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Seaport building demolition scheduled for spring summer.  Starting in April or May, seagulls begin nesting. When seagulls nest and lay eggs, you can’t demolish the buildings until you apply for and get permission for a “Take” of a bird covered under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This takes time, holds up the contractor, everyone gets frustrated.  In order to head this off, I wrote some contract specifications:

Photo: Port of Seattle

NESTING BIRD WATCH AND CONTROL

1. Owner shall provide bird watch services up until 30 days after Contract Execution, to ensure there are no nesting birds that may impact the Contractor’s ability to perform work.
2. At 30 days after Contract Execution, the Contractor shall take over full responsibility for this work.
3. Contractor shall be responsible for preventing migratory birds from nesting on the roofs of buildings to be demolished. 
4. Prevention shall include, at a minimum, once daily roof inspections to determine whether migratory birds are conducting nest building activity. 
5. Nests that do not contain eggs and that are not in the possession of migratory birds shall be destroyed.
6. Nests that contain one or more eggs shall not be disturbed and shall be immediately reported to the Engineer.
7. Nests that are complete and in the possession of a migratory bird, with or without eggs, shall not be disturbed and shall be immediately reported to the Engineer.
8. All Project delays and associated costs due to nesting birds discovered after the Contractor assumes responsibility for bird watch/control shall be the full responsibility of the Contractor.