Birds in Te Aro Park

It's meant to be lucky when a bird poops on you - but try lunching in Te Aro Park.

Crowds of well-fed pigeons and seagulls have taken over the park between Manners and Dixon streets and their droppings are making the park benches unusable.

The benches at the north-western end of the park, under a pohutukawa tree, are covered in bird poo and the Council is arranging for contractors to clean the four seats directly under the tree every day. The benches form part of the park's Canoe and Prow tile sculpture by Shona Rapira Davies.

Robyn Steel, the Council's Central Business District Manager, says people can help by not feeding the birds.
"We will be putting up signs asking people not to feed them."

Bird poo can be a health hazard - pigeons can carry diseases that are communicable to people, including the gastric infections E. coli and salmonella - and people may slip on the droppings, particularly after rain.