'Lazy' pigeons flock to ride Stockholm metro
Published: 10 Nov 11 10:48 CET
A flock of Stockholm pigeons are using public transport for their daily jaunt foraging for food in the dumpsters and rubbish bins at a nearby shopping centre.
They stand calmly at the platform and wait for the subway train to arrive. When it does they get on, travel one stop, jump off and then head for their favourite haunts, Rasmus Sandsten, press spokeperson for underground operator MTR, told The Local.
The pigeons are believed to live somewhere near Farsta Strand, in south Stockholm, and travel daily one stop to nearby shopping centre Farsta Centrum where there are many cafés and plenty of food to be found.
According to Sandsten, the most likely explanation is that one pigeon first got stuck on the metro by accident.
Then, when it saw where it ended up it thought; 'this was a great idea'. Sooner or later more of them followed suit, Sandsten said.
However, the birds seem to choose other methods of transport for their return journey.
We haven't been told of as many incidents of pigeons on the tube on the way back, so we think they fly on their way back, Sandsten said.
It is not clear how or when these pigeons first started to use public transport, but according to Sandsten, train drivers have said that they have seen pigeons using the Stockholm metro system as early as the 1990's, when a similar pigeon gang regularly roamed the suburb of Hökarängen.
And since then the birds have been spotted getting on the subway at stations all over Stockholm, Sandsten said.
AT MTR, the policy among the drivers are to try to shoo away the birds if they happen to see one trying to get on, but not if it would mean that the departure of the train would be delayed.
Biologist Lars-Åke Janzon at the Swedish Museum of Natural History (Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet), told local paper Mitt i Söderort that although not especially clever, birds are very good at imitating each other's actions.
Therefore, Janzon thinks that tube staff should persevere in their efforts to shoo the birds away, or he fears that the number of pigeons using public transport will grow significantly.
People are scared of everything, And that will include an enterprising pigeon or two. Many believe they carry disease, but that's not true. Not even their droppings are especially harmful. On the other hand, one might think it is sticky and disgusting if there is a lot of bird poo on the tube, Janzon told the paper.
However, according to Sandsten drivers are seldom aware of the little stowaways before they get off at their destination.
And so far the company hasn't received one single complaint from passengers about the freeloading birds.
They behave well while on board and don't seem to be making much of a mess. They also choose to travel later in the day, cleverly avoiding rush hour, Sandsten told The Local.
-- Edited by DramaQueen on Friday 11th of November 2011 08:25:26 AM
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"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor every morning, the Devil says "Oh shit! she's up!"
What happens when a seagull knocks a pigeon into the water? Saw it all the time when I worked the bridge. A pigeon is helpless in water. A Seagull is happy to eat anything.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
What happens when a seagull knocks a pigeon into the water? Saw it all the time when I worked the bridge. A pigeon is helpless in water. A Seagull is happy to eat anything.
Inerestin.
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"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor every morning, the Devil says "Oh shit! she's up!"
You really don't want to live "amongst the pigeons". They are a bird that I guess that I never thought I would get such an opportunity to "observe". They will annoy you over time. They leave quite a "mess" behind at their "hangouts". Nothin' better than a railroad swingspan bridge to be a "pigeon mating grounds". I worked on that bridge for a better part of 17 years and the pigeon population remained "constant". Nothing in the daily function of the railroad bridge was enough to make the pigeons have to relocate for more than a minute or tuu. Pigeon poop is pretty hazardous and when it start to "pile-up" very near where "your office is" you got a bonified health hazard. I thought I was rid the whole pigeon bad dream after I left the railroad. Low and behold, the neighbor accross the street has a "bird-feeder" and I don't know elaborate or massive the feeder is but it has attracted a flock of pigeons to our hood. Maybe 10-12 pigeons that have no interest in leaving "their source of food".
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
The roundhouse has its own semi-permanent colony/flock... Their offspring hang out there as well, nesting in the rafters. If the backshop is overcrowded, they'll move to another area within the same building.
Their droppings have become the markers of their presence. And they shit wherever they hang out...
Sources of food all over the yards. The grain yard is seventh heaven! Balmer North must be a close second, with little piles of wheat, corn, and soy beans between the rails...
We've had a small hawk take up residence for a time, till he moved on... Sad ta see him go. Leaving the pigeons ta continue their annoying ways!
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Hmm. That address doesnt look right. It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.
BNSF's Delta and Bayside Yards in Everett are the "homing center" for the pigeon population. Spilt grain pretty much everywhere along the trackage in Everett on pretty much a 24/7/365 basis. You either accept the pigeon situation as it is or you aren't going to get the sleep you need.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
