Crafty Birds Find Loophole in City Ordinance

IRONWOOD, MI - Sunday, November 09, 2008 - One of our readers found a flaw in the newly proposed pigeon feeding ordinance that the City Commission will be considering Monday evening.

According to the ordinance "It shall be unlawful for any person to: (a) feed pigeons and/or gulls in any manner on any private or public property in the City or Ironwood; and/or (b) keep, permit or allow conditions to exist by the placement or discarding of food, food byproducts, vegetables, garbage or animal food of any type for the purpose of encouraging the lingering, roosting, and or congretating of pigeons, and/or gulls; and/or (c) encourage the lingering, roosting or congregating of pigeons and/or gulls by offering or providing food; the groundfeeding of such pigeons and/or gulls shall be considered a nuisance per se."

Under Section 17.79(a) Exceptions the ordinance states, "Bird Feeders. This ordinance does not apply to unmodified, commercially purchased bird feeders or their equivalent."

The photos above demonstrate how the inventive creatures found a way to get the food out of a feeder that was designed to keep them away. When larger birds or heavier animals such as squirrels perch on the feeder their weight forces a baffle to close, sealing off the seed supply. The pigeons have figured a way to get the food out anyway.

The reader who submitted the photos above wrote, " The Pigeons must not see the Pigeon Proof seal of endorsement by the Audubird Society and the Pigeon Proof stamp of approval from the Better Bird Baiting Society.  The feeders  are elevated off the ground and lowered by a cable from a branch to keep the deer and the squirrels away. The persistant Pigeons found a way to get the seed anyway. A few would land on the feeders then flap their wings.The draft created by the flapping would blow the seeds out of the feeder onto the ground to the Pigeons waiting below. How clever...."