pigeons eating leaves on forsythia bush

Question

Why are pigeons eating all the leaves on our forsythia bush? The whole of the top of our forsythia bush is stripped of leaves and we know it is pigeons as we have seen them flying off!! Never happened before in all the years it has been in place! Any ideas?

Answer 1

Pigeons are known to do this on occasion. It is frustrating but is typically not lethal to the tree.

If you can, bird netting placed over the bush will stop them. If the bush is too big for that, try hanging aluminum pie plates, old CDs or anything that will move in the wind a reflect light. This is typically enough to make birds nervous and move on to other places.