violation if the booms keep booming.
"It's our hope he will be cooperative in resolving the problem," said Provenza.
The farmer has been identified by the county and is cooperating.
Izquierda told CBS13 that he reached out to the farmer and other farmers in the surrounding area to remind them of best practices when using bird cannons. Typically, that means only setting them off before dawn or before sunset.
