My wife and I are winter residents and consider ourselves very fortunate to own a condo here in Fountain Hills.

When we accidentally stumbled on this wonderful town we were taken aback with its charm. It didn’t take us long to realize we had found the place we wanted to spend our winters. We quickly found a condo to purchase and have made Fountain Hills our winter home.

We love the park, fountain, shops, scenery, restaurants and most of all the great community spirit and friendly residents.

The one thing that I wish could be addressed somehow is the number of birds in and around the lake. Every day I walk the Overlook trail and around the lake. The coots and ducks make the path and grounds around the lake at best an unpleasant experience.

I am aware that getting rid of these birds is not an easy task but it seems to me that the time to deal with this issue has arrived. Not only is the path covered in bird droppings, the water quality

must be greatly impacted with all these birds using it as a toilet.

The most astonishing thing I have seen is people bringing down buckets full of bread and other food to feed the birds. If nothing else can be done, the town should make a move to stop people from feeding these pests.

Whenever we return after some time away from Fountain Hills it seems the bird population has increased again.

It’s time to figure out a solution to this unhealthy and unsightly problem.