Pasir Ris residents upset by noise, dirt from migrating birds

Benson Ang, The New Paper 14 Nov 08;

AT Pasir Ris, birds of a feather are everywhere - on air-con compressors, window ledges, corridor railings, bamboo poles, and even inside people's homes.

And so are the birds' droppings.

While the focus in recent years has been on controlling the crow population, Pasir Ris residents are now pressing for something to be done about the invasion of migrating swallows.

Housewife Quek Geok Keow, 45, who lives on the third storey of Block 645, along Pasir Ris Drive 10, is one of many frustrated residents.

She said that if she knew there were so many birds there before she bought her flat in March, she would not have moved in.

'When my agent first showed me the flat, the windows were covered with curtains, so I didn't see the bird droppings on the outside,' she said.

She noticed the bird droppings the night she moved in.

Her husband, 41, a technician, who wanted to be known only as Mr Goh for fear of embarrassment, complained to the Town Council a week after they moved into their flat.

The problem has prompted Madam Quek to think of creative ways to deal with the birds.

She fixed a plastic bag to one end of a bamboo pole. She holds this pole out of her window and makes a loud flapping sound with it, so that birds would not settle near her window.

She uses her device every evening.

And, she claims, the strategy has worked; There are now fewer birds landing on her window ledge.

When The New Paper visited the area last month at 7pm, we saw flocks of birds flying around the housing estate, in the corridors and through the void decks.

At the lift lobby outside Madam Quek's flat, we had to duck when a few birds flew directly at us.

The racket from the chirping birds was also quite loud and there was a faint smell of bird droppings in the air.

Madam Quek said: 'I feel like I'm living on a farm, with chickens and ducks.'

From her window, hundreds of birds could be seen flying around the housing estate.

Mr Goh said he is afraid to walk across the estate at night, 'because of the birds, not robbers.'

The Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council said most of the birds are swallows (see report on facing page) but there are other breeds, too.

Housewife Angela Tan, who is in her 40s, has been living in Block 633, near Pasir Ris Drive 3, for more than 10 years.

She said the number of mynahs has become a problem, but only since last year. Scores of them gather on the rooftop in the mornings.

Last year, Madam Tan placed a wire mesh over her kitchen windows to prevent mynahs from flying into her home.

Not birdbrains

But the birds are clever, said Madam Tan. They force their way through the corners of the fence, and enter her home.

'When I come home and see bird droppings on my kitchen floor, I know they've been here,' she said. 'It's so disgusting.'

Madam Tan related an incident that happened to one of her friends who had left a basin of water in her sink.

When her friend returned to the sink after a few minutes, she found a mynah bathing in the water, and 'shaking its bottom' at her.

Residents have also found bird droppings on clothes put out to dry, and birds rummaging through their rubbish bins.

'I still hang my clothes out to dry, but keep an eye on them as I'm doing housework.

'If I see or hear any birds landing on my clothes, I immediately shoo them away,' Madam Tan said.

'These birds are not afraid of humans. Even when I shake the bamboo poles they are on, they refuse to fly away.'