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Can City Hall beat a flock of pigeons?
Saratoga Springs seeks to keep troublesome birds off building  
  
By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer
First published: Saturday, September 1, 2007

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- The number of pigeons roosting and pooping on City Hall has apparently reached unacceptable proportions, and the city is considering spending tens of thousands of dollars to get rid of them.
Dozens of fowl have found a home outside the north side of the municipal building and defecate in air-conditioning units, which causes health concerns, Public Works Director William McTygue said.

  
"The pigeons cause an awful nuisance and pigeon droppings are a real problem," he said.

The Public Works Department wants to initiate a contract with Orkin Exterminating Co. to eliminate the flock from the north area of City Hall, located downtown on Broadway.

McTygue plans to discuss one possible strategy with the City Council on Tuesday: erecting a low-shock electric fence on a part of City Hall to discourage the birds from landing.

"We're not looking to kill the pigeons," McTygue said. "We're looking to repel them."

Pigeons on Broadway have been a mainstay for decades. The city has contracted pigeon-removal services in the past with marginal success.

But pigeon poop has now created a ventilation problem, so the city wants to remove the air conditioners from City Hall, clean them and come up with a solution for keeping pigeons from returning.

"It's not going to be a cheap project to fix," McTygue warned. Removing pigeons from all of City Hall would cost about $68,000, but Public Works isn't looking to do that, he said.

"We'll discuss it Tuesday with the City Council and try to move forward with a solution," he said.

Ask Scotia....they fixed the geese.....

Pigeon pot pie anyone?

Quoted from Shadow

Pigeon pot pie anyone?

ooooohhh yuk.....

although some target practice may be in order.....

remember what happened at Ellis last year with pidgeon 'clean up'......

A little bit of poison goes a long way.

There's a repelant sign companies use to keep birds away.

Quoted from 17

There's a repelant sign companies use to keep birds away.

the neighbors BB gun???

Hey come on now...you folks have lighten  up here a bit. Where are these pidgeons suppose to go? Let nature take care of them...just bring some hawks in. Pidgeons are a fine meal for hawks.
We have bird feeders in our yard. And along with the cardinals, finches and the other 'welcomed' birds, we are also host to many pigeons. And I must say that a hawk comes around occassionally and has a fine meal of 'pigeon'. That keeps them out for a while. Then they get brave and fly in again.

But I must say, hawks attacking their prey isn't the most pleasent thing to witness.

Bumble I have the same thing here when I'm feeding the birds in the winter. Every once in a while this smaller hawk, very fast, dives in and takes out one of the doves feeding on the ground below the feeder, and you're right it isn't a very pleasant sight especially with snow on the ground.

ooohhh---the feathers all over mess up the snow---dont eat that yellow snow......