Pigeons and people who feed them seem to be the bane of condo residents whose balconies are co-opted by the birds as roosts.

Last month I wrote about an unusual side effect of large numbers of pigeons drawn to a particular spot by scattered seed: So many end up perching on nearby electrical lines that the wires touch and short out, cutting power to local customers.

That prompted further complaints about pigeon problems, as well as some curious theories about why people feed them.

One reader speculated that bird feeders are of a specific ethnic and religious background. We’ll do that guy a favour and not name him.

Marty Greenberg, who lives near Bathurst St. and Steeles Ave. W., the area where birds on wires are causing power outages, blames the city and politicians for not cracking down on people who feed them.

“Each morning I have observed an elderly couple who dump a lot of seeds to feed the birds, and in the summer they put out buckets of water” for them, he said, adding that “skunks have also found the food.

“This couple arrives at four in the morning and dump seeds all over the place. I’m getting fed up with the city doing nothing about this,” he said, vowing to call the police because the city won’t stop them.

But it is not illegal to spread bird seed on private property or even on city property, as long as it isn’t a park, where feeding of animals is prohibited. That may explain why bird seed is so often spread on boulevards or within the municipal road allowance.

One email came from Nigel Bradbury, president of the board of directors of a condo development at 509 Beecroft Rd., at the southeast corner of Beecroft and Finch Ave. W.

“We have been involved in a months-long battle of removing feed (by hand) and having unknown persons replacing it,” he said. “One of my fellow directors approached a woman placing feed at this location last winter and got an earful of profanities.”

I went to Finch and Beecroft and found a lot of bird seed scattered around the boulevard, which is entirely legal, if not vexing for neighbours. I also spotted seed in the same spot on Google street view images from 2018.

Most likely it’s the work of kind-hearted people who just want to feed birds. I put up a bird feeder in my front yard (a Christmas present this year) and get a lot of enjoyment from watching them flit in and out, and knowing I am helping them.

Until a bunch of politicians are convinced that bylaws need to be changed to put a stop to it on public property — and good luck with that — feeding of pigeons is likely to continue.

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What's broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Email jlakey@thestar.ca or follow @TOStarFixer on Twitter