City of Taylor making changes to firework display after bird incident

KVUE
Author: Matt Fernandez
Published: 6:41 PM CDT June 30, 2023
Updated: 6:42 PM CDT June 30, 2023

TAYLOR, Texas — The City of Taylor is making some changes to its fireworks show this year.

The fireworks have been launched from Murphy Park for several years.

However, Murphy Park is also home to egrets, and last year's firework show took an unfortunate turn after the birds were startled and flew into a transformer.

"It resulted several birds that got apparently got scared by the fireworks noise they ended up flying into a transmitter and unfortunately they were found deceased," said Jessica Alderson of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Last year's incident sparked some changes to the city's approach.

Alderson said the city has been shooting fireworks works in the park for several years without incident, but city leaders and Texas Parks and Wildlife worked together on a plan after last year.

"A plan that would allow the city to continue to do the fireworks on the Fourth of July, maybe do them in different area of park and hopefully have less impact on the birds this coming year, and they have agreed to do that," Alderson said.

Ray and Stephanie Ibbeken are big fans of the Fourth of July and fireworks, and are glad the show was moved to a different section of the park.

“Actually, it’s better for us, it is closer to us, from where we are sitting," said Ray Ibbeken.