Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Bird Brained


Ever since we moved into our new home in March this year, it has been an ongoing battle with the pigeons. The balcony has a ledge and the birds found it convenient especially in the few days the house was vacant ( before we moved in) to set up a nest. Fortunately there were only twigs and no eggs and I had no qualms about dusting it off the ledge. Besides the mess that was created, they would fly in suddenly and frighten me out of my wits.

I first covered most open niches with newspaper. To some extent it worked. I went online and did some major research. I realised that it was a universal problem.



I read that that the UK Government was also troubled by the pigeons dirtying Trafalgar Square and at one time had four Harris hawks ( the air force - Stripey, Squirt, Nelson and Nathan) to scare the birds away. However some said that the expenses incurred were so high (£28 per pigeon ) that they felt "For that sort of money, you could have got a few MPs to run round the square all day chasing the birds away."



Some troubled souls online offered remedies like guns ( most effective they said) or pin tacks ( however much I wanted to get rid of them, this was a cruel method, I thought), soapy lather so that they would slip as soon as they set their little feet on the surface ( some found it funny!). I chose to hang some Cd's around. The neighbours must have thought I had queer ideas of decoration!! They did reflect bright colours as the light streamed on them. It did seem to work initially but they soon got used to it and on cloudy days they were of no use. Then I finally found some packaging material that fitted into the ledge and there was peace for a while. Since the house is locked for most part of the day the pigeons worked undisturbed and tried their best to dislodge the material. They succeeded partially and then settled to remove the sticks from the top of the broom that was kept out at a corner for their nest.

Not to be outsmarted I took some brown tape and rolled it over the top of the broom. I had a huge smile plastered on my face, but not for long when I found the birds trying to dislodge the sticks from the bottom of the broom!. And so the battle continues.


Well, one thing for sure, if ever you are called bird brained, take it as a compliment. They are definitely smarter and more hard working than some humans I know!

1 comment:

  1. hehehehehhehe.. didnt realise you were battling the evil creatures once more.. remember bakul and the ulta bucket... baah..

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