Fred update: Model vulture shoos away the real birds

Fred the vulture is visible above the chimney in this photograph provided by Mayor Grayson Vandegrift.

The model vulture Fred, which the city had hung in a tree amid a vulture roost on Feb. 17 to mimic a dead one, appears to have done the job, Mayor Grayson Vandegrift reports.

"We’ll take good news where we can find it," Vandegrift wrote in an email with a photo., above. "This was taken by the homeowner and she’s reporting that after we moved Fred to a little higher spot in the tree, the vultures left. Another neighbor reported seeing them circling it and then flying away. We’re going to monitor to see if they roost somewhere else in town, but other than the tin man, that seemed to be their spot." Here's a Messenger photo, taken Tuesday, from another angle: