Maybe nails embedded in the planter spike up and taller than the plants?

The spikes work, but you have to cover every horizontal surface.

And for the record, fake owls do NOT work.

Oh, man, do I sympathize; I had this problem in two of my apartments. If you can find Tanglefoot, or something like it, put it on all the railings and wherever they perch. In one of my New Orleans apartments, the super did this for me and it worked like a charm.

We didn't find it here in Greece, though, so we improvised something else by using tie-wraps with the pointy side up all along the top of the balcony railing. Basically, a cheaper, friendlier version of this. Tie-wraps the same color as the railing, plus potted plants around and vines growing on the railing made it look not-so-bad.

For the most part, I've found that if they can't perch around the perimiter, they rarely fly in to land on the balcony floor, though if they are really entrenched, you may want to add some kinetic stuff like pin wheels in your plants, hanging wind chimes, and maybe something like this

≡ Click to see image ≡

to make their discomfort more complete.

Or, get a cat.

Thanks taz - lots of ideas there.

Unfortunately no pet apartment - so kitty not an option.

You're welcome! We had a moderate problem here in our first apartment, on our large front balcony, that we handled fairly easily.

But on the small back balcony (off one bedroom), oh. my. god. We had to wear masks and shovel up pounds of pigeon shit, scrape the railings, scrub everything down with straight bleach, and repaint the railing. It was awful. This was the one they really, really, wanted to come back to because, apparently, they had been laying eggs there for years, if not decades. We did the tie wrap thingies all along the railing, quite close together so it was really bristly (secure them as tightly as possibly so the pointy tips don't slide downward - and replace immediately wherever they might make an incursion), as well as on two bracing beams (I don't know what these are called) that held up the little balcony roof.

I would go out there every day and add things and mess around with it... tie up huge bunches of balloons onto something on the balcony floor or the door handle, put down aluminum foil on the floor of the balcony, anchored on the edges by potted plants and/or big glass jugs, whatever. I put a big kite that had an eye-type decoration in one corner for a while. I can't even remember what else; it was my obsession for a few months.

Eventually, they decided it just wasn't worth it... and honestly, I think that may have been the greatest triumph in my life, because, dang, those things are wily and determined. A brain probably the size of a pea, and they are almost impossible to outwit!

OMG what a revolting experience! Just cleaning up one nest that snuck by me was more than enough of a trial - a huge pile of crap and it was full of bird lice! I even found them on me a few hours after! (And much scrubbing ensued - I almost bathed in bleach.)

I have been doing pretty much daily maintenance for months - we had new neighbours move in next door and they have a big net so they come back to ours. I'm jumping out there several times a day to flick a towel to clear them away. They *don't* seem to learn though!

I am definitely going out to pick up some tie wrap thingies now - they can be easily removed if needed. That and spikes in the pot plants will be the first attack!

I use a Super Soaker. We actually lure birds to our backyard with feeders....crazy people, we are. We get all kinds of birds, and love them. Then the pigeons came. Five of them, roosting ALL day and keeping watch over the seed. They're bullies and total gluttons, and stupid to boot. And they're the only birds that shit in the feeders. They're disgusting. I like feeding birds, not rats with wings. So I bought a Super Soaker and just startled them with water every day. It didn't hurt them, especially since I was so far away. They're so stupid that it took them at least a month to figure out that "HEY. Every time we go to that place it rains on us. We don't like it to rain on us. Maybe we should go to one of the, oh, eight thousand other birdfeeders in town where it doesn't rain on us every time we eat." So they left.

Good riddance, but you're welcome back any time, as long as you stop shitting in the bird food!

My parents bought some barbed wire and curled it along the window ledge. It worked a treat.

Yeah tried the super soaker for a while - I guess I'm looking for options which don't involve me having to run outside every 10 minutes!

They are disgusting. I've never known birds to crap so much and it's really nasty crap too.

Hey hey! Welcome onboard gomi! I think you should just get yourself a pet domokun and it will eat any pigeons that come by. I thought every Japanese apartment had a domokun, anyway.

Wait - you have a no pet apartment. Forget the domokun idea.

Good riddance, but you're welcome back any time, as long as you stop shitting in the bird food!

/boggles: Man alive, I never thought I'd be told that again.

Well...you can play Mo Willems Pigeon ringtone (3) to it and see what happens. ;-)