# I'll Break Their Bloody Necks: In which I Pit the pigeons cooing outside my window. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 30, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473 "2005-01-30T20:48:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/41 "2005-06-16T15:10:47Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Well, you could get a ceramic raptor (falcon, eagle, owl, or some other bird-of-prey) and prop it up outside your window. You’d have to move it around periodically, but I’ve heard they’re effective. I believe there are also fake cats that are similarly effective. I’ve seen ones that are just the silhouette of a cat’s face atop a couple of spikes meant to be pushed down into the soil, as well as ones designed to move in the wind to look like a cat wagging its head from side to side getting ready to pounce. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/42 "2005-06-16T15:11:51Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > West Nile virus killed off our crows and seagulls have moved into the Prairie State. I hate them. > > I long for the crows (which I used to bitch about until I learned about them–crows are cool). > > Seagulls belong–at the seashore! Go away! Scram! nasty things. Seagulls!?! Which is the Prairie state, again? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/43 "2005-06-16T16:05:49Z")
Mine? (sorry, someone had to do it…) ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/44 "2005-06-16T16:06:03Z")
Illinois, Land o’ Lincoln…and now seagulls. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/45 "2005-06-16T18:25:23Z")
Funnily enough, here in lovely WA state, the roadkill I generally see is either squirrels or raccoons, with the occasional cat or dog thrown in for variety. But yesterday I was inching along trying to get home and making like Mr. Incredible in gridlock when I look out the window and see a well-dressed pigeon corpse on the shoulder. The rest of the drive was spent wondering what got the pigeon. Didn’t look like it’d been the victim of a tryst with someone’s front grille (let alone a fastball) – feathers were pretty much in place and it was rolled over on its back. 😕 West Nile? Avian plague? Old age? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/46 "2005-06-16T18:26:11Z")
> [@Orual](#): > > Here in Boston, we have both pigeons AND seagulls! Aren’t we lucky? > > Damn gulls can wake me out of a sound sleep… Yes, we have both here on the North East coast of England, too. It’s just that once you’ve been seagulled, pigeons lose their capacity to annoy. I’d also like to point out that when I posted earlier I completely forgot that I was in the BBQ Pit, and would therefore like to add: FUCKING FUCKING BASTARD FUCKING CUNT BASTARD FUCKING SODDING SEAGULLS! Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/47 "2005-06-16T20:44:41Z")
> [@Orual](#): > > Here in Boston, we have both pigeons AND seagulls! Here in Seattle, we have pigeons, seagulls, and banana slugs. ---
**Author:** ![Jim007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@Jim007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim007)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/48 "2021-08-10T17:04:26Z")
Here in England UK the pigeons don’t Coo they pipe some la la la la, higher pitch LA LA LA LA …La . It’s annoying because once it’s starts it goes on and on and on until another of the little fuckers turns up and starts his version of the same coo\bullshit noise but again In the same sequence la la la la…LA LA LA LA …La, then more come over to have a go, the repetitiveness is to much specially when there at the top voice like trying to compete in some ego sport “who’s got the loudest bullshit to pipe” . Its sounds like a recorder or a flute with one hole init that’s stuff down there throat, a one tone pipe noise that in fact it can go through a double glazed windows and even brick . When I close my window I CAN STILL HERE THEM 🙄 Hail the Airrifle Dusted . ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/49 "2021-08-10T17:11:43Z")
I know this is old, but… Yesterday I heard odd birdsong from my balcony. I looked and saw full-grown pigeon putting food into the mouth of an apparently adolescent pigeon, which appeared to have a full set of feathers. (Awww…) They hadn’t bothered us earlier in the year. We had to give away our dogs more than two years ago, so they no longer chased pigeons away, and that drove my mother up the wall. She feeds pigeons, actually, but doesn’t want them to live on the balcony. One year before we had the dogs a pigon couple raised a family there, and I made sure she didn’t get rid of them. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/50 "2021-08-10T17:11:47Z")
No need for firearms: IME if they draw too much attention to themselves— and even when they don’t— the neighbourhood cats will take them out. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/51 "2021-08-10T20:06:03Z")
I used to get them in the early morning outside my bedroom in an apartment I lived in years ago. It drove me _crazy_. People would laugh at me because I’d get so outraged at the damn birds. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/52 "2021-08-10T20:22:27Z")
I’m hoping that the upcoming major pruning of tree branches overhanging our roof will quiet the early morning racket of mindless avians. It’s not even tuneful singing - just loud repetitive chirping. The _#_&#\*! barn swallows tried invading our porch with nest #2, but fortunately I was able to move it before more hatchlings appeared and their parents and friends dive-bombed us whenever we appeared in the vicinity. Bring on the bird plagues! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/53 "2021-08-10T20:51:55Z")
I wonder if the pigeons are still there, 16½ years later. Surely the OP would have had them all shot or poisoned by now. Perhaps they are back as zombie pigeons, still cooing and shitting upon the living as enthusiastically as ever. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/54 "2021-08-10T21:02:05Z")
Time for a song. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yhuMLpdnOjY/hqdefault.jpg "Tom Lehrer - Poisoning Pigeons In The Park") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY) ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/55 "2021-08-17T01:38:39Z")
> [@lizardling](#): > > a well-dressed pigeon corpse on the shoulder. The rest of the drive was spent wondering what got the pigeon. Was crossing an open-ironwork truss bridge here in town, just in time to see s pigeon plummet to the roadway in front of me. Old age, at a guess. Dan ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473/56 "2021-08-17T01:44:14Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Bring on the bird plagues! That would be corvid. Dan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-break-their-bloody-necks-in-which-i-pit-the-pigeons-cooing-outside-my-window/287473.md?page=2)