by johnnymarin | Nov 7, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
Pigeon fanciers have taken aim at two roosting birds of prey at a Taunton landmark who have been given a leg-up on the housing ladder thanks to public funds.
Taunton Deane Borough Council put £3,500 towards the £7,000 cost of setting up a nest box for peregrine falcons that have set up home at St Mary Magdalene Church tower and a webcam so people can keep a close eye on them.
But that hasn’t gone down well with the pigeon racing community, who believe the birds are a threat to not only their beloved pigeons, but also songbirds and wildlife in the area.
The predators can swoop down on their prey at speeds of up to 180mph and keeping the other birds in the area at bay.
While that may seem like good news to some, Mick Templeman, a pigeon fancier from Taunton, says he’s concerned about the new nesting box.
“The fact that there is now a nest box at the church is a huge blow for both myself and other fanciers in the area and it’s only a matter of time before our pigeons become victims,” he said.
“Peregrine Falcons perform savage and harrowing attacks on smaller birds such as racing pigeons which is causing devastation amongst my community.
“If our birds are lucky enough to survive an attack, they become extremely disorientated and if they are injured it makes it impossible to train them. It’s truly heart-breaking to watch.
“I have an extremely close bond with my birds and the sport is one that I hold close to my heart.”The falcons have previously been described as “natural pest control” for the church, with feathers from their prey frequently in evidence over the vicarage lawn.
But Mr Templeman says there would be outcry if other pets were being targeted by the falcons.
“This problem shouldn’t be controversial, if our pigeons were respected as highly as other pets such as dogs or cats then there would be no issue for pigeon fanciers,” he said.
“I can’t understand why people cannot see the sublimity of these birds, especially as they played such a huge role in the success of our country in both World Wars.”
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 johnnymarin | Nov 6, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
100 years ago – October 4, 1917
For better fire protection
“Healdsburg is badly in need of modern fire-fighting apparatus,” said Chief Harold Rosenberg in speaking to the Board of City Trustees Monday night. “It is poor policy to wait until the town burns down before we realize the need for modern equipment. The town is well able to purchase an up-to-date engine, and we ought to give this matter our attention before we suffer the same experience that came to Ukiah recently. “The efficiency of the department has decreased in recent months as it is. A number of the members have enlisted and others have left town. I don’t like to carry the responsibility of the head of the department with conditions as they now are.” The members of the Board of Trustees talked the matter over briefly, and considered that the first need toward improving the fire protection of the town was to replace some of the old and small pipes on various streets to pipes of larger capacity.
50 years ago – October 5,1967
Ponder Plaza pigeons
What do Healdsburg’s Plaza and San Francisco’s Union Square have in common? Pigeons. Councilman Art Schieffer at Monday’s council meeting reported that the pigeon propagation has become so great that, “we have quite a problem in town,’’ and quoted several irate citizens who expressed their disgust in strong language, especially one who hailed down the councilman while wielding a shovel alongside his place of business. The council didn’t come up with an answer, pointing out that if San Francisco hasn’t been able to solve its pigeon problem over many decades, Healdsburg couldn’t expect to solve it in one week. Inasmuch as one suggestion involved “shooting ’em down,’’ Mayor Badger referred the matter to the police committee for lack of a better one. Which caused Tribune writer Dean Dunnicliff to challenge the referral in its entirety. He commented that if the police committee was going to study the matter it would be right for a police committee to be responsible only for the stool pigeons. Which resulted in Councilman Schieffer firing back, “Yes, in more ways than one.”
25 years ago – October 7, 1992
Council makes DRC’s demise official
The appointed arbiters of architectural taste in Healdsburg have been ousted. It’s official: The city’s Design Review Commission, which has been praised and damned for its work in the past, is no more. Over the protests of the city Planning Commission and amid warnings that it would do just the opposite of its intention, the City Council approved a resolution Monday night eliminating the DRC, expanding the Planning Commission to seven members, and distribute the DRC’s duties among the planning staff. The DRC was charged with reviewing plans for projects, and judging their merit based on design, compatibility with surrounding uses and development that is in keeping with the character and scale of the city.
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 johnnymarin | Nov 5, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
AMANZIMTOTI Racing Pigeon Club reports on race 33 and 34.
Four members flew a total of 38 birds from Marblehall on Saturday, 23 September.
First to third Doug Fry, fourth Basil Tait, fifth Doug Fry, sixth to seventh, eighth Doug Fry, ninth Basil Tait, 10th to 12th Rossouw Lofts.
Seven members flew a total of 128 birds from Kimberly on Saturday, 23 September.
First Rossouw Lofts, second to third Doug Fry, fourth Basil Tait, fifth Rossouw Lofts, sixth Basil Tait, seventh to eighth Rossouw Lofts, ninth to 10th Basil Tait.
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 johnnymarin | Nov 4, 2017 | Pigeons in the News
It’s supposedly good luck to get pooped on by a bird, but the mayor of Paris’ 10th arrondissement isn’t having it.
So he’s come up with a pretty wild solution for dealing with the issue: releasing two hawks and three falcons to make the pigeons scarper.
According to The Telegraph, Rémi Féraud claims pigeon droppings cause about €176,000 in damage a year, along with posing a “real health risk.”
The people of Paris aren’t happy about the idea though.
A group called Pigeon Embassy has collected more than 20,000 signatures opposing the plan.
Arguing that it’ll be expensive for taxpayers and cruel for the birds, some of whom might die and others, who will just come back.
But a spokesman for the town hall told France’s 20 minutes newspaper, they’ve already tried the classic methods, as well as pigeon spikes.
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 johnnymarin | Nov 3, 2017 | Animal Deterrent Products
ON Saturday Gauteng Pigeon Union liberated the pigeons from two race points for the final races of the season.
These were Three Sisters in the Eastern Cape and Beaufort West in the Western Cape. The skies were clear and there was no wind from both race points when the pigeons were liberated at 6.15am.
Riverpark Pigeon Club’s results for the Three Sisters race saw Doves Nest Guest House (Gawie Botha) having the only bird through on the day before the hours of darkness (clocks closing) came into effect. This was also Doves Nest Guest House’s first win for the season.
At the time of going to the press, Gawie was in 17th position in the GPU results.
The rest of the results were:
Doves Nest Guest House (Gawie Botha) 1st, 7th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 20th, 24th; Sky Lofts (Corrie Moller) 2nd, 6th, 10th, 17th, 21st, 26th; Blackie Swart 3rd, 8th; Hilton Pitout 4th, 5th, 13th, 22nd; Tallies Lofts 9th, 23rd; Pieter van den Broeck 11th, 29th; Le Roux Lofts (Pieter le Roux) 18th, 27th; Flip van Staden 19th, 28th and G&E Lofts (Graham Cheary & Elaine Russell) 25th and 30th.
The Beaufort West race saw no pigeons through on the day with the pigeons only arriving from early on Sunday morning. The first member of Riverpark to clock a pigeon was Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) and 26 minutes later Pine Pienaar.
At the time of going to the press, Tallies Lofts were in 17th position in the GPU results.
The rest of the results were:
Tallies Lofts (Johan Taljaard) 1st; Pine Pienaar 2nd; Beano Daschner 3rd; Doves Nest Guest House 4th, 7th, 13th, 19th, 28th, 30th; Blackie Swart 5th, 8th; Sky Lofts (Corrie Moller) 6th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 18th, 24th; Connie Coertse 9th; Flip van Staden 14th; Pieter van den Broeck 10th, 15th; G&E Lofts (Graham Cheary & Elaine Russell) 17th, 22nd, 23rd, 25th; Le Roux Lofts (Pieter le Roux) 20th, 21st, 29th and Hilton Pitout 26th and 27th.
Riverpark’s long-distance champion and club champion for 2017 is Blackie Swart. Flip van Staden’s SOTV 2015 2850 Blue Bar Hen is the best long distance pigeon in the club.
The 2018 pigeon racing season will kick off on June 2 when the first race will take place from Theunissen.
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 johnnymarin | Nov 2, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) – The city of La Crosse is again facing a pigeon problem.
A large amount of pigeon droppings were recently discovered in a part of the Main Street parking ramp between the roof of the street-level businesses and the ramp itself.
The city thinks the pigeons spent years pecking through insulation before finding the warm and dry shelter, leaving behind a large amount of droppnigs that aren’t easy to clean up.
The Board of Public Works voted this week to spend more than $30,000 to re-seal the area and clean up the droppings.
“There’s a secondary exit to be able to get all of that out of there, so it won’t affect the restaurants, it’s not a health issue at this point, it just has to come off of there,” said Parking Utility Coordinator Jim Flottmeyer.
The city hopes to have the area re-sealed and cleaned up in the next two or three weeks.
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 johnnymarin | Nov 1, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
It’s not just the bankers on Collins Street who have sharp claws.
Melbourne’s finance and boutique strip is home to a new pair of baby peregrine falcons, as excited viewers watched the eggs hatch in real time.
The birth of two baby falcons was live-streamed on the 33rd floor of 367 Collins Street. The newest sets of claws in the finance strip.
The nest has sat on the 33rd floor of 367 Collins Street since 1991, with a CCTV camera set up to live stream the breeding pair’s behaviour online.
And after days of anticipation from devoted falcon watchers, the nest welcomed its two newest arrivals on Wednesday morning.
The small white chicks could be seen moving about the nest underneath the black-hooded adult falcon.
Peregrine falcons don’t build stick nests, preferring to instead carve out scrape nests on a high cliff or the window ledges of skyscrapers.
Falcons swoop at speeds of up to 300 km/h, which can be fatal if they collide with overhead wires.
“Here, 80 per cent of the young die within the first six months of leaving the nest,” Victorian Peregrine Project manager Victor Hurley told The Age in 2012.
“They hit windows, hit cars, hit wires, drown in rooftop swimming pools, get inside a building and starve to death on the weekend,” he said.
“And they’re trapped, shot and poisoned illegally by people who race pigeons.
“You name it, things are happening to them.”
Falcons are birds of prey, feeding on small and medium-sized birds, as well as rabbits.
Melbourne’s green spaces, said Mr Hurley, are rich with quail, sparrows, starlings, pigeons, and other tasty treats.
Albert Park Lake and the Altona grasslands are particularly popular feeding spots.
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 johnnymarin | Oct 31, 2017 | Pigeons in the News
New Zealanders are being urged to keep their eyes on the skies – for native wood pigeons.
The Great Kereru Count takes off today, and runs until the first of October.
It’s being run by WWF and Victoria University, with the aim of building a comprehensive picture of where wood pigeons are, and aren’t, found.
WWF chief Livia Esterhazy said the nationwide project is being used to help protect the species.
“They are not considered, at the moment, an endangered species – so there’s no formal counting of them. They are an incredibly important species to the regeneration of our native forests.”
Ms Esterhazy said Kereru play a crucial role in forest ecosystems, and are “an important part of New Zealand.”
“They’re called the gardeners of the skies cause they’re the only ones that can actually digest the largest fruit of our big native trees like the matai and the tawa,” she said.
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 johnnymarin | Oct 30, 2017 | Pigeons in the News
location:- Khar Station Road , Khar Khabutarkhana , Khar Road station KharMumbai 400052The stench of the pigeon droppings is so pungent that it gets suffocatingThis is a business being carried out in the name of feeding pigeons. Tempos filled with grains are brought at the spot, sold to people there to feed the birds, and, subsequently, profits madeAs the care taker is not even bother about the pigeon which are dying date by date.Need to take action against the Khabutarkhana caretaker who can atleast take care of pigeon.
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 johnnymarin | Oct 29, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
Camrose City council is taking another look at urban chickens and if the cluck is worth the considerable buck.
Several councillors noted they have received multiple inquiries regarding the city’s regulations on raising egg-layers in their back yard. Urban chickens are a trend that has grown in recent years with more and more communities bringing in pilot projects. Currently in Camrose, chickens still fall under the banner of livestock and are not allowed in city limits.
Before the city goes too far down the path, however, they want to check into health and safety concerns to determine if it is something they would even want in town.
“I don’t want to build up false hope,” said Mayor Norm Mayer, who asked for more investigation on the matter before the City takes further steps like community consultation and open houses.
There have been similar inquires in the past that have been rejected, like housing racing pigeons in the city. Pigeons also came with the added complication that they still have the ability to fly and are not 100 per cent of the time locked down.
There are concerns regarding backyard poultry such as noise, smell and animal welfare monitoring systems along with regulations regarding coops and other matters.
Urban chicken programs are often seen as a positive educational tool for families with children, or as a means of ensuring eggs are coming from a humanely treated animal on a grass-fed diet with lots of room to roam, as opposed to a factory bird.
Depending on the type of pilot project brought in, there are different costs associated. Director of planning and development services Aaron Leckie brought up a few different examples of pilot projects during the meeting of a whole on Sept. 18. He pointed to the project in St. Albert which runs at an administrative and policy cost of about $15,000 a year, and that’s before the cost of labour for monitoring and bylaws and other departments is taken into account. He says it could cost as much as $45,000 combined a year.
The total was an amount council balked at.
“The cost you outlined, I would think we’d have to have the goose that laid the golden egg, that’s quite a high figure,” said Coun. Max Lindstrand, before later adding that if pilot project could be formed that was close to cost neutral or would hit the purse strings less, it is something he would be willing to look at.
Leckie said there were currently backyard operations currently running in Camrose, but they are completely without regulation or approval, noting there are stores in town that sell laying hens and supplies but they are not all to county residents.
He said they often find out through word of mouth or from new residents who phone in looking for rules and regulations in the city regarding backyard hens.
“We tell them you can’t actually have them in the city and that’s usually when they say ‘Goodbye’ and we never hear from them again,” he said.
“They are not being monitored in anyway … unless there’s been a registered complaint.”
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 johnnymarin | Oct 28, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
Actor turned director Soubin Shahir’s Parava focus mainly on two young boys from Mattanchery in Kochi, whose lives revolve around the pigeons that they passionately look after.
Haseeb and Irshad are classmates and best friends, who are growing pigeons, training them to be ready for the race that happens in their area. The boys come from modest households and one of them fails in the exam. But he has hope as he believes that a newly joined girl is impressed by his charm.
It’s them, along with the lives of the people in the locality, that makes the going entertaining for a significant time in the first half.
Then there is a shift in the tale, as the story goes into a flashback mode, where Imran (Dulquer Salmaan) and Shane (Shane Nigam) takes control. Their gang is having a blast until things go horribly wrong for them at a certain point of time
In fact, you watch with a certain surprise when a smoothly running story that is fresh and honest, takes a back seat all on a sudden. The sequences that follow goes on like a separate track that is not really gripping as the earlier one.
But all these never takes away the merits of the movie. Let’s put it this way. The sequences with the two kids in the lead are so brilliant that one would have wanted to watch it for a longer duration.
Soubin Shahir packages the film with lots of confidence and he makes us feel like we belong to that area, knowing the characters well enough.
Dulquer Salmaan, in a rather extended cameo, is totally comfortable as a rustic youth and shines bright. Shane Nigam has to sport two different looks and he is highly impressive. The supporting cast has done a commendable job behaving like normal residents there and look authentic.
But Parava belongs to the two young boys Amal Shah, who plays Irshad aka Ichappi, and Govind, who comes as Haseeb. The two young actors play their role earnestly and just steals your heart with their charm. They are natural and are real talents.
Parava could have been better and some trimming would have helped as well, but has its heart at the right place even in the current form. This one has its moments and is an absolutely sincere attempt. In these times when genuine stories are a rarity, this is a step in the right direction.
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 johnnymarin | Oct 27, 2017 | Bird Netting
B.F. Skinner was a leading 20th-century psychologist, who is credited with helping to understand the relationship between behaviour and the external environmental factors. In one of his experiments, Skinner trained a bunch of pigeons to tap on a plexiglass to earn their food. This research is credited with the genesis for how engineers in the 21st century could play with the human mind to set out the trap of the world wide web. What Skinner managed to do with pigeons, 21st-century coders have achieved in structuring the internet.
Skinner’s experiment was simple. The psychologist set up a plexiglass cage in which he kept a few pigeons. When these pigeons tapped on the glass, he set up an arrangement to ensure that the birds got a reward after a set period of time. The birds tapped the glass at different frequencies and found success at the set moment. When he then set erratic times for the dispensing of food, the birds went crazy. Reportedly, one pigeon pecked the plexiglass 2.5 times per second for 16 hours.
But how does this apply to how humans use the internet?
Look back at how you started using the internet. It started out with checking emails. It was an easy method, you didn’t have to decipher any weird handwritings and the email, unlike written communication, almost never got lost. When the internet came into your phone from your desktop, you checked it more often. Now, the relay of messages started happening in real time on apps such as Whatsapp and Slack. A study states that an average person now checks his phone about 2,617 times a day. Of course, this isn’t just office email. But the sheer frequency indicates that things are going out of hand.
To put this in perspective, in a day, Skinner’s pigeons would have struck the glass 1,44,000 times to get food. An average millennial checks their phones at a frequency a lot similar to Skinner’s pigeons. What’s different here is that this action does not translate into an end product, that is necessary for human survival. Therefore, it’s evident, that basing the structures of the internet on Skinner’s model, was a fruitful decision indeed.
Psychologists warned us of internet addiction in 1996, three years after it was formally introduced. But is internet addiction, really the fault of those using it? Or is it simply a network constructed with the ultimate motive of entrapping and addicting its users?
In his book, “The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F**k”, a #1 New York Times Bestseller, Mark Manson brings up an important point talking about blame and responsibility. He says that while it is okay to blame someone for something, it then becomes the affected individual’s responsibility to move on. The concept is rather like the economic caveat emptor. You use something; you read something, it becomes your responsibility to deal with it in a proper way.
The Economics And Psychology Of Social Media Platforms
The primary motive of organisations on the internet is to generate revenue. And that is usually done through advertising. They create an ‘attention economy’. Now to meet their desired results, these organisations need to create a structure that makes its users return. In psychological speak, they try to create a compulsive tic to meet their needs.
This compulsive tic is generated rather easily. Most platforms on the internet, particularly social media, run on a pattern. This is because their future depends on their ability to cultivate habits of the users, and hook them onto their product. They employee people, whose primary aim is to break the user’s willpower. In particular, they use a strategy described in Nir Eyal’s book “Hooked”. As a consultant to companies in the Silicon Valley, Eyal turned his experience into a book, teaching thousands of engineers worldwide, how to create a craving in the minds of users.
This process of addiction has four simple steps – you need a trigger (something that makes you take notice or get started), an opportunity for an action that is not predictable, a reward and an investment. It must be noted here that there was one more integral part of this process that needs to be kept in mind. The investment must be gradually increased every time until the person is fully invested in the four-step process. This is when an individual gets hooked.
The easiest example of this process is Snapchat. When you open the app, the trigger awaits – a list of names who have posted snaps. Then, an opportunity for action presents itself, regarding the stories you can watch, but what a user may be able to see, is unpredictable, creating the basis for the tic. Once the stories load, comes the reward, a peek into the lives of someone else. Further, being able to reply, replay or react creates investment in the action.
Every time you open Snapchat, the same process repeats itself. Most readers would now agree, that the process has become so ingrained in our lives, that every time we pick up the phone, we reload Snapchat, looking for more stories. This is when you’re hooked. You know how apps like Instagram and Twitter take a few seconds to load when you switch them on? That’s no accident – the wait makes the reward far more appealing, leading to a rush.
Much has been said about how social media influences our emotions and the need to educate users about proper use to ward of addiction. However, we need to consider – Is it a fair fight between the users and developers? Is this not, addiction by design, a phenomenon many are under, but most do not understand?
If the there is indeed an industry that is so blatantly exploiting the tendencies of the human mind, creating platforms based on the same experiments that have gone on to help prove the effectiveness of drugs, then is it a system that is safe for approximately 7 billion people to be exposed to?
Only If We Understand The Structure, Can We Protect Ourselves Against It
In 2004, Facebook was fun. Come 2017, Facebook is an addiction. This timeline is valid for all social media platforms, maybe even for the one, you’re reading this on. They are designed to keep you addicted.
So what are the solutions? How do we ‘not get addicted’ to a technology that runs our life now? Unlike drug or alcohol addicts, we cannot abstain from the internet. Life would be too tough. Fewer and fewer jobs allow you to not be looking at a screen.
What can be done is limiting the use of the internet. More importantly, as users, it is important for us to understand its structure – to realise that it is a platform built to exploit our impulses. That perhaps can mitigate their harm.
Figuring out the exact moment of addiction is tough. What you can do, however, is try to curb your own addiction by ensuring that you limit your time on the internet. Recognise the appeal of meeting people in person, rather than following their lives online. Most importantly, teach your children the correct way to use and understand social media and the internet.
It’s understandable that tech companies would want to collaborate with marketers and make their platforms as addictive as they can. It’s their business, and they won’t want to not make profits. But as users, we need to demand a more ethical design practises the same way we demand more ethical environmental practices. In a monetary and competitive environment, sometimes change can only come from a bottom-up approach.
Steve Jobs himself has told many journalists tales of how he keeps his children away from the iPad – one of his most successful creations. Similarly, the editor in chief of Wired, a magazine that talks about technology and the internet too, keeps his children away from screens. If tech bigwigs can understand the dangers of the internet, why can’t we?
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 johnnymarin | Oct 26, 2017 | Bird Netting
Redbridge Council has warned that pigeon feeders face an £80 on the spot fine and a possible £2,500 trip to court.
In a statement issued on its website, the council reminded the public that giving food to birds could cause health and sanitation risks.
“If you feed pigeons, they won’t eat everything you give them and the leftovers attract rats and mice who can in turn spread diseases to humans,” a council spokesman said.
“You’re really not helping the pigeons by feeding them bread and snacks – this can actually lead to them becoming malnourished and dying due to eating food which is not their natural diet.
“Please don’t feed the pigeons.”
In April legislation came into effect to make feeding pigeons an illegal act in Ilford town centre.
A Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) – which gives authorities more powers to tackle low level anti-social behaviours such as spitting and public urination – could be used in pigeons feeding cases.
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 johnnymarin | Oct 25, 2017 | Bird Netting
Officials there reportedly are trying to be as nice as they can about reducing their numbers. They’ve built a hotel for birds. The plan: lure the pigeons there to nest, and then steal their eggs.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I’m David Greene. Portugal has a pigeon population problem. And The Wall Street Journal reports officials in Lisbon are trying to be as nice as they can about reducing their numbers. They have built basically a luxury hotel for birds. The plan – lure the pigeons there to nest, then caretakers sneak in and steal their eggs. The birdhouse has fresh water, gourmet bird food, even a nursery, which makes you wonder if the pigeons are somehow outsmarting the humans here. It’s MORNING EDITION.
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 johnnymarin | Oct 24, 2017 | Pigeons in the News
A LOST homing pigeon has found a new home in Rugeley after “refusing” to return to Yorkshire.
Staff at the town’s Donnachie and Townley vets found the bird on their doorstep.
They found the owner, who confirmed the lost bird’s true home was in Halifax.
The owner gave instructions about when to release the bird, christened Tango, but the next morning he was on their doorstep again – and now lives with one of the surgery’s neighbours.
Head veterinary nurse Jo Waldron said: “We released Tango twice and both times he came back. What can we say – obviously he prefers Rugeley to Halifax.”
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 johnnymarin | Oct 23, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
You wouldn’t think it an unreasonable request: Please, good sirs, be a dear and clean up the pigeon droppings in front of your building. Not only are they unsightly, but they are also a public health nuisance.
Turns out that in this town, yes, there is resistance to cleaning up pigeon droppings. It’s a perfect metaphor for why all of Mount Pleasant looks neglected, run-down and flat-out decayed. We as a community have taken the American can-do attitude that put a man on the Moon and turned it into a contraction. It’s Mount Pleasant’s can’t-do spirit. Can’t stop businesses from closing, can’t stop storefronts from falling into disrepair, can’t even clean up bird crap from downtown sidewalks.
Some of these things represent forces beyond any control. No one in town can stop the migration of consumer activity to the Web, for instance. Rather than thinking that we’re going to fix things by using the same hammer to pound at the same nail, we have to adapt to today’s world rather than bemoan the loss of yesterday’s.
But, my god, the lack of energy and urgency devoted to fixing a community that simply looks haggard and used up … it’s like no one is even trying. Like, not bothering to clean up after pigeons.
It’s very basic stuff, folks. Like, so basic I’m surprised it has to be an issue. Like, so basic, that we as a community ought to let slide things like broken pavement, cigarette butt-filled planters and shaggy-looking marquee posters as a different conversation until the pigeon poo gets cleaned up.
It’s the unsightliness of it. It’s the public health risk. It’s about making a place look attractive to people hoping to relocate or make business investments here. It’s also about yelling at CMU students to stop treating the city like their personal toilets while actually allowing pigeons to literally do that.
At the start of the summer, if you’d have asked, I would have pointed to commercial vacancies as the biggest impediment to revitalizing this city. It’s even worse. If we as a community are incapable of getting bird poop cleaned up, it’s a sign that we need a total rebuild. Not an adjustment, not a modification. A total tear-down and rebuild from the foundation. Normal people don’t accept sidewalks covered in animal feces.
There are lots of people to point fingers at, if that’s your thing. The morning of this writing, someone who operates businesses downtown referred to a concerned private citizen as an idiot for complaining. An idiot, for complaining about pigeon poop caked to the sidewalks. Talk about misplaced priorities.
At the city, someone should have addressed this more aggressively so people didn’t have to take time out of their busy days to complain about it. We don’t need another ordinance or public hearings or months of talk and tabled motions to clean up pigeon poo. We need someone to go to building owners and say, “Clean this up, and clean this up now, or we’re going to cite you and if you don’t want to pay the fine you can explain to a judge why you are endangering public health.”
But, mostly it’s the attitude, the attitude that all of our problems are intractable, that we can’t address any of them because we lack the tools to take action. Not to engage in hyperbole, but we do remember who licked the Nazis and rebuilt Western Civilization 60 years ago? Cleaning up after birds seems like a pretty low bar by comparison.
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 johnnymarin | Oct 22, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
Efforts to bring Glendive’s pigeon population under control are picking up steam with nearly 300 of the winged vermin trapped out of the downtown area in the past month and a half.
District Sanitarian Kevin Peña approached the city Finance, Utilities, Property and Recreation Committee on Wednesday to ask that the city go ahead and donate the $1,000 to the pigeon control effort which the city council had set aside for that very purpose a few months ago, which the committee ultimately recommended the full city council approve doing.
Peña explained that the “pigeon trapper” he worked out an agreement with some months back to undertake pigeon control, Brian Cleveland, has been unable to turn a profit off of trapping the birds as he thought he would be able to. Cleveland’s original plan had been to trap the birds and then sell them to buyers down in Florida, where the birds are considered a delicacy and sold in restaurants as “squab.”
“That didn’t prove to be as feasible as he had hoped, because basically the shipping turned out to be more than he thought it would be,” Peña said.
Peña told the FUPR Committee that with being unable to sell the pigeons he traps at a profit — and with Cleveland supplying the trapping supplies at his own cost — he felt it would be “fair and reasonable” to give Cleveland a $2 per pigeon bounty as he has now requested. Peña noted that the county has also pledged $1,000 to his office for pigeon control, adding that with the addition of the city’s contribution, he would have enough funds to pay Cleveland for trapping up to 1,000 birds.
“A thousand dollars from you and a thousand dollars from me is going to take care of a thousand birds,” Peña told the FUPR Committee. “And we can certainly reimburse the city with what we don’t spend or we can just roll it over.”
The only materials Peña has provided for the effort through his office so far is the trap itself. He noted that with that one trap, which has been sitting on top of the Jordan Inn since August, Cleveland has managed to trap out 268 pigeons — 204 in August and 64 so far this month.
In a phone interview Thursday, Cleveland said he estimates there’s “probably about 1,100 to 1,200 left after I’ve taken out almost 300,” adding that with continued trapping, he believes he can almost zero out Glendive’s pigeon population before the first snow flies.
“I have a feeling that by Halloween, this problem will be drastically reduced and we won’t see near the number of birds that we have now,” Cleveland said. “Probably one-half to three-quarters of the population will be gone before the first snow.”
Cleveland should know a thing or two of what he’s talking about, Peña pointed out. He ran his own wildlife trapping business out of Tampa, Fla., for 23 years, and professionally trapped pigeons and other wildlife all over that region, including working to trap pigeons out of Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Peña isn’t the only one who has decided to rely on Cleveland’s expertise, either. Earlier this week, a new trap went up on top of the Dion Building. The building’s owner, Dr. Kevin McPherson, privately contracted with Cleveland to trap pigeons out from around his downtown property.
McPherson said that after taking ownership of the Dion Building, he talked to Peña and researched several different options for pigeon control and ultimately decided that contracting with Cleveland to trap them would be the best way to go about it.
“I’d looked into ways of dealing with pigeons on my own and I basically concluded the only humane and efficient way to do it was to trap them and get them out of there that way,” McPherson said.
McPherson said he is keen to rid his building of roosting pigeons not just because they are “a nuisance and a health concern,” but also because the birds’ acidic droppings can do a great deal of damage to the brick and stone work on the historic buildings themselves.
He added his hope that other downtown building and business owners might also get involved in the pigeon control effort, saying that getting rid of the pigeons — and their ubiquitous droppings — littering the building sides and sidewalks of downtown Glendive would be another important step in breathing new life into the downtown area and making it a more attractive place for people to visit, shop and eat.
“I guess my thoughts are that if people are going to come down to our downtown and shop in the stores and eat in the restaurants, they should be able to do so and expect that the sidewalks should be clean and they don’t have to watch out for what’s above them,” McPherson said. “I think (pigeon control) helps promote a cleaner community, a cleaner downtown and a more enjoyable (downtown) experience.”
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 johnnymarin | Oct 21, 2017 | Pigeons in the News
Location ;- Khar station, opp to Khar market Mumbai Kharlocated in the middle of the busy market with no proper upkeep — a perpetual unhygienic nightmare it has been a cause of great public inconvenience and a potential source of diseases and epidemics for localsThe droppings also carry pathogens and potential infectious diseases, such as salmonella, tuberculosis and ornithosis. Pigeons also carry allergens that can cause several respiratory diseases, Need to take precautions by the local authority and safety major due which the citizen can take a good breath.
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 johnnymarin | Oct 20, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
Clark County commissioners will consider language for a new ordinance that would outlaw feeding pigeons from private property.
The pigeon problem was discussed for nearly an hour after Teresa Oxborrow asked what could be done about a neighbor attracting hundreds of the birds by regularly feeding them.
“Because they are fed so well, some of them are as big as chickens,” Oxborrow told commissioners. She also had video of the suspected neighbor feeding the birds in her Spring Valley neighborhood.
“Pigeons are basically flying rats. They don’t eat out of bird feeders. They’ll eat anything on the ground,” declared commissioner Chris Giunchigliani.
While there’s an ordinance that prohibits feeding pigeons on public property, it does not apply to doing the same on private property.
In coming months, the commission will review language for a possible new ordinance to address feeding pigeons on private property.
In large numbers, pigeons are destructive and are difficult to remove from a place where they have become comfortable.
“I mean she’s got buckets and buckets of food. That’s all she must buy,” said Oxborrow, in describing the regular feeding of the birds.
“The pigeon droppings have destroyed patios, rooftops, and lawn furniture,” she said.
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 johnnymarin | Oct 19, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
Budgie lovers are in a flap over a city pet bylaw they say is turning dozens of respectable, longstanding bird keepers into scofflaws.
Several members of the decades-old Hamilton and District Budgerigar Society Inc. showed up at a city planning meeting Tuesday to appeal for an exemption from the city’s animal control bylaw – which infamously limits all residents to no more than four pets.
The limit introduced in 2012 is already unpopular with owners of cats, dogs and other more traditional pets.
But it is really ruffling feathers now for avian aficionados who routinely keep 40 to 120 birds – typically on the higher end if they participate in birds shows, said society vice-president Scott Aird.
“For that, you need at least 100 birds,” said Aird, whose relatively modest “chatter” of 60 budgies earned the wrath of bylaw a few months ago and resulted in both a $125 fine and an upcoming December court date.
For now, a bird-loving acquaintance is boarding Aird’s illegal brood. But other urban club members are also becoming worried about losing their birds to a neighbourhood dispute.
Budgie owners represent hundreds, and probably thousands, of illegal feathered friends – and Aird suggested that doesn’t include all of the equally off-limits small “cage birds” that are likely flying under the radar.
Aird said he was told his bylaw visit was prompted by a noise complaint. But despite the name, he argued a “chatter” of indoor budgies is less noisy than say, four legal macaw parrots or four excitable dogs in the backyard.
“Our birds are contained, they’re largely indoors in homes, garages or specially constructed out-buildings,” he said.
Aird said the budgie group disagreed with the bylaw limit when it was approved, but wasn’t aware of the impending change in time to formally oppose it.
The rule didn’t ruffle any feathers, however, until bylaw officers started showing up on doorsteps.
“We’ve been here (as a society) for 70 years,” said Aird. “We’re law-abiding. But it is impossible for us to meet the letter of this law.”
The group asked Tuesday for a bylaw exemption for all “small cage birds,” noting the city has already granted an exception to owners of racing pigeons.
Councillors received the presentation, but didn’t ask for a staff report or suggestion a motion.
That leaves budgie lovers pondering an appeal to help for national avian organizations, noting pigeon owners benefited from lobbying by the Canadian Racing Pigeon Union.
(That group memorably argued to councillors that owners raised “athletes,” not pets.)
Aird noted councillors even seemed friendlier towards community requests for backyard chickens, even if that pitch has been narrowly turned down in the past.
“If you can do it for pigeons, I feel like it’s not unreasonable to consider an exception for us,” he said.
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)
