Expert: Roger Lederer - 10/4/2004

Question
Hi there!

I have a question I'm hoping you can help me with.  I live in an apartment complex and for the last three years I've been feeding the wild birds outside.  I've been putting wild bird seed in bowls out on my balcony, and getting much happiness in watching the sparrows, doves, and pigeons come eat.  Everything has been fine for the last three years until recently when I got a new neighbor upstairs. This guy has decided that he doesn't like the pigeons flying around and he complained to the manager, who promptly told me to stop putting seed outside.  I'm devestated since they brought me so much happiness, and the only way I can think of to keep me and my apartment manager happy is to find a way to keep feeding the doves and sparrows, but to stop the pigeons from coming around.  I've racked my brain for a week and I can't think of how to do this.  Do you know of any bird feeders that will accomidate smaller birds, but pigeons won't be able to get into?  I was thinking about smaller bird feeders that pigeons wouldn't fit in, but then they would still hang around and try to eat and pick up the seeds that fall right?  Thanks for any ideas you might have!

Sincerely,
Erin :)

Answer
Pigeons (and Doves) have become pests in some areas of North America. In large cities, they can make a real mess on sidewalks, window ledges and statues. These birds feed on the ground or on platform feeders. They will not land on the small perches of tube feeders, but they may sit in the tray beneath a tube feeder!
There are a number of hanging bird feeders (tubes, bells, etc.) that pigeons cannot feed from, but there is invariably some seed that will fall to the ground that pigeons will come to eat. There may be a way to rig up a feeder that is enclosed in a box with a glass side and with an opening too small for pigeons and that will keep the seed contained. But you'll have to build that yourself as I have never seen one sold commercially. Switch to feeders that do not spill so much of the seed onto the ground. Platform feeders and some hopper type feeders may be especially messy. Switch to tube feeders so the birds have to work to get one seed at a time.
They tend to eat a LOT!!! The key to making them stop pigging out at your feeder is to keep seed off the ground. Try to keep the area under your bird feeders clear of seeds by sweeping them up each day. You might also try placing a screen under the feeders so seeds fall through but the birds cannot get to them.

Placing large rocks under your feeders would be another way to prevent the pigeons from getting at the seeds. In some yards, this may be a practical solution.

It might help if you stopped feeding the birds for a week. The pigeons may find somewhere else to go. You could still continue to put out food such as thistle seed and suet -- something the pigeons do not like.
For more information on wild birds, go to www.ornithology.com
Roger Lederer