Pigeons

A feature story tells of an inventor’s clever way of getting rid of pigeons that plagued the Harbor Department’s San Pedro headquarters (Metro, April 6). But there’s always been a cheaper, simpler and better way.

Some years ago a friend at a civil engineering firm laughingly told me that Caltrans got rid of pigeons under bridges by mounting plastic but real-looking owls there. I tried it in my back yard where birds congregated on overhead powerlines. The result: For the two years the owls have been mounted the bird population has diminished to virtually zero. Many birds are afraid of owls and won’t go near them, even though they’re not real.

OLIVER BERLINER

Beverly Hills