The Metropolitan Transit Authority, the agency in New York City that is in charge of the subway system, among other things, has installed a soundtrack of “distress and predator calls” in the Roosevelt Island subway stop, hoping that the audio will drive pigeons and their feathers and droppings away from the station. It won’t work. Especially when people are still “delivering bread and bagels for the pigeons because [they fear] that they are having trouble finding food during winter.”
The MTA’s solution is at least better than the gel being used in Utah that is causing problems for an array of species in addition to the intended target, pigeons. At least the MTA is doing no harm to other species.
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
Leave a Comment