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Friday, June 01, 2007

Mesa, Arizona Homeowner Declares War on Pigeons!

Pigeons have been called 'rats of the sky', and for good reason.  Not only are they dirty, annoying pests, but they can cause real damage to your home.  And since most people don't want pigeons living on their house, a significant pigeon problem can also make your home difficult to sell.  In this case, I am the Mesa homeowner declaring war on these nasty birds!  Actually, I prefer to think of it as 'encouraging' a family of pigeons that lives near my home to relocate elsewhere!

We had a problem with pigeons nesting on our roof a few years ago.  They make really annoying sounds early in the morning, not to mention the fact that they poop all over the place.  While my favorite Home Inspector says it's the potential roof damage (not the sight of poop everywhere), that you need to worry about, it's definitely the poop factor that made me take action!  So I called the Pigeon Man, who specializes in humane removal of pigeons.  First, he uses chicken wire or something similar to block off the areas of your roof where the pigeons are likely to perch or nest.  Next, he puts cages on your roof to attract the pigeons who still insist on hanging out there!  He then comes back periodically over several weeks to pick up the unfortunate birds that get caught in the cages.  Supposedly, he takes the birds out of state and releases them, but then I didn't really have any way to verify that.  If he really does, then I'd have to say the price was really reasonable!  Problem solved!

WRONG.  Although that did take care of the pigeon problem on our house, the majority of them really just moved to other nearby houses.  Recently, a large group of pigeons moved into a tree in the Homeowners Association common area next to my house.  During the day, they come out of the tree to perch on a light pole right next to my house, and the sidewalk below is literally covered with pigeon poop.  This sidewalk happens to be part of a pathway to the greenbelt, where many people walk.  So I was going to have spikes put up on the lightpole, but then realized the City of Mesa might get mad at me.  So I called the City of Mesa and since it's their light pole, they actually came out and put spikes on the lightpole for us - free!  How cool is that?!  It took a few weeks, but it was still much quicker than the 5-6 week turnaround time they estimated.  And they're some mean looking spikes too - you can definitely see why the birds don't perch on this light anymore!

The City of Mesa's transportation department (light crew) put up the spikes.  They won't do the whole neighborhood, and they evaluate individual lightpoles on a case by case basis.  I'm thankful they agreed that this particular lightpole really needed the spikes, since we didn't have many other options.  Apparently you can't buy the poison anymore, which I really didn't want to do anyway.  In searching for solutions, I asked both pest control experts and average homeowners for advice.  Strangely, the most popular answer I received involves a BB gun... however, I won't recommend going around the neighborhood 'hunting' pigeons!  But spikes are legal, and they work.  Well, at least they work to some extent.  They make the birds stop perching wherever you put the spikes, but then they'll find some other place (usually nearby) to perch instead!  So be sure to block all desirable perching areas before putting up spikes!

If your area has a pigeon problem, I believe the only real long-term solution involves a neighborhood effort.  Otherwise, they just move from house to house as different homeowners take action to get rid of them.

Written By: Shannon Hubbard Realtor®-Investor Great American Realty, Inc. Cell: (480) 695-6672 Email me

Posted by Shannon Hubbard, Arizona Real Estate Agent on June 1, 2007 | Permalink

Comments

Ahh, you are so mean.

Posted by: Larry Cragun | Jun 2, 2007 9:24:59 AM

Hi Larry - Your defense of the birds is noble in some way I guess. However, I think you missed the parts of the article that show how 'nice' I actually have been to the birds. I'm NOT poisoning them, shooting them (as has been suggested to me more then once!), or taking other actions that physically harm the birds. I'm simply pigeon-proofing my house and changing a few things I have control over in the environment directly around my house in order to encourage the birds (without harming them) to go elsewhere.

Oh well, even if you think I'm mean, thanks for stopping by! :)

Posted by: Shannon Hubbard | Jun 2, 2007 3:09:17 PM

Shannon, I enjoyed reading your post!

This brings to mind a story I heard while on my recent honeymoon to Italy; My wife and I were were in St. Mark's square in Venice and there were so many pigeons we couldn't believe it. The tour guide told us that because tourists feed them everyday (vendors actually sell little bags of feed from stands) they can't get them to leave. He said that the problem with the pigeons making a mess everywhere got so bad that the roof of St. Mark's basilica actually collapsed partially from the weight of pigeon poop!

Posted by: Michael Krotchie | Jun 5, 2007 7:33:05 AM

Oh... I remember when i was still 7 that time. Pigeons turns my father's day into rage. They got to stay above the house more likely near the ceiling were theres enough space for them to pierce. Just beneath were they pierce is a stair way to his bedroom and its all messed up with pigeon poop. My father really shoot them with a sling shot. Poor pigeons, since then they never get back to pierce there.

But surprisingly they turn to pierce at the antenna above the roof [ Commercial Roofing | Residential Roofing . In a week the roof is full of poop. Gotta contact a roof contractor already.

Posted by: Commercial Roofing | Jun 5, 2007 8:46:19 AM

Great post!

I'm glad the city decided to put in those spikes. Anything "covered" in pigeon poop is a serious health hazard. We offer a variety of other products that can be tailored to any situation. Visit http://www.bird-x.com for more information or call (800)860-0473 for a free, expert consultation.

Posted by: Tom Starling | Jun 5, 2007 1:40:48 PM

I am a roofing contractor. I deal with pigeon problems weekly. When I was younger, I raised and loved pigons. I trained and pampered my birds. As a roofer for 20 years now, pigeons have become flying rats. Until you have waded in 8 inches of pigeon poop, loaded with Valley Fever, to fix or repair a roof, the world of being kind and humane to these flying rats is hard to consider. Shoot them all! Gas them all! Poison them all! Just make them go away.......

Posted by: Chris Lundahl | Dec 2, 2008 7:33:09 PM

Great post.

My company is called Arizona Wings N' Stings and we have been doing residential and commercial pigeon control and exclusion for the past 12 years in Arizona www.pigeonbirdcontrol.com

I would like to remind people that when they use bird spike in the Arizona desert don't use the cheap plastic spike only use the stainless steel spike - bit more expensive, but well worth the price, plastic will fall apart in about a year or so and then it creates an even better place for the pigeons to roost and nest on.

Please also be aware that smaller birds like sparrows and cactus wrens like to nest in the bird spikes which creates another type of mess.

Posted by: Jeff | Jan 5, 2009 10:55:44 AM

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