What advice did Moscow residents get about birds and why?

Every year at my dacha, crows and magpies show up and wreck my garden beds and flower gardens - they're looking for grubs, but they trample the plantings in the process. Over time I figured out it's better not to fight the birds, just protect the areas that matter with netting or landscape fabric. In the city, as far as I know, it's a similar problem, just it affects parks and squares more.

Usually city authorities advise residents not to feed birds by hand and not to leave food lying around on the streets - it leads to overpopulation of pigeons and crows in certain neighborhoods. When there are too many birds, they start damaging building facades, littering public spaces, and fighting each other. Plus, unfed birds forage for food in nature on their own and don't turn a whole neighborhood into a dump.

They also recommend picking up trash and not leaving crumbs in parks - it's simple. If you have a balcony where birds land, it's better to cover it with netting so they don't get stuck and scared. Bottom line, it all comes down to basic neighborly coexistence: don't attract them, don't chase them, just live next to them normally :)

Do you remember what time of year that advice was given? 🤔

It was probably about recommendations not to feed birds in the city - especially during the warm months when they can find food on their own. The thing is, an excess of birds in places where people gather creates sanitary problems: they leave a lot of droppings, which can carry infections. Plus birds become more aggressive and bold, start pecking food right out of your hands.

But here's what people often miss: the "don't feed them" advice only works if everyone follows it. If one person in the park starts scattering crumbs, the flock is already attached to the spot and won't disperse. So the problem gets solved more through a collective agreement rather than advice to individual residents 🚴

The question is phrased pretty broadly, but if we're talking specifically about protecting plantings - the most practical approach that people often overlook is netting or spunbond fabric stretched not just over the beds, but at a small height above the ground on a frame. Birds have a harder time digging in the soil through a barrier, they prefer easily accessible food sources and often lose interest in protected areas.

I think there were several different campaigns, and they dealt with different problems. One of the main ones was really a request not to feed pigeons and crows in parks and on the streets. When birds are fed bread and grain, they start reproducing more actively, become annoying, and often spread diseases. Plus a lot of droppings pile up, damaging monuments and building facades.

But besides that, there were recommendations to react differently to the appearance of birds in general - not to chase them away, but just not to create ideal conditions for them. Open trash cans, crumbs on balconies, unprotected plantings - all of this attracts birds. If you just remove the source of food, they won't hang around there. And yeah, I agree that physical protection (nets, fences) works better than trying to scare them off.

And if it's specifically about the advice - maybe it was information about breeding season and a request not to disturb the nests? 🐦 In spring such announcements often come out so people don't touch the clutches.

# Large-mesh netting really does work, but you need to secure it properly. A lot of people just stretch it over the bed, and birds simply crawl under it or lift it up. The most effective way is to nail the netting around the perimeter so it sits tight against the ground or at least is stretched over a low frame made from sticks - then you block off the landing strip and they lose interest.

But honestly, if we're talking about the advice that was actually given to Muscovites, it was probably less about protecting vegetable gardens and more about the problem of pigeons and sparrows multiplying because people feed them. People throw crumbs in parks, near buildings, and the birds get bolder, their numbers grow, they damage balconies and cornices. The advice was pretty standard - don't feed them in the city, especially not bread.

If you've got a problem with crows at your dacha, besides the netting it helps to rotate your protection methods - shiny strips, sounds, temporary scarecrows. Birds get used to one method quickly, so you need to switch them up.