City cafe owners in a flap

While seagulls are causing headaches for customers and staff of Mount Maunganui's cafe scene, it is sparrows who are the nuisance elsewhere in the region.

Starbucks Tauranga manager Sheryl Hanright said while gulls caused problems by hanging around their outdoor tables by the waterfront, their big issue was sparrows coming inside.

''What happens is they are quite shrewd. They wait for people to open the door and they rush in and look for muffins,'' Ms Hanright said.

''They are pretty clever actually. But we spend all day chasing them out. There's not much else we can do.''

Further down The Strand, sparrows were also sneaking through the doors at the Crown and Badger.

''As soon as the door opens they fly in, just three or four of them. They seem to know what to do,'' owner Colin Milne said.

''It's especially bad first thing in the morning. We just chase them out and keep things clean.''

In Papamoa, issues with birds did not appear to be as bad.

Gana Cafe manager Chloe Bryant said they did not have a problem with gulls but they did have ''the odd sparrow''.

''They will hang around and if we are busy and a table needs clearing they will sit there and pick away at it.''

Ms Bryant used to work at a cafe on Marine Parade and is familiar with the gulls being such a pest in the area.

Department of Conservation ecologist Dave Houston said nuisance birds, particularly the redbilled gull, were the result of people feeding them.

''It's quite common in cafes, they are around because people feed the birds, that encourages birds to come closer and they will get fed more. All of a sudden it's a problem because the birds are much cheekier then they bargained for,'' Mr Houston said.

''If we keep feeding them, they will take advantage. The only way to stop them is to stop feeding them.

''It might not happen immediately but the birds will soon realise getting food here won't be as easy.''

Mr Houston said a lot of birds carried diseases.

''The most common thing to get from birds at cafes is salmonella if the birds have defecated in your sandwich or something.''

On Tuesday, the  Bay of Plenty Times published a story about seagulls stealing food from customers at Marine parade cafes.