Pigeons perching at Little Rock library cause headaches for staff and visitors
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — While wandering minds are welcome at the library, winged visitors are not, at the Roberts Library of Arkansas History and Art.
Darren Dickerson walks to get his morning coffee every day in the River Market area.
The wind started swirling, and then something kind of dropped past Dickerson's eye one day.
'I was like 'woah' and looked up, 'Oh okay,'' Dickerson said.
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Pigeons have taken to perching on the I-beams of the building, leaving sidewalks and windows covered in droppings.
'So you need to watch your step as you're walking past the library. It's kind of a bird heaven,' Dickerson said. 'You might have to do a little two-step just to dodge something that's coming at you — little drops from above.'
Glenn Whaley, manager of the Roberts Library, said the problem began when the library opened in 2009.
'We have a lot of tourists that go up and down and they look at the building, and it's an interesting-looking building anyway, so people are always wondering what that is, and then they go 'Ew what is that?'' Whaley said.
The birds initially flew away to roost under the nearby Interstate 30 bridge a year ago, but now they're back.
'When construction started, they came back and said, 'Oh yeah, we like this neighborhood.' They told their friends, and now there are a lot of them,' Whaley said.
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The library has been power washing sidewalks and windows regularly to maintain cleanliness.
On Thursday, the Central Arkansas Library Board voted to hire Avian Flyaway, a wildlife control company, to install nonlethal electric wires on the beams to discourage the pigeons from roosting.
'They won't be getting rid of them; they'll just be relocating them and moving them back to the freeway,' Whaley said.
The project is expected to cost about $175,000. While everyone is sympathetic to the birds, they want to ensure that the only thing flocking to the library is readers.
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