It’s lasers vs. pigeons at the state Capitol — the birds are winning
4 green beams deployed in attempt to chase them off, with mixed results
ALBANY — There’s been a flurry of activity at New York’s Capitol recently — but it’s not the usual flock of lobbyists, lawmakers and protestors sweeping up and down the halls.
Instead, the Capitol’s vaulted openair courtyard has become the home to hundreds of common pigeons, who rest on the building’s deep ledges and parapets in droves. What follows are some fowl buildups, mainly of bird droppings and feathers, creating an unsightly patina outside each floor of the courtyard.
The avian visitors have captured the attention of the state Office of General Services, which serves as New York’s property manager, and prompted the installation of some novel bird-control methods. The most recent: laser turrets mounted high on the courtyard’s exterior, installed with the intent of deterring the pigeons from clustering.
The only problem? The birds don’t appear to be bothered by the light show.
Multiple Capitol observers have noted that the pigeons repeatedly choose to perch on the courtyard ledges despite the near-constant sweep of the laser sensor, which emits a small green light that the birds often let run right over them.
OGS spokeswoman Georgina Parsons said the four emerald lasers are part of a pigeon deterrent system that’s an element in the larger project of renovating the Capitol’s interior courtyard. The state shelled out $58,000 for four laser units, three of which will be installed over the next few months; maintenance costs are expected to run to roughly $7,000 a year.
“The lasers follow the horizontal ledges where pigeons roost. When the pigeons see a laser, they immediately scatter to another location,” Parsons said in an email that does not describe
what’s actually going on in the courtyard. “Each laser is programmed to randomly change how it follows the ledges, making it difficult for the pigeons to sense a pattern.”
The lasers are non-lethal and do not harm the pigeons, Parsons said. In this, humans are being nicer to the pigeons than they’re being to us: Bird droppings pose health hazards and in sufficient quantities can damage the structural integrity of the Capitol, such as causing deterioration to the courtyard’s copper structures.
“OGS is a friend to New York state’s bird and pollinator populations,” Parsons said, adding that the agency participates in a “Lights Out” program that turns off non-essential outdoor lighting from 11 p.m. until dawn during birds’ spring migration season. She said the agency also participates in the state’s “Pollinator Protection Plan” programs that enhance habitats of key pollinators like birds and bees.
The lasers will be a permanent fixture. Capitol workers will track their success through “visual observations and tracking cleaning costs,” Parsons said.
As for what attracted the birds in the first place, Parsons said there is no indication that visitors feeding pigeons had brought the onslaught, instead pointing to the geometry of the courtyard that blocks wind and allows birds to roost comfortably.
But pigeons tend to cluster in urban areas with a high volume of foot traffic, and a corresponding amount of human food. They are an ubiquitous presence in New York City, which has led the city to adopt some regulations on cleaning up pigeon droppings. New York City residents can also report people who feed pigeons to the extent that they are causing a public nuisance or unsanitary conditions.
Although some states prohibit humans from feeding any wildlife, New York does not regulate the feeding of pigeons or most wildlife. A spokesman said the Department of Environmental Conservation discourages residents from feeding wildlife because the practice can upset the natural balance between wildlife and their habitats.
Some larger U.S. cities have outright banned the practice, including San Francisco and Las Vegas, while the state of Florida has some of the strictest prohibitions on feeding wildlife.
There’s a variety of different methods to handle birds, said Richard Stazio, who works with an Albany bird control company. He pointed to more common methods like the installation of spikes, netting and visual deterrents that cause pigeons to roost elsewhere.
Stazio said he personally has not had much experience with using lasers as deterrents.
The company that manufactures the lasers is Netherlandsbased Bird Control Group, which touts its laser products as inspired by nature. According to the company website, birds perceive green laser lights as physical objects, ostensibly triggering their natural fight or flight instinct and making them flee.
But the pigeons generally do not react to the lasers or fly away when the light strikes them.
Pigeons are not considered an endangered or threatened species by the Audubon Society, a conservation organization that focuses on birds. But they’ve been a noted problem for Capitol staff since at least 1964.
According to a New York Times article that year, a “pigeon-proofing” repellent caused a sticky problem for cleaning crews charged with removing a buildup of grime caused, in part, by that attempted solution to an abundance of birds.
In the meantime, as state officials, lawmakers and advocates begin hosting press conferences for reporters in the coming weeks, they’ll likely be able to observe the pigeons holding their own gaggles outside in the courtyard.