Starlings 'binging on olives' close roads in Rome after caking them in droppings

The droppings mix with rotting leaves and have already caused motorobike and car accidents.

Starlings migrating from northern Europe fly in the sky above Rome. About one-million starlings migrate in Rome during autumn and winter time and draw beautiful patterns in the sky before spending the nights in the trees by the Tiber river, creating chaos in the neighborhood with their droppings

Millions of starlings binging on olives have forced authorities in Rome to close off roads caked in droppings.

Recent heavy rain in the Italian capital has washed droppings off trees into the street, making pavements and streets dangerously slippy.

The hazardous mixture of the droppings and rotting leaves has already caused car and motorbike acidents, the Guardian reports.

The birds travel to the city outskirts to eat large amounts of olives before returning to the city centre attracted by warmer temperatures and bright lights.

While massive flocks of starlings are a traditional sight over Rome, their excrement is damaging buildings and monuments. The tourism trade has also been affected as public benches and piazzas become covered in guano.

To stop having to jetwash roads and public squares covered in droppings, city authorities have tried to scare the birds away using recordings of the screeching sound starlings produce when they spot a bird of prey.

Attempts to use hawks to attack the starling population found little success before being disbanded, thanks to soaring pollution levels.