Vivid childhood memories of my uncle feeding the pigeons at Trafalgar Square in London have always haunted me. It was only natural that I would do the same when I went to London on a vacation, however destiny had something else in store and I missed out on feeding them; missed out on lots of photo ops. Very soon I won’t be able to feed these cooing birds in New York either because hawks have been deployed at many places to scare them away. Before you go into an Alfred Hitchcock tirade about crazed birds chasing the prey, the hawks in question are the robotics kind. John Donald, managing director of Robop Limited, which manufactures mechanical hawks says, “I don’t want to say it’s a panacea for all problems. It can certainly reduce the numbers.” The city council has considered employing the robotic hawks and imposing a $1,000 for feeding the birds, which are apparently a menace.

The idea of using robotic hawks in New York was floated last fall in Councilman Simcha Felder’s report. Using robots however is not part of Felder’s bill but could be an option if the Bloomberg administration deems it fit. The $4,200 Robops is one of the stationary Robotic Hawk available in the market. Another robotic hawk, Falco Robot is made in Spain and modeled after a goshawk flies.
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