What’s On Top of These Rochester Water Towers?

You might have seen them on top of several water towers here in Rochester. But what are they-- and why are they there?

As it turns out, your eyes aren't deceiving you-- those ARE brightly-colored wind dancers, perched high atop several RPU water towers. (For instance, I first noticed one on the water tower just outside Scheel's at Apache Mall.)

You know what a wind dancer is, right? They're the same kind of things you might see at a store or car dealer to draw attention to the big sale they might be having. They use the breeze to move in the wind, as if they're dancing. (Thus the name!)

So why are they on top of water towers around Rochester?

Well, according to the latest issue of RPU's Plugged In, those wind dancers are there to scare off... turkey vultures. For real.

Much like all the mess the crows cause in downtown Rochester each fall, turkey vultures had a habit of nesting on and around water towers. Which would create quite the mess for RPR to clean up.

The constant motion created by these wind dancers, though, scares the birds away, eliminates the mess, and saves some money, too. RPU says cleaning up after the birds used to cost "thousands of dollar," but installing a wind dancer costs "just a fraction."

So THAT'S what they are-- and why they're there. It's a pretty ingenious solution, if you ask me!