PORTLAND (AP) – Politicians are no longer crying campaign slogans from the steps of City Hall. Instead, the cries come from loudspeakers blaring electronic squeals to ward off pesty pigeons.

Pigeons are flocking to City Hall in unusually large numbers this year, said Emmett Mead, director of public buildings.

Last week Mead installed a $500 solar-powered machine that shrieks all day and runs on stored solar power at night – when most pigeons visit the front steps. “We just want to scare them,” Mead said.

Pigeons usually find a new home every year, and for some reason City Hall has become popular this year, Mead said. For city workers, it is a costly and time-consuming task to deal with the droppings left by the birds.

City Hall isn’t the only place under siege.

In September, officials at Dike-Newell School in Bath bought a similar device to scare away sea gulls. Hundreds of gulls were splattering cars, teachers and students and had become a health hazard.

The noise keeps sea gulls from roosting on the school gym’s roof.

Another business in Portland has used the sonic approach to frighten pigeons. For the past four years, DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant and Marina has run a machine that produces ultrasonic noises.

“Some people say they can hear it, but it emits sounds I can’t hear,” said restaurant manager Gene DiMillo. “It does work. We don’t have a pigeon problem.”

Portland officials had contemplated electric shock devices on City Hall’s ledges, but went with the sound machine and spikes on the ledges because of costs and safety issues.

But the birds seem to be winning the war.

A number of pigeons could be seen clustering on City Hall’s windowsills Friday afternoon.