Palmerston North has a poo problem thanks to the spectacular daily flight of thousands of starlings, which swoop on the inner city to spend the night.
The starlings spend the night in the middle of the city, leaving their mark below. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Their droppings rain down on the footpath and road below - hitting parked cars and pedestrians - and measures to discourage them from The Square, such as bird scarers, don't seem to have an effect.
Inner-city business owner Catherine Russ for many years lived on The Square, and was not impressed with the shrill sounds of the bird scarers.
Customers would often mention the poo coating the ground.
"They mention the smell. That would be the main thing that's mentioned.
"If it rains all the bird poo gets wet and it really does create an awful smell in the area, but we're not here in the evenings. That's when the cars really get bombed."
As night falls in Palmerston North, these trees in The Square fill with starlings. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Russ, a founder of clothing label Pork Chop Hill, said she felt for people who parked under the trees at night, not knowing they'd be in for a clean up.
"The main problem with the pooing on the cars is when everybody comes in to park up and go into the restaurants for dinner.
"If they're not from here it's a nasty surprise."
Russ suggested pruning the trees to keep them back from footpaths.
Others in the inner city spoken to by RNZ had similar ideas, including building shelters over footpaths and car parks.
Nobody wanted to see the city's green canopy cut down, with many saying it would rob people of much-needed summer shade.
Five years ago the city council paid about $50,000 dollars for bird scarers, but now the birds seemed to ignore them.
The city council regularly cleans bird poo from inner-city footpaths. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Council group manager for parks and logistics Kathy Dever-Tod said bird poo was regularly water blasted off the pavement.
Other measures to deal with the problem were being looked at, including moving the footpaths away from the trees as part of upgrades to the CBD.
"We will continue to try and disturb the birds with the bird scarers.
"The other things we are looking at are water sprinklers and things that really discourage them from being in the trees that are close to the edge of The Square."
There was no easy fix, however.
Dever-Tod said introducing birds such as falcons to scare the starlings away was not viable and could create other problems.
"What we've found over time with measures that we've put in place is that they are only short term. The birds soon get to realise that it's not really a threat to them."
The birds swoop in spectacular fashion - except if you are parked below or walking past at the wrong moment. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Seven years ago the council cut down trees on the nearby Broadway Avenue so people were not put off parking there.
Those trees were only a couple of decades old and not as beloved as the ones in The Square.
But the droppings could cause people to turn away from businesses.
Gadgets Xperts technician Amol Das said if people could not get a park outside that shop they were unlikely to want to park on the other side of the road, under the trees.
"If they park on the other side it's raining s*** from the birds and the cars are full of it."
He said little could be done about the problem, because he didn't want to see the trees cut down.
