Hunh. That’s odd. I really hate pigeons normally, but I find it kind of soothing to listen to them cooing right above my bedroom window.
Whereas I loved the little wrens that were everywhere when I lived in Boston, but couldn’t stand to hear them cheeping outside my window in the mornings.
Just confirming what biggirl said…Pigeons are rats with wings.
There are differences between pigeons and doves out here in SoCal…the pigeons are bigger, fatter, messier, shittier and slower than their dove cousins.
We’ve tried everything non-harmful to the fat, feathery scourge…raptor decoys, spike mats, cd’s on strings (which look rediculous on a house btw), etc. The ultimate solution…take away all roosting ledges/holes by covering them up and take a good single pump air rifle (with scope) and eliminate them one by one. When we moved into our current home, our house has 3 gables on the second floor which meant I had 6 nesting pairs of birds plus offspring…all of them crapping on our drive way and front porch. UNACCEPTABLE. We boarded up the roosting spots but the birds still hung around on the roof and still crapped all over the place. STILL UNACCEPTABLE. Used the raptor decoys, etc., and they got used to them. TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. Got an air rifle w/scope and took them all out, one by one. Did the same thing at my business (after hours of course!) when they tried to nest on a couple of openings and ledges. On occasion, a pair will TRY to nest at my business, but they don’t succeed. QUITE ACCEPTABLE.
As far as I concerned, those little bastards had their chance(s) to move on.
Give me ravens that feast on their dead, fat ugly asses any day. Now those birds are the shit.
Ah, here we are…vector control for pigeons from my home county (pdf file). I’m not the only one who thinks these are pests.
{Best Orson Welles Mercury Theater voice}
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door;
Only this, and nothing more.”
…
And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming.
And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!
Agreed…a very cool character, the raven.
Regulations or no, I’d import some if I could train them to kill pigeons.
Stranger
I feel for the bird rage.
I live in Japan… not many people outside Japan know about the scourge of the Japanese crow. From the center of Tokyo to the deepest countryside of Hokkaido, these oversized mutants call out loudly from the first break of day. (This can be 3AM in the summertime in the northern parts). They are so loud that you can scarcely sleep.
The worst part is that guns are too tightly controlled for me to purchase a fowling piece, and it’s illegal to kill animals without a permit.
Gah.
Ah, memories.
Poe.
Price.
Project.
All good.
Ravens are scavengers, I doubt you could train them to kill pigeons (that’s what the air rifle is for), but they don’t need any training to eat’em and to clean up any roadkill. Got alot of them here in the high desert. Very nice and efficient birds.
Yeticus Rex, you are my hero.
Norman Kirk, a former Prime Minister of NZ, was well-known for shooting the pigeons that swarmed outside his parliamentary office with an air pistol when they pissed him off too much.
Personally, I’d spare at least two of the little bastards, trap them, truss them up, and then take a great steaming shit on one of them, and wipe my arse with the other.
You know, if my business ever took a dump and I had to start another business, pigeon control would be a serious consideration. Maybe a dollar or two per kill and then sell the bird meat to a fowl butcher. Some of the pigeons I shot a last year were cooked up by one of my employee’s husband. It was a delicacy back in his native homeland. Of course, I would save a couple of these kills for the ravens…can’t let those guys “starve”.
I used to have an apartment that was adored by pigeons as it had some odd nooks and crannies along the front of the building. (Edwardian detailing + bay windows = lots of cozy roosting places)
All day long, it was aroom aroom aroom aroom aroom…
They were roosting on the rubber snakes and plastic owl that someone else had tried.
I went to the hardware store looking for help and was handed a tube of salvation. The magic balm you need is Tanglefoot! It’s not poisonous or otherwise harmful - it’s just sticky stuff they don’t want to get their feet on. I squeezed the stuff along the ledges and window sills and the results were instant. The birds flew away as soon as I opened the window and they never came back. 
Didja leave their heads on miniature spikes (swizzle sticks will do) as a warning to others?
Personally, I favour just getting a cat, because I love cats.
In my state we look forward each spring to the return of the vultures. San Juan Capistrano has swallows, we’ve got buzzards. One fine spring evening last year I walked out into the yard and about 20 of them were roosting in the low branches overhead. Atmospheric. I think I will leave some spoiled meat out for them this year; maybe they will nest.
Ditto on the grackles, which I fortunately left behind in Texas. That electric squawk is really grating.
And deer are rats with hooves.
The pigeons in the U.S. are an invasive species, like kudzu, snakeheads, and zebra mussels. They cause millions of dollars of damage yearly, and they threaten native species’ survival. They don’t belong in this ecosystem.
This, of course, is not an acceptable solution for many, but for what it’s worth…
Long Beach City Hall had a pigeon problem. Still does sort of, because not being all that bright, the pigeons still come a little too close to City Hall, and meet their fate at the talons of the resident pigeon hawk that has been given residence on the roof of the 14-floor building. (Sure there’s a 13th floor. The City Manager’s office is there.)
You might take some heart in it, Stranger. The left-over pieces are ocassionally seen littering the City Hall plaza. Still some bird poop too, but one pigeon hawk leaves a lot less than hundreds of pigeons.
Oh. I didn’t mean to revive this thread; I meant to post to one in threadspotting.
Er, carry on.
<sighs> Stranger --you don’t BREAK a pigeon’s neck…you WRING it.
Accuracy, my son, accuracy!
Here in Exurbia, by the sea, by the beautiful sea, we don’t have to worry about pigeons.
We have seagulls. You think a pigeon’s coo is annoying? Think pigeons produce a lot of guano?
And deer. Good luck with that garden. Oh, and watch out for the ticks that hitch rides on the deer, they carry Lyme Disease.
And coyotes. Who consider cats and small dogs a tasty treat.
We also have crows, who clean up the roadkill and are almost as cool as ravens.
Seagulls. Yes, seagulls. Evil bloody seagulls. Thank your lucky stars if you only have to put up with pigeons. Seagulls do all the nasty things that pigeons do, but bigger, louder, and with an attitude. And if they decide that your rooftop would be a nice place to roost, you may want to think about moving out. Seagulls in mating season scream like the soul of a demented child suffering all the fiery torments of hell. And they do it at all hours of the day and night. If they nest on your roof, they become very territorial – take one step out the door and Mr and Mrs Seagull decide that you’re after their chicks and ATTACK! Screaming dives from roof height, raking claws, raptor-like beak agape, huge dollops of guano aimed right at you.
Pigeons. Oh, how I wish I only had pigeons.
Here in Boston, we have both pigeons AND seagulls! Aren’t we lucky?
Damn gulls can wake me out of a sound sleep…
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.