I got this short query from a blog reader:

Story suggestion:
We were in Beijing last November and were surprised that we saw no pigeons...how is that possible in any city in this day and age?

Thanks!
Susan R***

Anybody have any clues to what lurks behind the “pigeonless” city?

I lived in Nicaragua in the early 1990s and heard many stories about how during the Sandinista Revolution the capital suddenly became devoid of birds. The culprit: Huge use of DDT to kill mosquitoes. The birds eventually came back, and so did the mosquitoes.

I imagine there is a pigeon-extermination brigade in Beijing, although pigeons aren’t one of the “four pests” – rats, sparrows, flies and mosquitoes – that have been the subject of periodic campaigns.