Star Ferry Musing #163. The Pigeon War of Forest Hills
Written by Robert Wu for his family and friends
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I am living on the top floor of a 33 story apartment building. From my vantage, I can see JFK Airport and the Verrazano Bridge. The view is expansive and beautiful. But the height is also inviting to pigeons which see the building as a rocky cliff they can call home.
Pigeons congregate in flocks. Pigeon couples mate for life and raise chicks as a family. Unfortunately, their droppings are dirty and mar surfaces, and their cooing noise is disturbing. They are intrusive pests to home owners. Sometimes, they are called rats with wings.
I moved into my home in 2020 during a break in the Covid epidemic. On my balcony, there were a few planters. I was surprised to find a pigeon roosting and raising chicks in one of the planters.
The pigeons living on my tall building are living in fear. They rarely fly far from the building for fear of marauding hawks. Pigeons can fly at up to 50 MPH, but hawks can dive at a faster speed. This American kestrel is a hawk that hunts pigeons that are bigger than them.
I found this leftover from a hawk meal on my balcony.
To keep my balcony clean and free from disturbing pigeons, I cut the wires of wire meshes and turn the spikes upward. I hoped they keep pigeons from roosting in the planter pots.
But the determined pigeons endured the spikes and ignored the wire meshes. A pigeon roosted on the pointy wire meshes and laid an egg.
To keep the pigeons from landing on my railings, I installed sharp pointy strips on the railings.
But the pigeons congregate under the railings, so I installed sharp pointy strips on the ledge.
But occasionally, a pigeon would ignore the pain of stepping on sharp pointy spikes and perch on them.
Exacerbated, I resorted to artillery to chase the pigeons away. Using tongue depressors, chopsticks, and paper clips, I made a double-barreled rubber band pistol.
The rubber band pistol is very inaccurate. I have never touched a pigeon with a rubber band. But the flying rubber bands startle and chase them away.
This pigeon strolls on the balcony in a victory parade.
On the balcony, I have two lawn chairs and a low table. I would sit on the chair sometimes and enjoy the view.
I found the pigeons have made home under the chairs. In an effort to deter them from entering, I made mats with plastic spikes. I read somewhere that vinegar deters pigeons, so I placed containers of vinegar under the chairs.
To my dismay, I found a pigeon nest under one of the chairs.
The nest is composed of leaves from my shrubs, and collected war trophies that include my fired rubber bands and bird barrier wire spikes from somewhere else. The pigeons defiantly selected war trophies to line their nest.
Bird barrier wire spikes are used to form pigeon barriers. The pigeons found these spikes somewhere else and took them to their nest in my balcony. Sometimes I think the pigeons have a mocking sense of humor.
Finding the terrestrial spikes and dishes of vinegar to be useless against the roosting pigeons, I used strings to weave a barrier to keep them from landing.
I thought I have created an impenetrable barrier to the persistent pigeons.
But unfortunately, the net, the spikes, and the vinegar failed. The pigeons laid an egg in the nest. I threw away the egg in frustration. I was so surprised at the pigeons’ ability I forgot to take a photo of that egg.
Exacerbated, I found a net and I wrapped it around the chair. It is such a tangle, I thought no bird-brained pigeon would figure how to get to its nesting place. I thought I created a barrier that is a mini-copy of the “A2/AD Anti-access/area denial” anti-intrusion defensive system. I thought I created a 天羅地網.
This was the theater of the Pigeon War. One area is hotly contested while the other areas are ignored and peaceful for the time being.
The next day, I found a pigeon in the tangle of strings. A string was wrapping around its wing and the bird was immobilized. I cut the string and it hobbled away into a crevice. Its wing was apparently uninjured, but the bird needed a rest before it could fly away.
Under the tangled mesh and pointy barriers, I found a second pigeon egg. I threw it away. Apparently, pigeons lay only one egg a day.
I decided to cordon off the spaces under the chairs and the table and turn them into a no man’s land. I decided to used steel wire netting to seal off the spaces.
I bought a roll of steel wire netting and made three cages. I put them under the chairs and the table. The pigeons will need super powers to use shears to cut through these barriers.
The pigeons have disappeared from my balcony for 2 days. I hope I have finally won the Pigeon War of Forest Hills.
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