by Pigeon Patrol | May 3, 2021 | Bird Law, Bird Spikes, history of pigeons, Pigeons, Pigeons in the News
I admit that topic is a bit off my usual
Brain Sense
beat, but occasionally a piece of research comes along that is just too intriguing to pass by. Such is the case with a new report out of the University of Kentucky, published this week in the
Proceedings of the Royal Society
(UK). The study’s lead author, psychology professor Thomas Zentall, studied some pigeon gamblers and came up with some intriguing insights into human gamblers.
Zentall and collaborator Jessica Stagner set pigeons up in cages and let the birds peck at lights to obtain rewards of food pellets. If the pigeons pecked on the left, they received a green or a red light; after 10 seconds, the red light yielded 10 pellets but the green light yielded nothing. Because the odds were stacked at 20 percent–which is much more generous than your average casino–the pigeons averaged 2 pellets per peck if they pecked on the left.
If they pecked to the right, however, they saw yellow or blue lights, which both yielded 3 pellets of food per trial. Same every time. Sure thing.
So which would you choose: a guaranteed 3 or the remote possibility of a 10 (with the odds stacked against you)? Seems most pigeons behave like human gamblers. They don’t go for the sure thing. Most of Zentall’s experimental birds consistently chose the left side, apparently motivated by some bird-brained hope that they would receive the 10 pellets, even though 0 was a 4:1 favorite. “It’s more efficient not to gamble, and the likelihood of winning is low, but pigeons do it anyway,” Zentall says. “And so do people.”
“There’s a basic behavioral, biological process involved that probably affects many different species, and it doesn’t require the excitement of a casino, the misunderstanding of the likelihood of winning, social reinforcement or the publicity of winners,” Zentall says. “These factors may help, but that’s not it. Look at the pigeons.”
Zentall is also looking at the pigeons to try to find out why some pigeons, like some people, eschew gambling. (Yes, a few, wise pigeons peck to the right.) “Most of the time, people who aren’t terribly happy with what they’re doing choose to gamble because it’s exciting to them and other things generally aren’t,” says Zentall, and pigeons may be no different. Zentall thinks boredom may be an important motivator for gambling. His pigeons are less likely to gamble after spending time in a room playing with toys and other pigeons.
“We can understand the basis for gambling,” Zentall says, “but why has this evolved in people and in animals?” The answer may lie in the animal’s sense of control. “In nature, probability isn’t constant,” he said. “Animals are attracted to stimuli that make it easy to predict the availability of food and approaching these stimuli often makes their occurrence more likely. In lab conditions, this isn’t the case. . . . In addition, humans remember the wins and not the losses, which has functional value in nature. . . . Animals too, don’t remember where they didn’t find food, but do remember where they did.”
Thus, gambling may have survival value in nature, but not in the casino.
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 Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products ten years in a row.
Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
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by Pigeon Patrol | May 3, 2021 | Bird Law, Bird Spikes, Doves, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Patrol's Services
Officials believe an inmate at a jail in Costa Rica trained a feathered friend to smuggle cocaine and cannabis in a pouch.
A pigeon smuggling cocaine and cannabis into a prison in Costa Rica has been caught by guards.
The bird was seen landing in the central concourse of the medium security La Reforma jail, in San Rafael de Alajuela, where it was taken into custody.
The drugs were contained in a small zipped up pouch strapped to the animals chest.
About 14g of cocaine and at least the same amount of cannabis were inside wrapped in plastic.
Costa Rica’s Ministry of Justice and Peace released the animal’s mugshot under the headline caption “narcopaloma”, meaning “drugs dove”, and listing the date of the animals detention.
Realidad7 reported the drugs had a street value of around £180 ($281).
Prison officials said they believe the drugs were destined for use by an inmate who may have trained the pigeon to act as a courier.
Director of the Penitentiary Police, Paul Bertozzi, told Spanish news agency Efe that it showed the need to be vigilant.
“Drug traffickers are using unimaginable ways to achieve their macabre atrocities,” he said.
“This (use of a pigeon) is nothing new. In the past (the traffickers) have used cats and dogs to pass drugs to prisoners. Now it seems they are using pigeons to carry in their wares from the outside.”
Although it is the first time the Costa Rican authorities said they had come across the practice, it has previously been reported in Argentina in 2013 and Colombia in 2011.
The pigeon was later taken to a zoo where it was expected to remain behind the bars of a cage.
Biologist Oscar Ramirez told Realidad7 that pigeons can be trained to travel several miles with small loads.
During the Second World War, more than 250,000 homing pigeons were used to transport messages between front line Allied troops and top brass, according to the Royal Pigeon Racing Association.
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 Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products ten years in a row.
Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
Pigeon/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosting / Vancouver Pigeon Control /Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / Pigeon Deterrent? Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest /Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons/ What to do about pigeons/ sparrows , Damage by Sparrows, How To Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests/ De-fence / Pigeon Nesting/ Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping/ woodpecker control/ Professional Bird Control Company/ Keep The Birds Away/ Birds/rats/ seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/ dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/ pidgeon control/flying rats/ pigeon Problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/ bird guard
by Pigeon Patrol | Apr 26, 2021 | Columbidae, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
Many of us have heard of the Lost Battalion, and know some of the story. What is not commonly known is the role of a remarkable pigeon, named Cher Ami. That little bird became one of the greatest heroes of World War I.
Cher Ami at the Smithsonian Institution. (Photo by Armed Forces History, Division of History of Technology, National Museum of American History)
Cher Ami was one of almost 600 carrier pigeons employed by the US Army Signal Corps during the First World War. Carrier pigeons were invaluable , in spite of the advances in communications technology during the war. Radios were not as reliable since they were large and still bound by delicate wires. It also was not always possible to lay new wires quickly, and often could be extremely dangerous. While not necessarily a popular form of communication, pigeons did prove a reliable one. The average homing pigeon can fly approximately fifty miles per hour, making them a quick method of communication. Still, these pigeons often proved popular targets to enemy gunfire despite their speed. In fact, German machine gunners trained diligently to both spot and kill these birds with their deadly MG 08s, which could fire over 500 rounds per minute. Pigeons could also be a very risky way to communicate, because if a pigeon was shot down, the message could easily be intercepted by enemy forces.
The US Army Signal Corps used some 600 pigeons in WW1.
It was during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 1918 where the carrier pigeon was finally recognized for its valiant efforts. On October 2nd, 1918, American soldiers from the 77th Division pushed too far into the Argonne Forest and became trapped behind German lines on the slopes of a hill. Cut off from reinforcements and supplies, roughly 550 men from the 306th, 307th, and 308th regiments under Major Charles Whittlesey held their ground against a far larger German force for several days. Far beyond radio range, the only way the Americans could communicate with their own lines was via carrier pigeon. However, it did not take long to realize that the skies were as dangerous as the ground. Trapped in a horrible meatgrinder of machine guns and rain, the Lost Battalion held their ground against vicious German attacks.
On October 4th, American heavy artillery started to bombard the Lost Battalion’s position on accident, killing thirty men as they held the line. Major Whittlesey and his men watched as bird after bird fell out of a sky torn apart by German fire. With supplies running out and casualties mounting rapidly, Major Whittlesey desperately sent out his last pigeon, Cher Ami, to the American lines with a note that simply read, “We are along the road parallel to 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven’s sake, stop it.” With fire raining down on them from all sides, Cher Ami was now the last chance for the Lost Battalion to walk off that hill alive.
Capt John Carney, Cher Ami’s trainer, holds the feathered hero.
The brave bird flew straight into the German fire, dodging bullets as he went. However, his luck did not last for long. Cher Ami was hit in the chest soon after takeoff, as American soldiers watched in horror as their last hope hit the ground. Against all odds though, Cher Ami got up again! Wounded but still alive, the little bird took flight again, charging head-on into wave after wave of gunfire. By the end of the trip, he covered 25 miles in roughly half an hour. He arrived at base heavily wounded, but alive.
The Croix de Guerre with Palm military decoration of France, awarded to Cher Ami.
Army medics were able to save Cher Ami’s life, but his right leg was barely attached to his body and he was blind in one eye. However, because of Cher Ami’s delivery, the artillery stopped and took up new firing coordinates away from American lines. The next day, shells started to fall on German positions, relieving pressure on the bloodied 77th and the battle turned in America’s favor. On October 8th, one hundred and ninety-four men made it back to the American lines thanks to Cher Ami’s sacrifice.
For his part in saving the 77th Division, Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre, one of France’s highest military honors for his gallantry in the field. General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, said “There isn’t anything the United States can do too much for this bird.”
Cher Ami made it back to the United States in the care of its trainer, Capt John Carney. On June 13th, 1919, Cher Ami died at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. However, Cher Ami’s body was preserved and presented to the American Government with honor. It is difficult to say how many families owe their existence to the sheer courage and self-sacrifice of one brave bird. Today, Cher Ami is on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History to preserve his memory. Since then, his story has lived on in the hearts and minds of Americans across the decades, and his bravery will never be forgotten.
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 Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products ten years in a row.
Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
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by Pigeon Patrol | Apr 26, 2021 | Bird Law, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators
Commonly known as Pigeons, Rock Pigeons are often considered a nuisance by some city officials and some farm businesses.
In cities they congregate in large flocks and can create messes with their droppings.
On farms, eating grains and possible harm to livestock through bacteria and viruses are concerns about these birds.
Many pigeon deterents are available online to prevent nesting in areas they’re not wanted.
Introduced into North America from Europe in the 1600’s, these birds have been associated with humans for thousands of years.
Rock Doves are thought to have been the first domesticated bird, raised for meat as far back as the time of the ancient Egyptians.
Description
Pigeons have different colors due to breeding by humans. They are the descendants of the wild Rock Dove of Europe.
About 13 inches in length with a dark gray head, iridescent neck, with a light gray back and 2 dark wing bars.
Mating – Breeding Habits
Like Mourning Doves, pairs are monogamous, often breeding in consecutive seasons for as long as both birds of a pair live.
Most will attempt to raise several broods each year. Sometimes as many as four or five broods will be raised in a single year.
The breeding season of these birds can be all year provided climate conditions allow. There seems to be some slowing down during the winter months.
Nesting Habits
The nesting habits of Pigeons are a bit unique. The male chooses a site in view of the female, selecting one stick and bringing it back, lays it in front of his mate.
The female who stays at the nesting site accepts the sticks the male brings to her and places them underneath her.
The nest of these birds can be found along building ledges, rafters, beams, under bridges or inside barns.
The nest is saucer-like in shape and made of stems and leaves.
The female may sit on the nest a day or two before the first egg is laid. Generally 2 white eggs are laid.
Both the male and female will incubate but the female will spend the most time on the eggs since she will be on the nest from mid-afternoon to mid-morning.
Incubation last for about 18 days. When the eggs hatch the young are covered in yellow down.
Young pigeons in the nest are referred to as “squabs”
Initially, the squabs are fed what is referred to as crop milk. This is a regurgitated thick liquid food that comes from the parents crops.
At about 10 days the squabs are fed increasing amounts of the food types that adults eat and are no longer dependent on crop milk.
The young will double in size in a day and a half. Making them one of the fastest growing vertebrate in the world.
Within 2 weeks the flight feathers begin to emerge and by week 3 the squabs are covered in feathers.
The tail and full feathering is completed by the 28th day and their weight is that of an adult.
The young will now leave the nest and the male will teach them what they need to know to survive.
This is 10 – 15 days longer than most of our backyard birds.
The female will begin a new clutch and this cycle will repeat about every 30 days when weather cooperates.
Do Pigeons Reuse the Same Nest
It’s more accurate to say that the same nest site is used as the second and subsequent nest are built on top of the previous nest.
Nest that are several years old can measure out to be as much as 7 inches high and 19 inches wide.
Feeding Habits – What Pigeons Eat
Rock Pigeons feed on the ground. To prevent seed spoilage and to keep the birds healthy a ground feeder is recommended for all ground feeding birds.
The best types of food to offer these birds are properly mixed seeds specifically made for doves and pigeons.
For more information on seeds and photos of each, please see our
Bird Seed Page.Predators
The primary preadators of pigeons include: man, peregrin falcon, and cats. Nest predators include oppossums, raccoons, crows and owls. Hawks will capture perching birds.
Are Pigeons Smart Birds?
According to Professor Richard J. Herrnstein at the Harvard Psychological Laboratories they are. Pigeons were smart enough to learn all the letters of the english alphabet.
In another study, Pigeons were able to recognize themselves in a mirror. This makes them one of six species and the only non-mammal to be able to do so.
So yes, Pigeons are a pretty smart bird.
What is the Lifespan of Pigeons?
Pigeons may live 3 – 6 years in the wild with the average being 3 – 4 years. In captivity they have lived as long as 15 years depending on the care given to the bird.
Pigeons in History
During the world wars, Homing Pigeons were trained to return to a loft in the UK.
Troops then took the pigeons with them and used them to send messages when radio and written communication were being intercepted.
Pigeon Fun Facts
Pigeons have the ability to see about 26 miles.
When fully feather, adult pigeons have around 10,000 feathers.
There are approximately 400 million pigeons in the world.
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 Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products ten years in a row.
Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
Pigeon/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosting / Vancouver Pigeon Control /Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / Pigeon Deterrent? Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest /Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons/ What to do about pigeons/ sparrows , Damage by Sparrows, How To Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests/ De-fence / Pigeon Nesting/ Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping/ woodpecker control/ Professional Bird Control Company/ Keep The Birds Away/ Birds/rats/ seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/ dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/ pidgeon control/flying rats/ pigeon Problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/ bird guard
by Pigeon Patrol | Apr 26, 2021 | Bird Spikes, Doves, Pigeon Patrol's Services
The more scientists study pigeons, the more they learn how their brains–no bigger than the tip of an index finger–operate in ways not so different from our own.
In a new study from the University of Iowa, researchers found that pigeons can categorize and name both natural and humanmade objects–and not just a few objects. These birds categorized 128 photographs into 16 categories, and they did so simultaneously.
Ed Wasserman, UI professor of psychology and corresponding author of the study, says the finding suggests a similarity between how pigeons learn the equivalent of words and the way children do.
“Unlike prior attempts to teach words to primates, dogs, and parrots, we used neither elaborate shaping methods nor social cues,” Wasserman says of the study, published online in the journal Cognition. “And our pigeons were trained on all 16 categories simultaneously, a much closer analog of how children learn words and categories.”
For researchers like Wasserman, who has been studying animal intelligence for decades, this latest experiment is further proof that animals–whether primates, birds, or dogs–are smarter than once presumed and have more to teach scientists.
“It is certainly no simple task to investigate animal cognition; But, as our methods have improved, so too have our understanding and appreciation of animal intelligence,” he says. “Differences between humans and animals must indeed exist: many are already known. But, they may be outnumbered by similarities. Our research on categorization in pigeons suggests that those similarities may even extend to how children learn words.”
Wasserman says the pigeon experiment comes from a project published in 1988 and featured in The New York Times in which UI researchers discovered pigeons could distinguish among four categories of objects.
This time, the UI researchers used a computerized version of the “name game” in which three pigeons were shown 128 black-and-white photos of objects from 16 basic categories: baby, bottle, cake, car, cracker, dog, duck, fish, flower, hat, key, pen, phone, plan, shoe, tree. They then had to peck on one of two different symbols: the correct one for that photo and an incorrect one that was randomly chosen from one of the remaining 15 categories. The pigeons not only succeeded in learning the task, but they reliably transferred the learning to four new photos from each of the 16 categories.
Pigeons have long been known to be smarter than your average bird–or many other animals, for that matter. Among their many talents, pigeons have a “homing instinct” that helps them find their way home from hundreds of miles away, even when blindfolded. They have better eyesight than humans and have been trained by the U. S. Coast Guard to spot orange life jackets of people lost at sea. They carried messages for the U.S. Army during World Wars I and II, saving lives and providing vital strategic information.
UI researchers say their expanded experiment represents the first purely associative animal model that captures an essential ingredient of word learning–the many-to-many mapping between stimuli and responses.
“Ours is a computerized task that can be provided to any animal, it doesn’t have to be pigeons,” says UI psychologist Bob McMurray, another author of the study. “These methods can be used with any type of animal that can interact with a computer screen.”
McMurray says the research shows the mechanisms by which children learn words might not be unique to humans.
“Children are confronted with an immense task of learning thousands of words without a lot of background knowledge to go on,” he says. “For a long time, people thought that such learning is special to humans. What this research shows is that the mechanisms by which children solve this huge problem may be mechanisms that are shared with many species.”
Wasserman acknowledges the recent pigeon study is not a direct analogue of word learning in children and more work needs to be done. Nonetheless, the model used in the study could lead to a better understanding of the associative principles involved in children’s word learning.
“That’s the parallel that we’re pursuing,” he says, “but a single project–however innovative it may be–will not suffice to answer such a provocative question.”
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 Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products ten years in a row.
Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
Pigeon/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosting / Vancouver Pigeon Control /Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / Pigeon Deterrent? Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest /Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons/ What to do about pigeons/ sparrows , Damage by Sparrows, How To Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests/ De-fence / Pigeon Nesting/ Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping/ woodpecker control/ Professional Bird Control Company/ Keep The Birds Away/ Birds/rats/ seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/ dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/ pidgeon control/flying rats/ pigeon Problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/ bird guard
