# Is there any law against dropping birdseed in a public place?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-law-against-dropping-birdseed-in-a-public-place/1031926>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 26, 2026, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-law-against-dropping-birdseed-in-a-public-place/1031926 "2026-07-26T07:33:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-law-against-dropping-birdseed-in-a-public-place/1031926/21 "2026-07-28T04:16:26Z")

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> [@Spiderman](#):
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> a ladder or a bucket truck, it’s gonna take more than a couple of seconds to put the bird seed up there.

Nobody is talking about putting the seed \>up\< anywhere. If you put seed on the ground around it, birds will claim the territory. That means they’ll be sitting on the pole anywhere they can find a toehold. Once they associate the area with food, they will flock there.

If you know wildlife, you can use them without hurting them or anybody else.

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**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-law-against-dropping-birdseed-in-a-public-place/1031926/22 "2026-07-29T13:20:36Z")

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> [@TruCelt](#):
>
> If you put seed on the ground around it, birds will claim the territory. That means they’ll be sitting on the pole anywhere they can find a toehold.

If they fly down from the exact right spot, they may block the camera for a fraction of a second; however, if they sit anywhere else on the (traffic) light pole or on electrical wires then they won’t block the camera ever. Putting seed on the ground will not block the camera for the vast majority of the time & probably only add up to seconds per day.

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**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-law-against-dropping-birdseed-in-a-public-place/1031926/23 "2026-07-29T14:12:49Z")

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> [@Tamerlane](#):
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> It shall be unlawful to feed or offer food to any Red Masked Parakeet in any park of the City and County of San Francisco.

LOL what? That’s awfully specific.

> [@TruCelt](#):
>
> …they will flock there.

I see what you did.

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-law-against-dropping-birdseed-in-a-public-place/1031926/24 "2026-07-29T14:29:46Z")

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> [@jjakucyk](#):
>
> LOL what? That’s awfully specific.

Decent bet they had an infestation of that species at one time and wanted to eradicate them without making it too grisly for then-current sensibilities.

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-law-against-dropping-birdseed-in-a-public-place/1031926/25 "2026-07-29T16:13:36Z")

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> [@jjakucyk](#):
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> LOL what? That’s awfully specific.

> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> Decent bet they had an infestation of that species at one time and wanted to eradicate them without making it too grisly for then-current sensibilities.

No, not eradicate - shockingly they are the official animal of San Francisco, despite being non-native 😉. They won a popularity contest (over the more appropriate California Sea Lions that first started [hanging out on Pier 39 in 1989](https://www.pier39.com/sealions/)) and were so declared by the SF Board of Supervisors a few years back. Why did they win a popularity contest? Because of the semi-famous 2003 documentary and accompanying book [The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Parrots_of_Telegraph_Hill) about the feral self-sustaining colony of mostly Red-Masked Parakeets (but it’s actually a hybrid swarm) that has established itself in the city. The 2007 ban on feeding them was to keep them wild, so they would continue to forage for themselves and not become a nuisance species dependent on hand-outs.

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**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-law-against-dropping-birdseed-in-a-public-place/1031926/26 "2026-07-29T16:45:59Z")

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> [@Tamerlane](#):
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> Exactly right. I know it is illegal to feed animals in public areas (as opposed to your own yard) in San Francisco:

New Orleans passed a similar law during the time I lived in the area. Until then, [Jackson Square](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Square_(New_Orleans)) was a popular place for feeding pigeons; some people supplemented their income by reselling birdseed.

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-law-against-dropping-birdseed-in-a-public-place/1031926/27 "2026-07-29T17:22:21Z")

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Cool. Thanks for setting the record straight.

SF is always thinking 2 or three moves ahead of more stupid sorts of places. And seems to always have their heart in the right place even if sometimes they’re a little head-challenged.

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