Adelaide City Council increases cleaning of bird droppings on Leigh St as trader get desperate

There are calls for radical action – including the felling of trees – as feathers fly over how to control increasingly problematic bird droppings on a popular CBD eating strip.

Thousands of tree martins are continuing to seek refuge along Leigh St, causing havoc for traders and prompting multiple daily cleanings of bird droppings – with no end in sight.

Adelaide City Council is undertaking additional tree pruning and cleaning the popular cafe and bar strip three times a day as 10,000 native birds seek protection from peregrine falcons.

The council has conceded it has no foreseeable solution to stop the birds from migrating, but it would continue to work with Green Adelaide and the Environment Department.

Leigh St landlord George Ginos said they had dealt with the council for “many years” without a resolution “despite being assured it will be resolved prior to the next migration”.

“It impacts all the businesses in the precinct, even the office staff have to walk through the stench and bird droppings to get to their place of work let alone the hospitality venues who are trying to create a vibrant precinct with outdoor dining,” Mr Ginos said.

Barber Alec Mastrangelo, who has worked on the strip for 50 years this October, said the council did a “great job, but the problem is still here”.

“The only way to overcome the issue is to cut down the trees, it won’t be popular but it’s the only way to fix the problem,” Mr Mastrangelo said.

Bird poo on Leigh Street, pictured on Wednesday. Picture: Ben Clark

Cr Arman Abrahimzadeh, who asked the council at Tuesday night’s meeting what action had been taken to resolve the issue, said he had more complaints about this than any other matter.

“I’ve tried working with the staff on this and they’ve managed to tweak a few things – extra cleaning is great ... but what we need to look at is the cause, not the end result which is the crap left on the street,” Cr Abrahimzadeh said.

Bird droppings on an awning on Leigh Street.

In its response, council staff said they had tried to reduce the volume of bird droppings by removing a tree late last year, adjacent to Shobosho, and approving a canopy for the eatery.

Following property owner feedback, cleaning also increased from two visits daily during the migration from January to May, to three visits from late February at 6am, 10am and 4pm.

A council worker cleans Leigh St of bird poo. Picture: Ben Clark

Cr Abrahimzadeh believed money would be better spend finding a resolution rather than on a proposed $150,000 Barry Humphries statue, or about $7000 annually for councillors to chair council committees.

“I’m mindful it’s a difficult issue, but it’s something that needs our attention rather than spending $150k on a statue, or throwing money at committee chairs,” he said.

The council said it had investigated netting trees, but due to size and scale it was not viable. It also investigated sonar bird control technology but it was a risk to pedestrian eyesight.