Shop Now 
Cart Occasionally, you see them munching on a pizza rind or some other recognizable discarded food, but most of the time they seem to be pecking at nothing at all.
I am not planning to start a pigeon Facebook enterprise, but unlike virtually all New Yorkers, I do not loathe pigeons and give them credit for living a tough life on the mean and unforgiving streets of Manhattan.
And if you actually stop and look at them, which no one does, their plumage can be quite striking. Yes they are plump and the neck-snapping walk is mind-boggling — what evolutionary rationale could that possibly have? — but they demonstrate an unrelenting pluck to survive in the city that I find admirable.
Just like seagulls, you never see a young or old pigeon, and never a sickly one. They are all the same size and seem in excellent health. I’ve never seen a dead pigeon or a squished one, which is remarkable for all their bicycle- and car-dodging. Not to overthink this, for all of their daily vicissitudes they seem pretty content with their lives, although their expressionless faces could be masking all kinds of nameless dreads.
One activity that seems to definitely give them great pleasure is communal flight. As I look east from our 16th floor apartment, I often see sizable flocks of pigeons soaring in synchronized movements that have no purpose, just banking, turning this way and that, diving and climbing.
They are clearly playing. They will, as a group, alight on a random rooftop, cogitate for a while and then set off on another flight maneuver, happy as clams.
If there is an afterlife, this playful flying would not make me elect to come back as a pigeon. I’m on record as choosing to come back as a chickadee. But if I have no choice and I’m forced to come back as a pigeon, I could handle it. The key, it seems, is a sufficient stream of pizza rinds.
Seagulls seem a lot like pigeons. They are always scamming for food and can fly beautifully. They seem smarter than pigeons and have a more sculpted shape. Gratefully, they have eliminated the disturbing neck-snapping walk, and they are artful at catching food thrown at them by the bored human denizens of Crescent Beach.
Which brings me to a seagull story. It is a third-hand story and its veracity cannot be verified. It was told to me by my nephew on Cape Cod, and he is a known embellisher. There is a thin line between embellishment and prevarication, and I am pretty sure he was sticking to the embellishment side. Not betting my life on that, however.
It starts with a surf-casting fisherman and a nearby observing seagull. The seagull watches as the surf-caster baits up his hook and heaves it into the waves. This is repeated several times with no success, fish-catching-wise. This is where it gets interesting.
This story wants you to believe that a light goes on in the observing seagull’s brain. The light says one, there is food being flung into the air and two, I can fly. Ergo, an intercept is entirely possible. But the light does not fully grasp the concept of “fish hook.”
You probably see where this is going. A perfectly timed intercept is made and the hook lodges in the seagull’s beak, surprising both human and bird actors in this story.
Embellishment alert: The fisherman starts reeling in the seagull and eventually gets it on the beach where a concerned woman assists the fisherman to calm the seagull while he fetches his needle-nose pliers to extract the hook. The seagull is not pleased, and it takes a while to wrestle the hook out.
A moment passes as the humans and seagull digest what just happened. Another light goes on in the seagull’s brain. With good intentions, the concerned woman is carefully holding the seagull but gets no credit for this act of kindness. The light says take a nip of the woman’s cheek and get the heck out of here. End of story.
True story? We cannot be sure.
But it sure beats any pigeon story I know.
Bird Gone, Pigeon Gone, Pigeon problems, pigeon spikes, 1-877-4NO-BIRD, 4-S Gel, Bird Control, Pigeon Control, bird repellent, Bird Spikes, sonic bird repellent, stainless steel bird spikes, bird spikes Vancouver, Ultra Sonic Bird Control, Bird Netting, Plastic Bird Spikes, Canada bird spike deterrents, Pigeon Pests, B Gone Pigeon, Pigeon Patrol, pest controller, pest control operator, pest control technician, Pigeon Control Products, humane pigeon spikes, pigeon deterrents, pigeon traps, Pigeon repellents, Sound & Laser Deterrents, wildlife control, raccoon, skunk, squirrel deterrent, De-Fence Spikes, Dragons Den.
“You’re thinking about dinner as you wait in traffic when — PLOP! — something white and black falls onto your windshield,” the post continues.
oreca also argued that pigeon excrement presents a health risk for waiters and other employees who have to clean pigeon-occupied dining and drinking areas.
Strategic retreat is sometimes the best offense. Citizens of Hyderabad are doing just that as ballooning pigeon population has taken over the city. “We are shelling out ₹2,000 per apartment to get the netting done. As we have 90 apartments, we have bargained the price down to ₹ 9 per sq ft,” says G. Ravi Kiran, a resident of an apartment complex in Hyderguda. “We have been forced to go for the netting as almost all the surrounding apartments have fixed the mesh which has lead to a rise in the number of pigeons frequenting our apartment,” he says. While feeding places have multiplied throughout the city over the past few years, more and more pigeons are taking over unlikely roosting places. “We found a pair and a small chick on the V-junction of a drainage pipe. There was almost no nest except a few sticks,” says Nirmala K., who lives in an apartment complex in Rama Krishna Nagar.
When a scruffy pigeon first flew onto the Germscheid family ranch near Entwistle, Greg didn’t know what to think.
A former health secretary has called for an inquiry into the deaths of two hospital patients who contracted a rare infection linked to pigeon droppings. Alex Neil said the cause of the deaths and the handling of the cases by Scotland’s biggest health had to be looked into. The Cryptococcus infections have been linked to the excrement of birds that got into a non-public area at the flagship Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGCC) has launched a probe into the death of one patient, with the cause still to be determined. The health board said the second patient affected – who was elderly – died of an unrelated matter. The Scottish government confirmed the infection was reported in December. Mr Neil told BBC Scotland: “I think there has to be an outside inquiry by experts to find why this happened in the first place, secondly how it has been handled by the health board and, thirdly, what precautions need to be taken for the future.” The SNP MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, who was health secretary between 2012 and 2014, questioned why it took three weeks for the news to be made public. He added: “There are confusing messages coming out of the health board so they need to clarify the situation and do so as a matter of urgency.” “There are confusing messages coming out of the health board so they need to clarify the situation and do so as a matter of urgency” Alex Neil A non-public room, thought to contain machinery, has been identified as a likely source. Measures have been taken to keep pigeons out of the area while portable units that filter the air continuously have been installed. A Scottish government spokesman: “Our primary concern, and that of the Health Board, remains the safety and wellbeing of the patients and their families at the hospital. “There is an on-going review of two isolated cases of an unusual fungal infection within the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital site, which were detected in December 2018.” A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board said an investigation remains ongoing. “These two cases of infection were identified in December and an incident management team was formed. “A likely source was identified and dealt with immediately. “The small number of paediatric and adult patients who are vulnerable to this infection are receiving medication to prevent potential infection and this has proved effective. “Air sampling was carried out and HEPA filters were brought in on 10 January to specific areas before conclusive results were available. “Results identifying the organism were obtained on 16 January. “Early indications suggest the filters are having a positive effect. “The organism is harmless to the vast majority of people and rarely causes disease in humans. “We are unable to comment further on the two cases due to patient confidentiality.”
Boomer has a new home and a flock to fly with.
This is the bizarre moment a man feeds his two pet pigeons with seed held in his mouth.
Cllr Yvonne O’Neill told a meeting of the town council: “Pigeon excrement is covering the streets in town and people are also leaving dog faeces.
A pigeon perched on a water fountain near a New York City ferry was patiently waiting for someone like Steven Pesantez for help.
An informal group of animal lovers have taken it upon themselves to help city-dwelling pigeons keep their feet clean. The group, known online as the “San Francisco Pigeons Stringfoot help” find flocks of pigeons and treat them for stringfoot, a condition that can deform the bird’s feet, while also working to break birds’ dependence on humans for food.