to hate pigeons

[LovesLaboursLoss]

They are making my life a misery!

I live semi-rural, and pigeons are taking over. Their coo-ing is waking me every day from 5am or earlier. It's oud, constant and coming from all directions.

Hence up almost 2 hours earlier today than normal. (We are retired and get up around 7am usually.)

They are on my roof, garage roof, neighbours roofs, nesting in the big shrubs in my garden, sitting on my garden fences all day, and crapping all over my flower beds, patio and garden seats.

They have decimated a honeysuckle in the garden, eating it, and even after I covered it with netting, they still sit there pecking whatever they can.

I hate the bloody things.

We live rurally and we have deer randomly walking in our gardens and eating everything and squawking all night…! I don’t care, I mean it’s what you get if you live in Norfolk but I’d rather have pigeons!

Sounds like wood pigeons? I think they're adorable and endearingly clumsy and have massive chips on their shoulders, always starting fights, always horny, but also always skittish at the slightest thing. I have quite a tame one visiting for ages, would get within a metre of me and wouldn't budge till I bought out food. Then he got a one-eyed girlfriend and brought her along too. God, I miss that pidgeon 😭

Sorry to derail the thread somewhat and @ you, @LakieLady, but can I ask what was involved in your CBT (just talking or also some sort of desensitisation / exposure therapy 😱), how many sessions you needed and how much improvement you've seen?

Small songbirds and waterfowls are fine if I don't have to touch them (I actually love ducks!), but I have a bad phobia of pigeons that seems to only be getting worse. This spring we had horribly persistent pigeons trying to nest on our patio behind the BBQ despite my constant efforts to chase them off. They ended up laying two eggs while DH was away for a few days and I spent a long weekend trapped inside, too scared to go out, let alone get rid of nest. 🙈Children chasing pigeons that then come flying towards me is also an absolute nightmare and hearing their awful coo-ing and flapping or even just looking at pictures of pigeons is enough to make me feel quite panicky.

I agree that pigeons are far easier to live with that pheasant (even though I also have a soft spot for pheasant, daft buggers that they are). Quieter, less damaging and less poo.

Plus, it's only a 5am wake up during the height of summer. Another 4 days and the morning's will start getting later again (nooooooo!) so it's about as early now as it's going to be.

Ultimately, I wish humans would stop trying to remove every single element of nature they find inconvenient (not saying you are doing this, OP). It's a horrible trait of ours and it is doing so much damage, collectively.

I hate all birds. I live in the city and they start at about 3am. Can't leave the bedroom window open during the hot weather.

I think they’re cute. Seagulls and the neighbours early rising bloody ducks however are driving me fucking quackers!

I hate them but they do make me laugh....there was a pair forever having sex on our swing, then a third came along...couldn't work that one out!

Obviously, they were swingers...

Despite my post I actually agree with your last paragraph. We shouldn’t be hating on creatures just because they may inconvenience us in some minor way. I’m sure we, as humans, inconvenience them on much bigger levels.

Well aren't you nice.

@Whatwouldscullydo
Our town is overrun with bloody pigeons.

We have seagulls at the front of house and magpies at the back. Noisy critters also wake us at 5 every day. It's killing me.

They're just animals trying to survive on a planet we're decimating. I can't imagine how harrowing silence would sound. Get some better windows but god I wish humans would realise how much we make animals lives harder. You've covered a plant with netting to stop animals eating it because you like looking at it? How selfish.

I think it's worth trying a model of a bird of prey, the pigeons might be daft enough for it to work!

I love pigeons but they can be noisy, especially the mad flapping when a male is tyring to purseude a female to shag!

Our noisiest garden birds are blackbirds- we seem to live at the border or some sort of long running territorial dispute, and they sit there yelling at each other for hours

I love the dawn chorus! Ducks they don't really bother me. I think you need to make friends with some silicone ear plugs or learn to time then out.

Argh - that should have been asterisks before and after ducks not bold😫

We get a lot of pheasants too and they are extremely dim. They will land by the French doors and attack the other pheasant (in the window). Very noisy buggers.

YABVU and could learn something from this woman:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-nottinghamshire-61707476

I'm going to watch some YouTube videos of pheasants tonight. I want to observe this dim behaviour that everyone is mentioning

Aw, I love the wood pigeons I get in the garden. Their cooing is gentle and their antics make me laugh. Also love hearing the collared doves with their “po-tay-to” call.

Lots of pheasants round here as am surrounded by fields. Had Mum and three juniors in the garden a few weeks ago. Didn’t spot them when I opened the door to let the cat out. He didn’t spot them either, had his back to them as he was sat on the lawn. The four of them started waddling towards him, was like a weird game of Grandmother’s Footsteps!

Could have done without the male pheasant that wandered into my conservatory - he threw himself at every pane of glass possible whilst managing to avoid the wide-open double doors.

@ofwarren - they really are dim! Worst is when they dart out on the road ahead of you. They hardly ever dash across quickly to the other side. They usually stop in the middle then dart this way and that, unable to decide which side of the road to run to. To use a favourite phrase of my nan’s they are like a fart in a trance!

The London (and other big city) ones are feral pigeons, that's why. They aren't the same species as the ones you get in the countryside, which are wood pigeons.

I like wood pigeons, they are beautiful and I find their cooing rather restful.

Bl*ody magpies wake me at silly o clock in the morning with their racket on the guttering/roof.

You all need to meet at the village hall and have a meeting !! How dare these pigeons land, fly or live anywhere near you all 😂

I used to like them until I one day I sat having scampi and chips outside and a gang of them landed on my table and started helping themselves. They were very aggressive; it was quite scary.