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Town pigeon numbers hit hard by renovation
Published: 5 Aug 12 13:17 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20120805-44175.html
The number of town pigeons in Germany’s towns and cities has fallen dramatically over the past decade, with the Berlin population down by two thirds from its 2001 level.
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One of the causes is building renovation, which is undertaken without any consideration for providing space for birds to nest, Lars Lachmann from Nabu told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper at the weekend.
He said wartime ruins, which could still be found particularly in Berlin and other eastern cities until recently, had provided ideal accommodation for many birds, town pigeons included. They build their nests on ledges where there is some shelter.
Nets, wires and spikes installed on buildings to discourage the nesting also seems to have had a significant effect – as has the ban on feeding pigeons, as introduced in Frankfurt in 1970.
Officials there have also been swapping pigeon eggs with artificial fakes to reduce numbers, while hawks have been breeding successfully in many cities. In Berlin for example, there are so many hawks that bird watchers have travelled from the UK to see them, the paper said.
While the town pigeons are on the decline, their space in the city ecosystem is being taken up by wood pigeons, attracted from the increasingly unattractive countryside, where hedges and other nesting spots are being uprooted. They benefit from the trend towards greener cities, as they nest in trees.
The number of crows in cities are also on the increase, said Lachmann, as they also move out of the countryside. A recent study suggested the number of field birds had halved in Europe since 1980 due to intensive land use.
The Local/hc
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Your comments about this article:
Three human diseases are known to be associated with pigeon droppings: histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, and psittacosis.
Pigeon poop was considered to be an invaluable resource in the 16th, 17th and 18th century in Europe... but today it cost millions to keep the cultural heritage 'poop-free'. When leached by water, pigeon droppings form salt solutions with high acidity that in the long term destroys everything are contact with.
The rats and the cockroaches were there centuries before the humans too, and we don't -voluntarily- feed them...