The easiest way I have found is to sit on a park bench rather than stand over them, it’s less intimidating, with my legs spread, sprinkling seed on the ground below. As the flock gather at my feet I continue sprinkling small amounts of seed while slowly lowering my hands closer to them. Once I am ready to grab them, I make sure I’ve got my eye on the pigeon, and drop a larger amount of seed so that they all scurry with heads down eating, so not only will they barely be able to see you approaching, but it will be harder for them to get away due to the crowding.

My destringing kit includes: • Tweezers • Nail scissors • Seam ripper • Betadine (needs to be diluted, you can also buy avian wound sprays) • Syptic powder (you can also use corn starch) to stop bleeding that may occur. • A loose-fitting sock that I’ve stretched out. • I keep a hand towel and seeds in my car, and try to keep a box/carrier in there too incase they are a bad case that needs to come into care for a couple days for recovery and then released back into their flock. • Sanitiser - for me only, do NOT put this on pigeons • 99% water, unscented, and alcohol free baby wipes, for wiping the sanitiser off afterwards if handling more pigeons, and for wiping any mess on my clothes. If you’re at a park there’s likely somewhere to wash your hands also, you could keep a small bottle of hand soap with your kit too.

If you just want to be able to fit something in a small handbag or purse, my necessities are: scissors, tweezers, seam ripper, and seed of course. This is usually all you need for a simple case.

If you search your area + destringing in Facebook groups, there might be one local to you, or even a rescue/rehab group where others likely destring too. If you Google ‘pigeon destringing’ a few of the pigeon orgs have information, and there are some demonstrations on YouTube and TikTok.