by Pigeon Patrol | Nov 21, 2014 | Bird Netting
Gamblers are real bird-brains in the way they are tempted to take risks, scientists have found.
Research has shown that both human gamblers and pigeons are 35% more likely to take greater risks when there is a chance of a big win.
Dr Elliot Ludvig, from the University of Warwick’s Department of Psychology, said: “Birds are distantly related to humans, yet we still share the same basic psychology that drives risk-taking. This may be due to a shared common ancestry or similar evolutionary pressures.
“When people gamble, they often rely on past experiences with risk and rewards to make decisions. What we found in this study is that pigeons used these past experiences in very similar ways to guide their future gambling decisions. Any big wins we’ve had in the past are memorable and stand-out when we are making our decision to gamble again.”
Human volunteers and pigeons were tested with four options: two that led to high-value rewards and two that led to low-value rewards.
While humans were rewarded with points, the pigeons were rewarded with food.
For each high or low reward level, one safe option resulted in a guaranteed fixed reward, and one risky option yielded a 50/50 chance of a better or worse outcome.
Both birds and humans alike were found to be 35% more likely to take a gamble on the high-value rewards.
The study, published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, was conducted in collaboration with the University of Alberta, Canada, and part-funded by the Alberta Gambling Research Institute.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Pigeon Patrol | Nov 21, 2014 | Pigeons in the News
One of nature’s most fascinating phenomena is the collective behaviour of animals. A shoal of fish, a swarm of locusts, and a colony of ants can all act as superorganisms, where the group as a whole makes collective decisions.
Equally interesting are smaller groups that also have this peculiar behaviour, such as a flock of migratory birds that forms a “V” in the sky. Researchers have observed and studied this particular grouping of animals for many decades, yet little is known about their social structure. Do they have leaders? If so, are their roles similar to humans in anyway?
The lack of understanding of this behaviour intrigued Máté Nagy, a zoologist at University of Oxford. He thought that studying at least one species may shed light on the occurrence of this behaviour in the rest of the animal kingdom, including humans.
In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nagy and his colleagues studied the behaviour of domestic pigeons (Columba livia). Their aim was to study social dominance in one task and use the results to analyse the behaviour of leaders (if there were any) in a new task.
Pigeon formation.
For this, they tagged three groups of ten pigeons with a barcode and programmed computers to follow the movements of these pigeons using a video feed. In the first task, designed to study social dominance, the three groups of pigeons were left with a feeding cup. The group tracked three types of behaviour: feeding-queueing (a measure of an individual’s access to food), approach-avoidance (a measure of the interactions between individuals) and pecking order (measure of aggression displayed through fighting and chasing).
After some number-crunching that took the three types of behaviour into consideration, the simple feeding task showed that a social hierarchy existed among pigeons. Nagy was able use that data to identify the socially dominant individuals within each group.
Next, each group was let free so that Nagy could determine if the socially dominant pigeons took on the job of leaders when the pigeons flew as a flock. This time, the pigeons were fitted with a GPS tracker, which allowed Nagy to track the positions of each individual relative to the rest of the flock.
Here Nagy found that the leaders in flock-flying were different from those that were socially dominant during the feeding exercise. These results are unlike what you would see with gray wolves or chacma baboons, where the socially dominant individual may also lead the group. The leaders did have some common features, though. The socially dominant individuals were more aggressive than average flock member and had a comparatively larger body.
Because of the complications involved in flock-flying, it is possible that a somewhat less aggressive, and possibly better informed individual takes the leading position. However, there was no relation between leadership and age, so it wasn’t that the more experienced flyers lead the flock.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Pigeon Patrol | Nov 21, 2014 | Pigeons in the News
Many people have heard of Mike Tyson, the fearsome former heavyweight champion– but did as many people know he had a love for pigeons?
The birds, considered a dirty nuisance to most people, were his friends.
Owning 3,000 of the birds, he called pigeon racing his ‘first love’. Much to his wife’s dismay, Tyson can spend hours at the coop, staring at the birds as they flap their wings and hop around.
“The pigeons are man’s first feathered friends, before chickens,” Tyson said. “They were money in ancient times.”
For Mr. Tyson, home was never something to be taken for granted. As a boy growing up in a raucous and dysfunctional apartment in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, he joined some pals in keeping a roof-top suite of pet pigeons. One afternoon, a street tough came along, taunted the future champ, blithely snapped the neck of one of his pigeons and threw the bird back in his face. That was Tyson’s first fight as a result of his love for pigeons.
‘They were my escape,’ he said. ‘I was fat and ugly. Kids teased me all the time. The only joy I had was pigeons.’
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Pigeon Patrol | Nov 18, 2014 | Bird Netting
1. Large population of pigeons is a health hazard.
Our huge feral pigeon population is a health hazard and creates many problems in the city. Pigeon droppings dirty public spaces, do costly damage to buildings, and can spread life-threatening diseases, especially to the elderly and immune-deficient. Their nesting materials block drains and harbor parasites like bird mites. Pigeon food makes a mess and attracts rats.
2. Feeding pigeons promotes overbreeding.
Pigeon feeding produces overbreeding. Pigeons normally breed two or three times a year, producing two eggs per brood. Overfed city pigeons can breed up to eight times a year.
Sometimes having a tender heart towards pigeons may have destructive consequences
3. Pigeons are harmed when fed.
When you feed pigeons, you are not doing them a favor. They lose their natural ability to scavenge and survive on their own. Pigeon over population leads to overcrowded, unsanitary conditions and produces sick and injured birds. A smaller flock is healthier and does less damage.
4. It attracts other pests
People who feed pigeons often end up feeding more than they bargained for. If food is too plentiful, pigeons may not always eat everything that is left out for them. The remaining food may attract rats and mice.
Lovely, though pigeons have become an increasing environmental and health concern in recent years
5. It affects other birds
Feeding feral pigeons can deprive other birds of food and might scare them from your garden. Smaller birds such as thrushes and finches are often frightened off when numbers of much larger pigeons arrive. Feral pigeons can also carry viruses that can be spread to other birds causing death.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Pigeon Patrol | Nov 18, 2014 | Pigeons in the News
An errant racing pigeon has Renwick orchard owner Bob Crum cursing the day the bird entered his life.
According to Crum the pigeon arrived three weeks ago and had made itself at home, enjoying a regular supply of food from his hen house. However, the pesky bird’s presence has put his hens off laying, and it doesn’t look ready to leave any time soon.
What Crum first thought was a novelty turned into a daily chase to catch the food thief.
He had made noises to scare the pigeon but unperturbed by the riled fruit grower, it just flew off only to return later. The bird has grey and white plumage with an amulet of pink and purple feathers around its neck.
Crum believed the racing pigeon had deviated from its route.
“We thought it was hanging around because it liked us. We discovered it was eating the hens’ food and was putting them off laying. It causes all hell and the chooks don’t like it. They won’t lay in their nests in the hen house,” he said.
It had been eating wheat and seemed happy, Crum said.
“I felt sorry for it at first but we have had enough. It is pretty clever, it is no bird brain.
“It keeps out smarting me. In the hen house it sneaked out every time I tried to catch it. It flies up to the roof and watches what is happening.”
Crum doesn’t believe in killing the bird so lethal force hasn’t yet been considered. “I don’t have it in me to harm it – I wouldn’t want any thing bad to happen to it,” he said.
He had been in touch with a pigeon club to see if any pigeon fanciers were missing a bird but his inquiries had drawn a blank.
“I hope its missing owner comes and gets it quick.”
If you are missing a racing pigeon call Crum on 03 572 8237.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
