For more than 100 years, pigeons have been all around condensed metropolitan areas of New York, particularly in the Big Apple, but also in Albany, where the Capitol building’s courtyard has long been taken over by the feathered creatures, preventing the public from enjoying a beautiful space.
Since the 1930s, the state has tried everything from sticky substances to laser lights–and even spreading the controversial poisoning grain, in an attempt to rid the space of the pigeons. Yet, as New York is nearing completion of a two-year, $9 million renovation of the courtyard, an intricate rehabilitation project that aims to restore the space to the original vision of the Capitol’s architect in the 1800s, the birds still remain.
The battle for space in the balcony has been ongoing since construction of the current Capitol was completed in 1899, and in March 1930, the state’s building superintendent spread poisoned barley throughout the courtyard, allegedly acting on orders to get rid of the pigeons. The birds started falling to their deaths after consuming the poison, and some lawmakers called for the superintendent to be prosecuted, which never followed.
“The sight of dead birds plunging past windows where many had been feeding them sent some legislators on the warpath,” the Associated Press reported at the time. According to newspaper reports, a new flock of pigeons returned within two months. A few years later, the state tried “exploding sky-rockets,” but they were not successful, according to the Poughkeepsie Eagle-News.
Today we are seeing a repetition–or continuation–of the plight. Gov. Kathy Hochul said she wants the courtyard to be available for public access in some form, but there still is a question of whether people will have enough room to go inside the renovated area.
“It’s a beautiful space, it’s incredibly inviting,” Jeanette Moy, commissioner of the state Office of General Services, told Gothamist. “But as you can see, we’re already starting to lose the war a little bit with the pigeons.”
In the most recent method to diminish the pigeon population, the state has returned to lasers, using automated, roving green lights to shoo the birds away without hurting them. Despite the birds still occupying the space with the lights on 24/7, Joy told Gothamist she’s still hopeful they will be able to handle the excess of them appropriately as renovations near their end.
