Brett was sitting at Greeley Square Park near Macy's. A feather floated to the ground. He looked up. A curved metal bar connected a street pole to a traffic light. Two rods supported the bar. Pigeons stood almost shoulder to shoulder on the 20-foot-long bar and rods. The crowded conditions must have looked attractive. Other pigeons tried to land there. But they usually had to make a last-second U-turn. Streaks of gray, hardened droppings covered more than half of the traffic light. Brett looked around. Three more traffic lights were nearby. They had the same bars and rods. But they didn't have any birds. Brett pointed this out to his wife, sitting nearby. She said, "Who cares where pigeons stand?" Brett said, "Don't you see? First, we figure out what's keeping pigeons off those other bars and rods. Then, we'll use that info to keep pigeons off all our statues."