Pigeon Photo Hustle at Plaça de Catalunya Asks Tourists for 5 Euros
A group in Plaça de Catalunya scatters feed so pigeons land on tourists, takes photos and asks for 5 euros. How it works and what the city's pigeon rules say.
Four women and a man have been working the upper part of Plaça de Catalunya with bags of bird feed, getting pigeons to land on tourists, photographing them and then asking for 5 euros, La Vanguardia reported. If a visitor objects, the price can drop to 3 euros or a handful of small coins.
The group scatters feed across that side of the square to draw more birds, while one of them offers food straight into a visitor’s hands. Within moments the pigeons climb from hands to arms to heads. A woman then offers to take a picture with the visitor’s own phone and asks for payment when she hands it back.
What it means for visitors in the square
The people being approached are tourists, especially those with children, according to the newspaper. Barcelona residents usually walk straight past the group, much as they ignore street fundraisers with clipboards. The group also lets visitors photograph the housing rights protest camp that takes up most of the square.
The reporter described the request as natural and friendly at first. “Cinco euros, por favor” (“Five euros, please”), the woman said when returning the phone. When the reporter questioned the price, she asked for three, then took a few small coins and left without her smile.
La Vanguardia said this group should not be confused with the bird feed sellers who used to work the same square, whom the Ajuntament (Barcelona city council) banned some years ago to fight pigeon overpopulation. The paper lists the scheme alongside other street tactics in the centre: trinket sellers on La Rambla who hand over a “free” bracelet and then ask for a contribution, balloon mimes on Avinguda de la Catedral, people with parakeets on Passeig de Lluís Companys and in Parc de la Ciutadella, and collectors who ask for 20 euros for a doubtful charity for deaf people.
Why the feeding worries the city
Barcelona already has a pigeon population about five times the level that authorities recommend, the newspaper reported, and one main reason is how easily the birds find food around the city. A group spreading feed all day in one of the busiest squares adds to that.
Feeding pigeons is not illegal in Barcelona. Throwing food on the ground is banned by the city council. The council dropped lethal methods of pigeon control a decade ago, according to La Vanguardia. It now tries to persuade people who feed the birds to stop, asks bar and café staff to clear leftovers from terraces quickly, and puts out feed laced with contraceptives for birds in the places where pigeons gather most.
Source: La Vanguardia
