One woman allegedly dropping “15-30 pounds” of birdseed at a time has been at it for years, according to Glen Park neighbors and businesses, who say she’s single-handedly causing a rat infestation that’s roiling the neighborhood.

When Glen Park’s Canyon Market was ordered closed by the Health Department over a rat infestation on September 28 (it reopened hours later, and remains open), the shop’s owner Janet Tarlov was very clear in an interview with the SF Standard that there was one specific culprit behind the whole rat problem. She said a woman had been dumping enormous piles of birdseed on neighborhood sidewalks since February 2020, and Tarlov herself had complained to the Health Department about this repeatedly, for years, to no avail.

“I complain 100 times and nothing happens and then someone complains once and the store gets shut down,” she told the SF Standard.

And the size of the birdseed piles is staggering. These are not your casual Mary Poppins “Feed the Birds” outings. Tarlov tells KGO that she’s been cleaning up "15-30 pounds a time” of this birdseed, “multiple times a day," now for years. And these gigantic piles delight and attract pigeons, but also attract hordes and hordes of rats.

"When I told her no you can't do that, that's going to attract rodents, she spit on me," Tarlov tells KGO.

KGO published their story Wednesday, and said neighbors had seen the birdseed lady dumping giant sacks of the birdseed on sidewalks as recently as “two days ago.” The Chronicle concludes this is definitely all being done by one single birdseed lady after they exhaustively conducted “more than a dozen interviews with residents, business owners and city officials.”

Moreover, the Department of Public Health now acknowledges they’ve visited this woman’s home and found violations described as “unsanitary conditions, rodent infestation and refuse accumulation.”

The Chron also contacted the owner of a local Cole Hardware, who didn't realize his shop had been playing a role in all this. “We have sold (her) LOTS of birdseed over the years,” shop owner Rick Karp told the Chronicle. “I’m guessing she’ll be taking her birdseed business to another hardware business.” He insisted that once he learned what birdseed lady was doing, he “immediately canceled” an “outstanding delivery.”

And we will remind you that local law says it is illegal “to feed or offer food to any bird or wild animal in or on any sidewalk, street or highway of the City and County of San Francisco.”

This is likely a mental health issue, and KGO got a statement from the Health Department saying "The person has been and is currently connected to health services. We continue to do outreach to offer support and engage the person on additional health services."

And a spokesperson for the City Attorney's office tells KGO that birdseed lady has been sent a "cease and desist" letter demanding she cut this out. And it’s sad that this has gone on so long, causing tens of thousands of dollars of damage at Canyon Market and other neighborhood businesses, even though shopkeepers and neighbors have been ratting out birdseed lady for years.

Related: San Francisco Pop-Up Cafe Infested With Rats... On Purpose [SFist]

Image: @mertguller via Unsplash

A hawk who has been given the name Pac-Man is patrolling the area around the El Cerrito del Norte Station, thanks to a contract with a falconer in what's sort of a last-ditch effort — after many failed attempts — to control the pigeon population there.

"Over the years, BART has taken numerous steps to mitigate the pigeon population at the station," BART says in a release. "Hundreds of bird-repellant spikes and netting can be seen fastened to ledges, pipes, fare machines, and other surfaces in the station, which received a total makeover in 2021."

“We brought in owl statues, we tried nets, we tried various measures with noise. We did quite a bit to see how we could gently move them along,” says Wahid Amiri, the project manager for the El Cerrito del Norte Station Modernization Project, which concluded last spring. “Nothing was successful.”

So, enter Pac-Man. He's an adult male Harris hawk, and he comes to BART thanks to La Crescenta-based contractor Falcon Force. Pac-Man and handler Ricky Ortiz come to the station three days a week for eight hours each time, offering "bird abatement services," hoping that the swarms of pigeons at El Cerrito del Norte Station at some point get smaller or go away.

"Hawks such as Pac-Man are natural-born predators and their presence alone deters prey birds, like pigeons," BART explains. "Walking the station with Pac-Man, Ortiz merely has to lift the bird in the general direction of a sitting pigeon for the bird to flap away hastily."

So, it's not a pigeon massacre every day in El Cerrito. The hope is that the pigeons begin to associate the station with being the hawk's territory — and the bird is given other treats throughout the day to tide him over, including rodents and rabbits.

"Trapping works to an extent, but you can only trap so many,” Ortiz says. “A bird of prey works really well. When the pigeons see the predator, it’s instinct for them not to want to be around.”

Also, Pac-Man is apparently very good at this work, doesn't really mind the crowds at the station, and train noise "doesn’t even faze him." Harris hawks have been known to roost for years at a time in urban locations.

"These birds are used to hustle and bustle," Ortiz says.

And yes, in case you didn't instinctually know this, pigeons are disgusting.

"Pigeons are non-native, non-migratory, and invasive," BART says. "Their droppings can carry bacteria, fungal agents, and ectoparasites that can impact humans."

The station gets cleaned every morning, but less pigeon poop and general pigeon nastiness is the goal.

El Cerrito del Norte's pigeon problem goes back a couple of decades, but it isn't the only station that's plagued with the birds. As the East Bay Times reported back in 2004, Union City, Mission 16th Street, Balboa Park, Colma, and Daly City stations also have had historic pigeon issues, and bird-of-prey soundtracks have been used to deter them there. So maybe if Pac-Man's efforts are successful, he'll be deployed elsewhere in the BART system.

The local artist and graphic designer responsible for those realistic-looking AirPod stickers that showed up on the ground around SF last fall has a new bit of tomfoolery to distract us from our pandemic/wildfire misery.

Pablo Rochat got cheeky last November with some custom-printed stickers that looked like lost AirPods on the ground, in an attempt to get AirPod-owning San Franciscans to reach down and try to pick them up.

Now he's back with another sticker trick, only this time it's not about tricking people as much as it is about tricking pigeons, and creating new Instagrammable moments for our filthy urban feathered friends.

Laughing Squid picked up Rochat's latest campaign via Instagram, and look how cute these disgusting pigeons look playing saxophones.

This is far less cruel than that pigeon-sombrero thing that was going on earlier in the year, and just as delightful!

Earlier this summer, Rochat also made a hilarious little video with pigeons, posting one of those tear-off-phone-number posters low on a utility pole with the heading "Tired of Being a Bird?"

The curious birds naturally came and grabbed the number.

Previously: Don't Be Fooled By These Real-Looking AirPod Stickers Being 'Dropped' On SF Streets

An amusing internet meme in December featuring pigeons wearing cowboy hats in Las Vegas has ended in death for one of those birds, and there's a copycat in Reno who has apparently glued a sombrero to a pigeon there.

While the National Finals Rodeo was was in Vegas in December, people spotted three pigeons on the street "wearing" tiny cowboy hats — they were actually glued onto the birds' heads and feathers. As the Audubon Society reported at the time, local pigeon rescuer Mariah Hillman leapt into action to try to save the birds after seeing the photos spread virally on the internet, knowing that the glued-on hats were likely causing the birds some distress. Indeed, one of the three pigeons died this week, as the Associated Press reports, though the bird also had a foot condition known as "string foot," in which a piece of string or debris becomes wrapped around the pigeon's foot and causes blood-flow to be cut off.

Hillman says that the hats can impair the birds' vision, and the glue used to attach them could cause problems on their skin as well.

On Wednesday morning, Reno City Manager Sabra Newby posted two photos to Twitter showing a pigeon wearing a tiny sombrero — clearly glued in a similar manner.

"While quirky or fun, it’s still inhumane," Newby tells local ABC affiliate KOLO. "The birds suffered when this exact thing happened last year in Las Vegas. One of them recently died. We don’t want copycats."

Washoe County Regional Animal Services officials tell the Associated Press that this is the first instance of tiny-hat-wearing birds that they've seen locally.

The bird wandered off and was not in Newby's custody, so people in Reno are being told to be on the lookout for it, so that Animal Services can remove the hat.

"Washoe County Regional Animal Services finds this practice of affixing any objects on wild birds disturbing, inhumane and strongly discourages this type of behavior," says the county's animal service director Shyanne Schull in a statement. "Should the community see this take place or have tips on who might be conducting this behavior, please call 775-322-3647 or 3-1-1 and we will investigate and work with appropriate authorities."

Photo by Travis Jensen.

A bicyclist and pigeons on Chula Lane come together in peanut butter-and-chocolate-like harmony in this photo shot by Gerard Livernois. Huzzah, pigeons! (Our apologies to those of you who, inexplicably, loathe the winged rats.)

While we always felt that the Bay Area's subterranean public transit systems were never as overrun with rodents as say the New York City subway, it turns out the folks who are down there on the front lines, making sure each station is clean don't share our opinion of the rodent census. In a recent set of inspection reports sent to BART high command, the station agents sound like marooned sailors sending out distress calls from some long-forgotten military outpost:

June 12, 24th Street station: "RAT PROBLEMS MAJOR RAT PROBLEMS."

June 25: "Greeted this morning by the residential rat. Then a few early morning passengers (older females) were startled (she says it nearly gave her a heart attack) by two (2) rats (not mice). Rats running up down the stairs playing in the plaza (her words)."

June 26: "RATS ARE STILL TAKING OVER THIS STATION"

As the Weekly notes, it's not just the four-legged rodents taking over BART stations, but the skyrats too: at Powell station back in June one agent reported such an abundance of pigeon shit that "passengers were slipping around in it."

As for what the transit agency plans to do about the rodents and pigeon problems? BART does hire exterminators when the rats become a problem, according to spokesman Jim Allison. The pigeons on the other hand are just "pretty resourceful birds" that have a knack for getting around the anti-avian counter-measures.

[SFW]

In our capacity as head of an agency that delivers pertinent pigeon dispatches, allow us to remind you that on this day in 1914, the last known passenger pigeon--named Martha, after George Washington’s wife--died in captivity in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Martha, you live on in our hearts. And also at the Smithsonian, stuffed and mounted.

This week, our friends at the Tenderloin Geographic Society invite you to join them as they take a journey through the magical world of books. Specifically, books written for children on the subject of the great city of San Francisco and our majestic, marginalized pigeon population. Follow along, and don't worry, we'll tell you when to turn the pages:

By: The Tenderloin Geographic Society

Of all the creatures of this green earth, perhaps none exerts such a hold on the imagination as the pigeon. Omnipresent in the sky and underfoot, this elegant avian missile occupies a special place for urbanites and children's book authors alike.

You may already be familiar with Mo Williams' excellent books about Pigeon ("Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus," et al.), wherein Pigeon could be a thinly-veiled metaphor for any number of politicians.

But let us turn to other more personal matters, to gentrification and the struggle to achieve the American Dream in prosperous boomtime San Francisco. It's a love story, about pigeons who want to raise children in the big city, and the message is as poignant today as it was when Don Freeman's "Fly High, Fly Low" was first published in 1957.
And it's not political at all, really. [Next page!]

Although published over half a century ago, many contemporary readers will identify with the struggles of Sid, a typography-loving pigeon with a keen eye for aesthetics. His taste in roosts catches the fancy of a white dove named Midge. His desirable apartment in a bohemian neighborhood makes him quite a catch. They move in together. In time, eggs are laid. [Next page!]

Sadly, predictably, the neighborhood becomes popular. Developers move in, and everything that they had loved begins changing around them. [Next page!] The economy takes a turn for the worse, and Sid the pigeon turns against the city that once welcomed him with crumbs and warmth. Who can he blame now? [Next page!]

But Sid remembers the one who was there for him, who seemed a stalwart amidst the corrupt humans. Mr. Lee, the kindly Chinese man who has been of service to him and pigeon-kind. Surely he will make everything better! [Next page!]

It was so much better to be in a warm pocket, taken care of, than to be in the cold of a San Francisco night. Don’t you want to be warm inside someone’s pocket? [Next page!]

In the spirit of Reading Rainbow, you'll have to read the book yourself to find out what happens. Don't you hope it has a happy ending?

The Tenderloin Geographic Society is San Francisco's home for amateur ornithology, avian rescue services and children's literature since 2006. Stay tuned for the Tenderloin Report. If you've missed any episodes, you can always catch up here.

In today's history lesson, a sequel of sorts to last week's Pigeon of the Month episode, our friends from the Tenderloin Geographic Society dive in to the archives to find a classic, yet underrated character in San Francisco's history: newsman-turned-adventurer Admiral Baron Ahab von Muller.

By The Tenderloin Geographic Society:

Allow us to prove a point: petty dalliances concerning marginal histories remain trivial only until the archives prove otherwise. To wit, the strange case of Admiral Baron Ahab von Muller, champion of the pigeon. Cursory searches through the usual channels turned up precious little about the curious eminence. There’s a cast of Emperor Norton to him, what with his costume and elaborate accoutrements, not to mention a devotion to the pigeon population putting him at odds with sanity. Garden variety kook, or “Only in San Francisco” character?

With a little imagination and some research, the outsized appellation proves a nom de guerre for Baron Muller, San Francisco native, pigeon enthusiast, and journalist; that “his man Saturday” is the great Chronicle science reporter George Dusheck settles the issue.

Muller was a reporter of the old cast, having started at The San Francisco News, then the News-Call Bulletin, later purchased by The Examiner. An enterprising city editor got the idea to put Muller in costume and have him attempt to “capture” a young whale that made a wrong turn into the Bay. Adding a pretty girl in a scanty pirate costume (no new memes here) and a bartender (why not?), the party was sent to sea and sell newspapers with their exploits.

Muller was the best kind of journalist - he took his job seriously, but not himself so. And given that he covered some grisly beats in his 42 years, the light touch was necessary.

And so for your enjoyment, enjoy a sampling of what it was to be an ace reporter back in the day; captions come from the news copy that accompanied the photos found in the Main Library’s History Center. Here we find them in pursuit of the deadbeat daddy pigeon whose lady pigeon laid a couple eggs in Judge Preston Devine’s office...

"See these squabs?" Superior Judge Preston Devine asked Captain Ahab Muller. "They've been deserted by their father," he continued as he fed them concentrated drops of legal wisdom, mixed with pigeon-type formula, from an eyedropper. "I want you to search the city, you famous explorer, you, until you bring back the feathered beast who left Habeas and Corpus alone here, with their mother, to face the world." Suzy, the mother, hatched the eggs on Judge Devine's City Hall desk Monday. They're normal, completely so.

San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library

San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library

It took Captain Ahab only a few minutes of dodging, and only half a loaf of stale bread, to complete his search. (He didn't really feed the bread to the pigeons, Mayor Robinson. Since it's against the law, he tossed out the bread to this group in a nasty form of bribery, got their stories, then snatched back the bread, crumbs and all, and ate it.) After thorough questioning, Captain Ahab found that Habeas and Corpus' father was an Air Force bombardier, but for daddy's present location, well - you'll just have to read Captain Ahab's own story.

The Tenderloin Geographic Society is San Francisco's home for colloquial cartography and citizenship services since 2006, and amateur ornithology since 2010. If you've missed any of their weekly contributions to SFist, you can catch up here. And don't forget to stay tuned for the Tenderloin Report.

Yesterday we encountered a ridiculous amount of pigeon poo covering the floor of the 16th Street BART Station. That can't be healthy. What gives, BART?

Found at Geary and Fillmore, Greg Dewar of N Judah Chronicles came across this bilingual, demanding sign that asks you to not cook and eat San Francisco's pigeons.

Always a good reminder, we suppose.

Update: Ah, that makes more sense. Slow news day, obviously.

"Stepfather Factory" by Plug1/What I'm Seeing.

We love 'em. Some of you hate 'em. Some of you like the taste of 'em. With that in mind, please enjoy Mission and Highland's awesome tribute to flying kittens / rats with wings. (You can debate on which one in the comments.)

Music by Pinched Nerve.

Who's the bitch now, scare-away owl?