For the past couple of years, bug experts and agriculture officials have been urging homeowners and business owners to kill spotted lanternflies. But some of the most popular devices used to snuff out those insects — glue traps — have unintentionally been injuring and killing birds, according to officials from The Raptor Trust.

“While the spotted lanternfly is of great concern in our area, the unintended consequences of this method of remediation far outweigh its effectiveness, and in some cases the by-catch victims are they very things that might prey upon the lanternflies in the first place,” the bird rehabilitation group posted on its Facebook page on Aug. 2.

Christopher Soucy, executive director of the non-profit Raptor Trust, based in Morris County, said there’s been a substantial uptick in birds getting stuck in lanternfly glue traps that people are attaching to the trunks of trees to trap and kill the invasive insects that have been rapidly multiplying in New Jersey and other eastern states during recent years.

The troubling result: Many birds are getting badly injured, and some are dying, Soucy told NJ Advance Media.

This songbird was injured when it was stuck in a glue trap that had been set up to catch spotted lanternflies. (Photo courtesy of The Raptor Trust in Morris County)The Raptor Trust

So far this year, The Raptor Trust has already responded to 61 cases involving birds that were caught in glue traps — including 53 in June and July alone.

“At this point last year (in June and July), we had six,” Soucy said. “So that’s almost a ten-fold increase this year.... This year it has exploded.”

Of the 61 birds that have been stuck in glue tape and taken in by the wildlife rehab organization as of Aug. 3, 15 have recovered and have been released, Soucy said. However, 23 remain under care with injuries, and all the rest of the birds have died.

“Once they’re in that trap, they’re struggling to get free,” Soucy said, noting that the birds suffer from “feather damage and abrasions, skin damage, as well as trauma and stress and shock.”

Adding to the trauma, he said, is the fact that birds don’t understand the human veterinarians and vet technicians who work at The Raptor Trust are trying to help them and save them from their injuries. The birds are scared and want to get out of captivity and back into their natural habitat.

Although many different species of birds have gotten stuck in glue traps, the most common types are smaller birds like song birds and gray catbirds, Soucy said.

These small birds were injured when they were stuck in glue traps that had been set up to catch spotted lanternflies. (Photo courtesy of The Raptor Trust in Morris County)The Raptor Trust

While The Raptor Trust doesn’t recommend the use of glue traps on trees — because of the danger they pose to birds and other wildlife — if homeowners and business owners decide to use them, Soucy says they should install a protective barrier around the glue by using a wire mesh material such as “hardware cloth” with small holes, usually a half-inch by a half-inch.

Holes of that size should be small enough to keep birds out and allow the intended targets — spotted lanternflies — to get through and reach the glue traps.

The organization says a safer alternative to help protect birds and small mammals is a “circle trap,” something that is being used with good success in Pennsylvania. Circle traps are designed to capture lanternfly nymphs as the critters crawl up trees to feed on leaves.

“This new-style trap is made of plastic-coated insect screening and does not use any sticky material at all. It is basically a tunnel that SLFs walk into,” the Penn State Extension notes in this fact sheet. “When they move upward in the trap, they end up in a dead-end collection container where they die.”

Spotted lanternflies have been seen in New Jersey and 10 other states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

At this time of the year, the bugs are making their transition from tiny nymphs to their young adult phase. They started out in the spring and early summer with black bodies and white spots, then turned red with black blotches and white spots as the summer progressed.

Now many spotted lanternflies in New Jersey are getting bigger, growing wings and taking to the air to swarm more trees and plants, just like they did last summer and fall.

This is what adult spotted lanternflies look like in the late summer and early fall, with their wings closed.New Jersey Department of Agriculture

“If you find a bird caught in a glue trap, please bring it to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator as soon as possible,” The Raptor Trust says on its Facebook page.

The Raptor Trust can be reached at 908-647-2353 or 908-647-1091.

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Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com.

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