A hawk has been enlisted to protect one of Ford Motor’s most important factories from a persistent pigeon problem.
At the car manufacturer’s 12.1 million sq ft assembly plant in the northern Mexican city of Hermosillo, the two-foot hawk has so far worked more than 1,170 hours over the course of more than 300 flights.
It is named El Charro, a common Mexican term for cowboy, and it began patrolling the factory just over a year ago in July 2025.
El Charro protects the assembly plant from a pigeon infestation that plagued the facility for years.
The birds can cause disruptions by getting into factory equipment and light beams. They also tend to leave droppings on freshly painted cars, which is particularly difficult to clean, and they are generally considered a health hazard for workers.
‘Having birds inside creates a lot of risks,’ the factory’s central maintenance manager, Jesus Teran, told the Wall Street Journal.
Staff at the facility attempted several solutions before turning to El Charro, such as hanging replicas of ‘predator eyes’ and playing predator bird sounds over speakers.
But nothing worked, as the pigeons would soon become familiar with the deterrents and return.
A Hawk named El Charro has been enlisted to stop a pigeon infestation at a major Ford Motor assembly plant in Mexico. A stock image of a trained Harris’s hawk is pictured
The Ford factory in the Mexican city of Hermosillo has been plagued by a pigeon infestation for years, which can cause disruptions and is considered a health hazard
El Charro’s daily shifts typically last two to three hours as the bird flies around half the huge factory’s exterior. Its flights have reduced pigeon activity by around 80 percent, Ford said
Managers eventually determined that falconry, the practice of using trained birds of prey, might be their best bet.
The team soon hired a falconer who brought a Harris’s hawk named Chalino, but it bumped into another hawk during a patrol flight, and the two departed together and were never seen again.
The falconer then brought in El Charro, another Harris’s hawk, and it has been a dutiful guardian of the factory since.
Its patrol flights have reduced pigeon activity in the facility by about 80 percent, Ford told the Wall Street Journal.
‘It has given very good results,’ Teran, the central maintenance manager, added.
El Charro’s daily shifts begin in the afternoon and typically last two to three hours. The hawk flies around half of the building’s exterior searching for pigeons and is able to point staff to nests that are subsequently removed.
Falconry has become a more popular solution to nuisance birds in recent years as it is effective and considered more humane than alternatives such as poison, Vice President of the Raptor Research Foundation Jennifer Coulson told the Journal.
The repeated presence of a bird of prey stops nuisance birds such as pigeons, seagulls and sparrows from going to locations where they can cause problems.
Falconry is a growing solution to nuisance birds, as it is considered more humane than alternatives. A hawk is pictured returning to its falconer at an airport (stock image)
Airports use falconry to deter small birds that can collide with planes or helicopters. The repeated presence of birds of prey is an effective solution against nuisance birds
Airports use falconry to deter small birds that can collide with planes and helicopters, and beaches use it to keep seagulls from carrying off trash or trying to take food from diners’ plates, for example.
‘The goal is not to kill the prey, but scare the prey so it doesn’t come back,’ Coulson told the Journal.
In addition to offering an effective and humane solution to the factory’s pigeon problem, El Charro’s presence at the facility has been a hit with staff, Teran told the outlet.
Many employees ask to take photos with the hawk whenever it is with its owner, the manager said.
The factory plans to continue enlisting El Charro’s help for the foreseeable future, as the bird of prey has proved itself to be an invaluable guardian against pigeons.
