by Ryan Ponto | Jul 30, 2017 | Bird Netting
PARRY SOUND — Have you ever noticed a hole or two in the trunk of a tree? These holes, also known as cavities, are incredibly important. Over 50 species of birds and mammals in Ontario depend on cavities in trees for countless purposes. These holes are used for feeding, nesting, roosting, storing food, denning, escaping predators, providing shelter, raising young, and hibernating.
Although cavities occur naturally, many are also created by hardworking birds like woodpeckers, chickadees, and the red-breasted nuthatch. A common cavity created by a woodpecker is a feeding cavity. These cavities are 5-20 cm deep and often have a rectangular or irregular shape with rough edges. If you see at least two oval-shaped cavities in a large hollow tree, it may be a roost cavity for pileated woodpeckers. There are at least two holes so that the bird can escape if a predator comes. Cavities for nesting tend to have circular entrances as well but this time the woodpecker has hollowed out a chamber inside the tree. Rarely are two nest holes less than 1 m apart. Nest cavities can also form when a branch dies and leaves a more irregular hole.
Many excavating birds do not use the same nest cavity twice. This allows many other birds and mammals including the saw whet owl, kestrel, eastern bluebird, deer mouse, marten, and fisher to move in. Other wildlife can also use natural cavities called escape cavities as shelter or protection from predators. These are not suitable for roosting or denning because of their size or where they are found. Escape cavities could include natural openings at ground level or hollow trees with large seams.
Cavities are often found on less vigorous or declining trees. In managed forests, the least healthy trees are usually removed first so that the forest can improve and thrive. So how are local foresters ensuring that these important habitat features remain in our crown forests? Westwind Forest Stewardship Inc., that manages forested Crown land in the Muskoka-Parry Sound region, ensures that at least a prescribed minimum number of cavity trees are being maintained. Certified tree markers are selecting good cavity trees to stay. By putting a blue spray paint “W” or dot on a tree, they let operators know that this tree cannot be harvested.
All cavity trees, however, are not created equal. Trees with nest or roost cavities are more valuable for wildlife than feeding or escape cavities. More valuable cavity trees are prioritized when selecting wildlife trees to keep in a stand. Sometimes, like in the case of roost cavities, there is even a harvest-free reserve put around the tree to further protect it.
So why don’t dentists like foresters? Because we keep too many cavities.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 29, 2017 | Bird Netting
If anyone is under the impression that only mammals possess the drive to fight for their young and create strong family bonds, this video will clearly prove them wrong. The footage shows just what an incredible risk a bird mother is willing to take to protect her future family, even though the danger is nothing less than lethal.
The woodpecker mother is seen fighting mercilessly with a large snake emerging from her nestin a trunk of a tree. Even though the snake attacks her time after time, the bird comes back repeatedly to make the animal get away from her eggs. The conflict goes so far that the snake ends up with a bunch of the woodpecker’s feathers in their mouth after getting hold of her. But the bird does not tire – and seems like abandoning the eggs to the predator is not even an option.
This unbelievable scene is a great proof of how vitally important their young are to bird mothers – so much so that the woodpecker confronts the predator with determination despite the obvious fact that doing it, she is also very much risking her own life.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 28, 2017 | Bird Netting
While the approximately 200 species of woodpeckers can be found over much of the planet, there are seven species in Florida, several of which might be seen in wooded areas of Leon County.
Our most common woodpecker is the red-bellied, which readily comes to feeders for sunflower seeds or peanuts. Our largest is the pileated, and is familiar for its red crest and noisy hammering. The downy woodpecker is the smallest we generally see, and is not much larger than a sparrow. They, too, readily come to backyard feeders for seeds and suet cakes.
Almost identical to the downy, the hairy woodpecker is a bit larger and is not as common. Our only brown woodpecker is the northern flicker, often seen on the ground, flicking aside leaf debris in search of ants. In steady decline is the red-headed woodpecker due to loss of habitat and competition for nesting sites from starlings. And finally, our rarest, and federally protected woodpecker is the red-cockaded.
All of these woodpecker species excavate nesting sites in trees. Some have definite tree preferences. For example, the endangered red-cockaded excavates its nesting cavity only in older living pine trees that are infected with red heart rot and located in relatively open areas. Most woodpeckers, however, create nest cavities in dead or decaying wood. Removal of dead or dying trees from forests, parks, and yards results in declining habit for woodpeckers in search of nesting sites.
Standing dead and dying trees called “snags” are important for cavity nesters. Snags may occur as a result of disease, lightning, fire, animal damage, too much shade, drought, root competition, or just old age. All trees are potential snags, but many are cut down without thought to their value as nest sites. Many snags can safely be left in place.
Different kinds of trees develop cavities at different ages, and woodpeckers use both hardwood and cone-bearing trees. The best snags for cavity-nesting birds are those with hard sapwood and decayed heartwood, making them hard on the outside and softer in the middle.
Woodpeckers are considered “primary cavity nesters” as they generally create new nesting holes each year. “Secondary cavity nesters” such as bluebirds, chickadees, nuthatches, wood ducks, owls, and squirrels are highly dependent on abandoned woodpecker nesting sites.
Snags can be incorporated into your landscape. Try to keep old and damaged trees when possible and when safe to do so. In urban areas, tall snags are best located away from high activity areas so they will not pose a safety hazard if they fall.
Trees that lean away or are downhill from houses and other structures may present little or no risk. You can tell if a tree is a future snag if it has running sap, one or more splits in the trunk, dead main limbs, fungi on the bark, or current evidence of animal use such as woodpecker holes.
You can also create snags on your property by removing the top third of the tree and half of the remaining side branches, or leave the top the way it is and remove a majority of the tree’s side branches. Consider doing this with trees that currently create a hazard due to weak wood or disease, trees that are creating too much shade where you want sun, trees with invasive roots threating a drain field or septic tank, a tree in a group that needs thinning out, or a tree in an area where there are currently no snags.
Always hire an expert tree service to handle this work. Many certified arborists with the International Society of Arboriculture specialize in snag creation and maintenance.
It is highly probable that any snag you provide for birds and other wildlife will be used. Even a tree that is partially dead can provide habitat, as long as the tree is large enough in diameter. In addition to providing nesting sites in snags, backyard birders can provide properly built birdhouses or nest boxes that mimic natural cavities and help to increase the availability of nesting habitat.
Check out the online UF/IFAS EDIS publication, “Helping Cavity-Nesters in Florida,” for specifications for woodpecker (and other bird) nest boxes.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 27, 2017 | Bird Netting
Nuthatches are the only North American birds that search for food much of the time by going head-first down a tree branch or trunk. It is thought that they do this to find food woodpeckers miss on their way up the trunk.
They’re looking for insects, their eggs and larvae hiding in bark crevices. In winter, they often hide seeds in these crevices, to be eaten later.
While the white-breasted nuthatch is widely distributed in all 48 contiguous states, Mexico and Canada, the brown-headed nuthatch lives only in the southeastern US.
This bird favors pine forests, often nesting in pine snags, foraging for insects on pine trees, eating seeds of pine trees, even using parts of these seeds to line its nest.
In winter, brown-headeds often roost for the night in former nest cavities, and it’s usually more than just the breeding pair that spends the night together. As many as ten have been observed crowding into one cavity — a virtual bird slumber party! It may seem cramped for space, but it enables the birds to share each other’s body heat. They all stay a lot warmer that way on cold winter nights.
Sharing a roost cavity isn’t the only way these birds cooperate. Unlike other nuthatch species, brown-headeds frequently get some help with the child-rearing, as well. Breeding pairs are aided by others, probably relatives, with territorial defense, nest excavation, nest sanitation, and feeding of the female at the nest, nestlings, and fledglings. This behavior makes nuthatch baby rearing a family affair.
Eastern bluebird populations have benefited tremendously by nest box programs begun in the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, there may be more bluebirds now than ever before.
The brown-headed nuthatch could use your help in the same way.
If you live in an area with pine trees, put up a bluebird nest box with a smaller entrance hole — 1 1/8 inches in diameter is just right — and brown-headed nuthatches may nest in it. Or, maybe chickadees will, and that’s okay, too.
These two nuthatches are easily distinguished by appearance. Both have white breasts, but while the white-breasted nuthatch has a black cap, the brown-headed’s cap is … your guessed it, brown. The white-breasted is twice the size of the tiny brown-headed nuthatch.
They can also be recognized by their voices. White-breasted nuthatches have a persistent, nasal call, yank-yank-yank, while the brown-headed nuthatch sounds like a squeaky toy, saying dee-dee-dee, dee-dee-dee.
Both nuthatches are readily attracted to feeders stocked with sunflower seeds and suet. For a small investment in the purchase of these bird foods and a couple of feeders, you can draw them up close and enjoy their company year-round.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 26, 2017 | Bird Netting
One of about 50 endangered animals whose habitat includes Virginia just got a new lease on life. Late in June, the Center for Conservation Biology (CCB), a joint program of the College of William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University, announced the first successful breeding of the red-cockaded woodpecker in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The Great Dismal Swamp meanders through southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, between Norfolk and Elizabeth City, N.C.
Previously the only habitat in Virginia for the bird was the Piney Grove Nature Preserve in Sussex County. The preserve, owned by The Nature Conservancy, has the northernmost population of this woodpecker. “In 1999, The Nature Conservancy and its partners began restoring the pine savanna habitat to pull the woodpeckers back from the edge of extinction in Virginia,” said Brian Van Eerden, director of TNC’s Virginia Pinelands Program. “Growing the population from a starting point of 12 birds to 70 today started the track record of success for the species’ recovery at its northern limit.”
CCB Director Brian Watts said in a news release that the Great Dismal Swamp breeding program is “a milestone in an ongoing effort to establish a breeding population within the refuge.” Conservationists were concerned because of the risks of having a habitat in an area prone to hurricanes and other natural disasters, so the breeding program in the Great Dismal Swamp was started in 2015. At first the effort seemed like a long shot. “During the run up to the breeding season, only five of the 18 birds that had been moved from other populations remained within the refuge, including two males and three females,” Dr. Watts said.
“By early May, the birds had formed two breeding pairs and soon each had laid three eggs.” The eggs hatched on May 13. Twenty days later, the young birds were “flying and foraging,” Watts reported.
Near-extinct species that have habitats in Virginia include such creatures as the bog turtle, the smallest turtle in North America, and the Shenandoah salamander found only in the Shenandoah National Park. Another example of a Virginia endangered species is the spruce-fir moss spider, one of the smallest tarantulas. It lives in the highest peaks of the Appalachian Mountains.
Efforts to save these and other species, including the red-cockaded woodpecker, are just a few of many such projects around the world. Other examples are described in a visually stunning three-part PBS documentary titled “RARE: Creatures of the Photo Ark,” to air on Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. on WCVE PBS beginning July 18. “RARE” follows National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore as he photographs animals at risk of extinction. The series also focuses on factors causing extinction, such as deforestation, rising sea levels, pollution and human encroachment. Sartore said at least 100 species become extinct every day. “It’s a race against time. Fifty percent of all animals are now threatened with extinction,” he said. “It’s folly to think that we can drive half of everything else to extinction but that people will be just fine.”
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 25, 2017 | Bird Netting
The first time I saw and heard a Hairy Woodpecker I was astonished at how fast they struck a tree with their bill. If you have never seen one working on a hole in a tree, just listen to their pattern at the end of the audio on this link. http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/hairy_woodpecker
That’s fast work.
General Description: Hairy Woodpeckers are one of two very similar birds. They are about a third larger than the similar Downy Woodpecker and their bill is larger. The Downy’s shorter bill and rounder head appear to be “cuter” than the Hairy, and that’s about the only differences….size. Both are mostly black with white patches down the middle of their back and white spots on their wings, and the males have similar red patches on the back of their head. The Hairy Woodpecker is 7 to 10 inches in length, with a 13 to 16-inch wingspan, and they weigh anywhere from 1.4 to 3.4 ounces.
Habitat: Common just about anywhere on the Harbor. They prefer mature woodlands but can also be found on forest edges, in parks, at backyard feeders where black oil sunflower seeds and/or suet are offered and in cemeteries.
Behavior: Hairy Woodpeckers forage on the trunks and bigger limbs of trees, prying off the bark to get at their prey. They also choose bigger trees in which to excavate their nests. They hitch up tree trunks using their stiff tail feathers to prop themselves upright, lunging forward with both feet together. They can also sometimes be found at the base of ponderosa pines where a particular species of bark beetle can be found.
Nesting: Hairy Woodpeckers form a monogamous pair bond in late winter then usually continue that bond over the succeeding nesting seasons. Both male and female excavate a nest in soft or rotting wood; they prefer deciduous trees for their nest if they can’t find a snag. The nest hole is about 2 inches high by about 1.5 inches across, and the hole widens at the bottom of the excavation to accommodate the eggs and the incubating parent. The nest entrance is often on the underside of a main branch or stub to discourage flying squirrels or sapsuckers from taking over the nest. Both parents incubate the four eggs for about 2 weeks, and both feed the young. The young leave the nest after 28 to 30 days, then follow their parents around for some time afterward.
Migration: Considered a year-round resident in western Washington, but some non-resident birds may move down in elevation in the winter. There are also birds from farther north that may migrate south into our area in winter.
Conservation Status: I’m happy to say Hairy Woodpeckers are actually increasing in population although they have probably decreased from historic numbers due to forest practices of removing dead trees. They have also had more nesting and roosting competition from European Starlings and House Sparrows.
When and Where to Find on Grays Harbor: They can be found in appropriate habitat almost anywhere on Grays Harbor, but your best chance of watching them is in a forested area of bigger trees. The sound they make excavating a nest or brooding hole carries quite a distance, so listen before you enter a grove of trees. They can also be heard calling, so listen to the sounds on the link I previously mentioned. Then pick a quiet spot and watch the chips fly!
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 24, 2017 | Bird Netting
Former Channel 4 boss Luke Johnson has failed in his bid to fell a protected tree in the back garden of one of his multi-million-pound homes.
The entrepreneur had claimed it resembled “a large totem pole” and caused a “health risk” through roosting pigeons.
Mr Johnson, boss of private equity firm Risk Capital Partners, and his wife Liza fought a preservation order for a 15 metre-high sycamore in the £3.5 million house in Little Venice.
They claimed the tree at the eight-bedroom property harboured pigeons that could carry diseases and parasites, and its seed balls “can irritate the skin and cause respiratory problems”. They also claimed the roots had damaged foundations and garden walls and risked wrecking water and sewer pipes. The tree was protected in January after neighbours became concerned it would be removed as part of Mr and Mrs Johnson’s renovation of the property.
The couple promised to replace it with a smaller one. However, this week Westminster council’s planning committee upheld the preservation order.
After the decision the couple declined to comment. But in an earlier letter to Westminster they wrote: “The tree is simply too large for the nine-metre-square garden. It offers no amenity to the community. The tree is so tall and constrained within the spot that it resembles a large totem pole/telegraph pole. In addition the tree harbours large populations of pigeons which themselves pose a health risk with commonly psittacosis, but also salmonella, histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, candidiasis and other parasites.”
Neighbour Lisa Schneider said she was “delighted” it had been saved, adding: “It’s been here longer than any of us and is a haven for wildlife, none of which cause health problems.”
The council’s senior arboricultural officer Barbara Milne dismissed claims about a risk to health. She recommended a bird scarer, saying “the problem of pigeon droppings is recognised as inconvenient, it is not considered to be of such merit as to warrant removal of the tree”.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 23, 2017 | Bird Netting
A house in Soi Udomsuk on Sunthornvinitchai Road has been known as the “House of Pigeons” for more than a decade.
However, the owner, Weerasak Sunthornjamorn, 60, was not loved by his neighbours and passersby due to a massive number of birds roosting on electrical wires outside his house and huge piles of droppings in and around the area.
After retirement last year, Weerasak became a scavenger and kept what he found in garbage dumps at his house.
The piles of garbage combined with the birds and their droppings made his house a foul-smelling eyesore to his neighbours, the public and nearby restaurant owners.
His neighbours have complained many times to Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)’s Huay Kwan district office since 2012. Weerasak was summonsed to the district office and initially fined Bt500. The fine reportedly increased to Bt2,000 as he failed to stop feeding the birds and other animals.
The BMA failed to solve the issue until a user on the popular Pantip discussion forum posted photos and a story about the house. The user complained that the house and the bird droppings sent a strong smell through the area and asked authorities to fix the problem.
The posting drew massive comments, mostly against Weerasak. After that the BMA sent a team to clean the area.
Sucheep Areeprachapirom, chief of Huay Kwang district office said that he asked Weerasak if the workers could clean his house and told him to stop feeding the birds.
“The man however has still kept mum on the request. I will continue to negotiate with him as it is a sensitive issue,” Sucheep said.
Methipot Chatametakul, a director of the BMA’s Sanitation Office said that his office had already sprayed an antiseptic substance in and around the house and used repellent gels to prevent birds from returning to the house.
Neighbours were urged to wear masks and close windows for sanitation reasons.
It was reported that Weerasak won a case in an Administrative Court three years ago when a complainer sought a court order to stop him feeding birds.
Weerasak told reporters that he has been an animal lover for a long time and was previously a committee member of animal welfare organisations.
“Today, I agreed that the BMA workers could clean my house to make all parties concerned happy. I now have some money so I will give up working as a scavenger,” he said.
He claimed he followed tradition to do merits by giving food to birds and other animals. He said if anyone thought it was dirty, they should find a place for him to take care of the animals.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 22, 2017 | Bird Netting
If you don’t know Rufus, you’re not a real tennis fan.
Since 2007, Rufus the Hawk has been scaring off pigeons, protecting Wimbledon attendees and players from flying bird feces and game delays. The birds of prey first appeared high above All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 2000.
Rufus’ handler Imogen Davis, also his social media manager and the director of Avian Environmental Consultants Ltd., told the Telegraph employing hawks to ward of pigeons was an ingenious idea.
“Pigeons don’t know the difference between eating grass seed when the tennis is on and when there is no play, and that can cause big interruptions. As a player concentration is crucial, so we do our bit to limit that disruption,” she said.
Not just any old hawk can land such a prestigious gig. Davis said each bird goes through “an intensive training process,” all of which is motivated by food.
That said, the hawk handler makes sure Rufus and her other hawks don’t get too greedy during training. Davis said monitoring their weight is “the most important part” of her job.
“His optimum flying weight is 1 Lb., 6 Oz., so if he is at that weight I know that he is going to be keen enough to chase any birds away but not so keen that he is going to grab it and fill himself up on pigeon,” she shared.
Although hawks are hunters by nature, Davis said Rufus’ work is “incredibly tiring.” The two are up at 4 a.m. before a match and, during the championships, work until about 10 a.m.
Through his training, as well as his many years working Wimbledon, Rufus has become an expert at controlling the pigeon population in the area. His handler told the Telegraph he “knows all of the pigeons’ favorite spots to hang out.”
His hard work has paid off immensely, at least in terms of his fandom. Rufus the Hawk has more than 10,000 followers on Twitter.
In addition to updates on player’s wins and losses, the account regularly features photos of Rufus and news about the bird.
While some of his fans show their love on social media, others bring it to the matches. Fellow Wimbledon celebrity Chris Fava — known to many as the Strawberry Man — was recently spotted courtside dressed as the beloved bird.
“I knew I had a lot of points to defend from last year because Strawberry Man was such a big hit that I wanted to do something that was iconic and Rufus is probably an icon already,” he told Wimbledon.com on Monday.
“I knew I wanted it to be Wimbledon-centric. I took about two months to do the costume…Everyone’s reaction when I’m here is really cool,” Fava continued.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 21, 2017 | Bird Netting
Birds of prey may be called in to tackle Morecambe’s pigeon problem.
A task force wants to control the number of pigeons in the town and has suggested using hawks or similar birds to scare them away or even a cull.
John O’Neill, Morecambe BID chairman, said talks were at an early stage and were aimed at reducing droppings and possible disease. But pensioner John Wilkinson, known locally as ‘The Morecambe Birdman’ due to his love of feeding pigeons, says the proposals are “barbaric”.
John describes himself as the ‘dad of pigeons.’ His reaction comes after Morecambe Business Improvement District (BID) said they were in early talks with bird groups to tackle the town’s pigeon problem.
“It is barbaric, they should leave the birds alone, the birds are bothering no one,” said John, who lives on Cavendish Road in Morecambe.
“All the birds want is something to eat and I do what I can to try and improve the lives of birds and animals. “I don’t accept there is a problem, there is a problem with criminals, feral children and criminal damage.”
In Morecambe there is a large pigeon population that needs reducing, said John O’Neill, chairman of Morecambe BID, a task force set up to boost town centre business. “These birds will always flock to the easiest meal, and that’s provided by humans who drop scraps and inadvertently feed them – they are opportunistic feeders,” said Mr O’Neill.
“Ironically, unlike some other seaside towns, I think our seagulls are pretty well behaved and they tend to be seasonal. Pigeons, on the other hand, tend to roost all year, leave their droppings everywhere and carry diseases. “Morecambe BID is studying ways we can help assist keep the pigeon problem down but it will be in the longer-term, rather than immediate.
“To eradicate the problem you have to break the breeding cycle and move the birds away from the town. This can be done by way of raptor control (scaring the birds away with birds of prey) and culling.” Feral pigeons which towns see today are descended from the rock dove, a cliff-dwelling bird historically found in coastal regions. Millions of these birds are seen across the world and the most famous flock resides in Trafalgar Square, London. Councils across the UK have control programmes in place to reduce the number of urban pigeons. But John Wilkinson said if the birds are fed well they are not likely to carry disease.
“I feed them everyday, I use poultry and game feed,” he said. “They all think I am their dad. I have become known as the birdman but that is only one of my hobbies. I collect things and do research. I am just interested in wildlife.” Mr Wilkinson hit national headlines in 2014 when he was sent to prison for six weeks for breaching an anti-social-behaviour order to limit his bird feeding habits. Outraged supporters of Mr Wilkinson ran an online campaign to free him.
A Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) spokesman said: “Feral pigeons can have up to six broods of two per year. “They incubate for around 18 days and the young fledge after a further 36 days with both parents sharing duties at all stages.
“Feral pigeons are covered under a general licence that permits landowners (or people with their permission) to humanely destroy pigeons, eggs, chicks and nests for the purpose of preserving public health and safety.
“We believe lethal control should only be used as a last resort when all non-lethal methods have first been considered.” The RSPB is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, aiming to inspire people to give nature a home and secure a healthy environment for wildlife.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 20, 2017 | Bird Netting
The word “pigeon” evokes thoughts of gentle cooing, fluttering in rafters, and poo-encrusted statues. The species responsible for the encrustation is deeply familiar to us, having ridden waves of European expansionism to inhabit every continent, including Australia. First domesticated thousands of years ago, urban pigeons have turned feral again.
Less familiar are the native species that are not your stereotypical pigeons: a posse of pointy-headed crested pigeons in a suburban park, or a flock of topknot pigeons feeding in a camphor laurel.
Australia and its neighbouring islands are the global epicentre of pigeon and dove (or “columbid”) diversity with the highest density of different columbids – an impressive 134 species – found in the region. Twenty-two of these native species are found in Australia alone, in just about every habitat.
These native species play an important role in ecosystem functioning: they forage for and disperse seeds, concentrate nutrients in the environment, and are a source of food for predators. Fruit doves for example, are zealous fruitarians, and the region’s tropical rainforests depend on them for tree diversity. Where fruit-doves have disappeared in the South Pacific, numerous plant species have lost an effective dispersal mechanism.
And here’s a paradox. Could Australia’s feral domestic pigeons become the vector for a dramatic decline of columbids – native species on which Australian ecosystems rely?The future of Australia’s native pigeons however, may depend on our domestic pigeons. Australia’s domestic pigeon population — both feral and captive – is large and interconnected by frequent local and interstate movements. Pigeon racing, for example, involves releasing captive birds hundreds of kilometres from their homes only so they may find their way back. While most birds do navigate home, up to 20% will not return, of which some will join feral pigeon populations. Birds are also traded across the country and illegally from overseas. These movements, together with poor biosecurity practices, mean that captive pigeons can and do mingle with feral domestic pigeons.
Emerging viral epidemics
In recent years, two notable infectious diseases have been found to affect our captive domestic pigeons: the pigeon paramyxovirus type 1 (PPMV1) and a new strain of the pigeon rotavirus (G18P). These diseases are notable because in captive domestic flocks they are both spectacularly lethal and difficult to control.
PPMV1, although likely to have originated overseas, is now endemic in Australia. This virus has jumped from captive to feral domestic pigeon populations on several occasions, but fortunately has yet to establish in feral populations.
The movements of captive pigeons, and their contact with their feral counterparts, can be the route through which virulent and lethal diseases – such as the PPMV1 and the G18P – may spread to Australia’s native columbids.G18P is thought to have spread to Victoria and South Australia from a bird auction in Perth in 2016. PPMV1 also spread rapidly to multiple states following its first appearance in Melbourne in 2011.
What have we got to lose?
Fortunately, neither PPMV1 nor G18P has crossed over to Australia’s native columbids. We can’t say how likely this is, or how serious the consequences would be, because we have not previously observed such viral infections among our native pigeons.
If the viruses prove equally lethal to native columbids as they are to domestic pigeons, we could see catastrophic population declines across numerous columbid species in Australia over a short period of time.
Should these viruses spread (via feral domestic pigeons), the control and containment of losses among our native pigeon species would be near impossible. Such a nightmare scenario can only be avoided by predicting if and how these viruses might “spill over” into wild columbids so that we can prevent this in the first place.
Protecting our pigeons
Agricultural poultry is routinely screened to check their vulnerability to threats like the PPMV1 and G18P. Such screening is an appropriate response to protect our agricultural industry.
For our native pigeons and doves however, no such similar testing is planned. Based on progress in veterinary vaccine development and advancements in understanding of feral pigeon control, the knowledge and technology required to mitigate this threat should be relatively inexpensive. The threat for these species can be actively managed, now, by improving our biosecurity and vaccination programs for captive domestic pigeons, and eradicating feral domestic pigeons.
The protection of our native columbids however, ultimately relies on valuing their ecosystem functions in the first place.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 19, 2017 | Bird Netting
An avian blizzard in central Wisconsin in 1871 made for a spectacle the likes of which would never be seen again.
Hundreds of millions or maybe even a billion passenger pigeons made their spring nesting grounds across a broad swath of the state, with observers reported the birds carpeting trees throughout. Indeed, it was the largest nesting of passenger pigeons ever recorded. It was also a bonanza of incredible proportions, with hunters shooting and selling tens maybe even hundreds of millions of the birds for the commercial game market. Less than three decades later, the passenger pigeon would no longer be found in the state, and the species would be extinct by 1914.
The disappearance of the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) may be the most infamous example of an extinction caused by the actions of humans. Its tale is illustrative of how people can simply eliminate a once common, even abundant creature through relentless killing.
Stanley Temple, an emeritus professor in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shared the story of the passenger pigeon in an Aug. 20, 2014 presentation given on the occasion of the centennial of the bird’s extinction. Delivered as part of the Wednesday Nite @ the Lab lecture series on the UW-Madison campus, his talk was recorded for Wisconsin Public Television’s University Place.
Over several decades following the Civil War, vast and continuous hunts of passenger pigeons for meat and live specimens drove the species to extinction.
“You really don’t need to be a population biologist to figure out if you’re killing these birds on an industrial scale and preventing them from reproducing, extinction becomes a mathematical certainty,” said Temple.
Martha was the name of the endling passenger pigeon. She was on exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo for years before dying on Sept. 1, 1914. The bird’s body was subsequently sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. for study and preservation. A taxidermy mounting of Martha has since been displayed at the National Museum of Natural History and other institutions.
In 1947, the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology placed a monument to the long-gone passenger pigeon at Wyalusing State Park, on a bluff overlooking the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. It reads: “Dedicated to the last Wisconsin Passenger Pigeon shot at Babcock, Sept. 1899. This species became extinct through the avarice and the thoughtlessness of man.” Its placement was dedicated by Aldo Leopold and memorialized in his essay “On a Monument to a Pigeon,” which was included in A Sand County Almanac.
“It was, indeed, a very remarkable event,” said Temple. “It was the first time that any sort of public sort of grieving, mourning over the loss of a species that we had clearly caused to go extinct had ever taken place.”
In 2014, Project Passenger Pigeon was launched to commemorate the centennial of Martha’s death and the species’ extinction, with Temple playing a leading role in Wisconsin and around the nation. This ongoing educational campaign highlights the bird’s legacy and encourages sustainable practices to prevent the extinction of other species. Its work has included books, the documentary From Billions to None: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction, lectures, artistic projects, and in southern Wisconsin, a rededication of the Wyalusing monument and the limited release of Passenger Pigeon IPA by Capital Brewery.
Key Facts
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- At the beginning of the 19th century, biologists estimate that there were about 3 to 5 billion passenger pigeons living in their home range of deciduous forests around eastern North America, making it the most abundant bird on the continent, and perhaps in the world.
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- Flocks of passenger pigeons would travel continuously in search of mast (primarily acorns and beechnuts) and eat their fill before returning to wing, hence the name. They would briefly halt for about a month during nesting season in a range that included most of the lower Great Lakes region. Pigeon pairs would lay a single egg, and abandon their hatched squab about halfway through its development, while gorging all available food until compelled to move on in search of more.
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- Records gathered by 19th century naturalists provide the basis for most of the information known about the numbers, range and behavior of passenger pigeons. Alexander Wilson, an early Scottish-American ornithologist, documented the birds, as did John James Audubon, who remarked on their flocks darkening the skies for days. John Muir remarked on observing the birds’ passage as a young man growing up near Portage.
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- Hundreds of places around the eastern half of the U.S. are named for passenger pigeons, often by settlers who were impressed by the passage of a colossal flock. In Wisconsin, there are well over a dozen places named for the birds. For example, the Waupaca County community of Clintonville was originally named Pigeon, and the river that flows through it still bears that name (as does a namesake brewery based upriver in Marion). Another Pigeon River rises in Manitowoc County and flows through Sheboygan County before emptying into Lake Michigan. There’s also the village of Pigeon Falls and town of Pigeon, both in Trempealeau County.
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- Native Americans and settlers around eastern North America regularly hunted passenger pigeons, with the appearance of their flocks virtually guaranteeing a bounty of fresh meat for a brief period. But due to the birds’ continuous traveling, this mode of hunting did not significantly reduce their numbers.
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- After the Civil War, a national market developed for passenger pigeon meat and live birds. Aided by rapidly growing networks of telegraphs and rail, commercial hunters would follow flocks and continuously harvest birds. The hunt was particularly intense during nesting season, when both adults and squabs would be killed in immense numbers. U.S. Census data from the late 19th century indicates that there were likely tens of thousands of people who listed “pigeoner” as their occupation.
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- The largest passenger pigeon nesting on record was in 1871 across an 850-square mile swath of central Wisconsin that stretched in a “V” shape from Black River Falls south to Wisconsin Dells and back north to Wisconsin Rapids. Hundreds of millions of pigeons, perhaps even as many as a billion, nested throughout the area. About 100,000 commercial and other hunters flocked to Wisconsin, killing many tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of birds, shipped on ice in barrels that were loaded onto trains headed to market in cities. During the hunt, one gun dealer in Sparta sold 512,000 rounds of ammunition.
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- Along with killing meat, pigeoners would capture live birds to sell for the purpose of pigeon shoots. Thousands of pigeons would be released for recreational target practice. This pastime would later be adapted into the sport of clay pigeon shooting.
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- The last major passenger pigeon nesting was recorded in 1878, in Petoskey, Michigan. By 1900 there were no longer any large flocks, and the last wild pigeon was shot in 1902 in Indiana. Multiple organizations subsequently offered rewards for any evidence of a living, wild passenger pigeon, but none would be claimed.
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- The decline of the passenger pigeon was a catalyst for the passage of the Lacey Act of 1900, which provides for interstate regulations and prohibitions in commerce related to terrestrial fauna, fish and plants. It was the first federal law enacted to protect wildlife.
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- Arlie William Schorger was a chemist who retired early to begin a second career in ornithology in the mid 20th century. He would become an adjunct professor of wildlife management at UW-Madison and was a colleague of Aldo Leopold. Fascinated by passenger pigeons, Schorger would travel the nation collecting eyewitness accounts and other information about the birds. His 1955 book The Passenger Pigeon: Its Natural History and Extinction is considered the definitive study about the birds and their demise.
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- During the 19th and 20th centuries, humans caused the extinction of multiple bird species through overkill, including the great auk, Labrador duck, Carolina parakeet and quite possibly the Eskimo curlew, among others. Conservation measures motivated in part by the extinction of the passenger pigeon have helped revive the fortunes of various avian species in North America, including the trumpeter swan, wood duck, plume-bearing birds like the egret and sandhill crane, and the wild turkey.
- Scientists have found that the Lyme disease epidemic in the eastern U.S. has roots in the extinction of the passenger pigeon. Once the bird was no longer eating mast from beech and oak trees, an increasing availability of their nuts supported a population explosion of small rodents, particularly mice, that are carriers of the Borrelia bacteria transmitted by deer ticksand cause the disease.
Key quotes
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- On the importance of the passenger pigeon’s extinction: “[T]he passenger pigeon is sort of the ultimate cautionary tale about our relationship with wildlife. It is … something that we need to remember. Unfortunately, a hundred years after the fact, it is something that most people have forgotten. They don’t know the story of the passenger pigeon, and they don’t really understand, therefore, the significance of that tragic event for our ongoing relationship with the other creatures that share the planet with us.”
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- On the sheer numbers of passenger pigeons: “It’s really hard to get your head around what it was like in the eastern half of North America when these birds were around. The estimate was that at the start of the 19th century there were three to five billion passenger pigeons. I can say that, and three to five billion doesn’t mean a lot unless you have some sort of frame of reference. It meant that at that time, one bird in every four in North America was a passenger pigeon. If you lined those pigeons up beak to tail and strung them out in a row, they would circle the earth at the equator 23 times. In other words, this was a super abundant bird.”
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- On what renowned Wisconsin naturalists said of the species: “Aldo Leopold described the passage of these birds through the forest as a biological storm, that they essentially were such a huge force on the eastern deciduous forest. Our own John Muir, growing up near Portage, commented that it was a great memorable day. And indeed, that’s a sentiment that was felt by many. It was certainly felt by Native Americans, and it was felt by many of the early settlers of the eastern U.S.”
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- On the pigeons’ nesting behavior: “[T]he only time they basically stayed still was during the nesting season. Just like everything else that they did, suddenly they would appear, they would decide that this was the spot, they would settle in very quickly, build a rather crude nest and lay their single egg. They got down to nesting very quickly. They nested like everything else they did, in almost unbelievable numbers. Part of the reason for this was that it was a defensive mechanism against predators. By being in a large flock, a large herd, a large school, you minimize your individual risk of being hit by a predator. So these enormous nesting colonies would form quickly, the birds would feed on the mast that had been produced the previous fall.”
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- On the market hunting of passenger pigeons: “Suddenly they were up against a predator that was unlike any predator that they had ever had to contend with in the past. Of course, the predator was us. Basically, during this 50 year period after the Civil War, almost every nesting attempt was ruthlessly pillaged by commercial market hunters who killed the birds and sold them at market. Both the adults and the nestlings were killed. They caused sure a disturbance in the nesting colonies that very few young were raised. One of the parents would be killed by the hunters, or the disturbance was just too great and the parents would abandon and leave the colony. To make matters worse, the market hunters eventually were able to track the birds year-round and continued killing them 365 days a year.”
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- On 19th century attitudes towards passenger pigeons: “[D]uring the 19th century there were no conservation laws, there was nothing preventing people from killing wildlife at will. The national mindset was essentially, still, that that natural resources of the continent were inexhaustible, and especially something that was perceived to be as abundant as the passenger pigeon. No one could have imagined that in such a short period of time we could basically wipe them out.”
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- On why people weren’t initially concerned about passenger pigeon numbers: “Probably not only was there the attitude toward the natural resources of the country, but there was also the fact that people were quite accustomed to the idea that you didn’t see passenger pigeons every year. The easy explanation when they didn’t show up was that they’re somewhere else. You read all kinds of accounts of people basically passing this off as, the pigeons are just somewhere else. And the somewhere else really became almost absurd.”
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- On the impact of Martha’s death and the extinction of passenger pigeons: “[T]he extinction of the passenger pigeon was undoubtedly the catalyst for the modern 20th century conservation movement. It inspired organizations to form, like [the] National Audubon Society. It inspired the first wave of wildlife protection laws in the country. It essentially woke the public up to this idea that the wildlife resources of the country were not inexhaustible.”
- On the continuing role of overkilling in extinction: “[A]lthough there are these amazing comeback stories and many others of species that benefited from the lesson of the passenger pigeon, unfortunately the statistics tell us that we’re still in deep trouble, and we’re getting deeper into trouble all the time. As endangered species lists continue to grow, it’s somewhat tragic that in addition to things like habitat loss and ecosystem stresses like climate change and invasive species, that there are still substantial numbers of endangered species that are endangered because we’re overkilling them, that we still haven’t gotten over that most brutal form of causing a species to go extinct.”
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 18, 2017 | Bird Netting
FERAL PIGEONS, WHICH LIVE ON every continent in the world except Antartica, are famously adaptable—They shack up all over, from San Francisco to London to Mumbai.
They are also in Calgary, where around 200 of them have made their home on the roof of the South Health Campus, a 269-bed hospital. This was an unwelcome development, since pigeons can carry disease, and they poop a lot.
The hospital’s efforts to get rid of them—including with noise, which worked at first, before the birds got used to it—haven’t been successful, so recently they chose to get a little more serious. They’ve hired three baby peregrine falcons, according to the CBC, as a future anti-pigeon patrol.
A falconer, John Campbell, plans to release the falcons from the building, where it is hoped they will hunt down the pigeons and “other small game,” the CBC reports.
“You could [use] anything that would scare them, that would go after them as prey,” Campbell said. “It doesn’t have to be falcons but the falcons work very well.”
It will be a little time before the falcons get to the hunting, as just one has fledged so far. In the meantime, though, they’re being fed dead pigeons to give them a taste for pigeon blood.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 17, 2017 | Bird Netting
Bengaluru: Some feed pigeons out of the belief that it would bring prosperity or wash off their sins, blissfully unaware that its increasing population was destroying the food chain of other birds and the ecosystem. Experts point out that the alarming rise in population of pigeons in the city was due to easy availability of food.
Expressing concern, Harsha, a bird expert, said, “Pigeons do not require a special place for nesting. They mostly build their nests on rooftops and windowpanes and not necessarily on trees.
Pigeons are growing at a rate of 20 per cent monthly, which is alarming as it is destroying the food chain of other birds like myna, Asian koel and crows.”
Food chain regulates the balance of each species based on their reproduction. Due to urbanisation, predatory birds which feed on pigeons have dwindled. Moreover, Blue Rock Pigeon which nests on the availability of food in the wild, reproduce at a faster rate due to the easy availability of food in urban areas.
“Shikra, predatory bird nests on trees and feed on pigeons. Due to the less number of trees in the urban areas, Shikra is not usually seen, hence the number of pigeons multiply. We cannot see Outstack, another predatory bird which feeds on pigeons,” Harsha said.
Carrier of diseases
Experts believe that pigeon droppings are acidic and the bird itself is a carrier of diseases.
“Pigeon droppings are highly allergic to human beings and it leads to early exhaustion,” says Dr Rupa from Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre.
Harsha claimed that pigeons are one of the causes of rise in cases of bird flu. “They are the carriers of diseases and once their faecal matter dries up it spreads in the air leading to the skin infection in children and respiratory problem amongst the elderly,” he added.
It may be noted that In 2001, a ban was imposed on feeding pigeons at London’s Trafalgar Square owing to health hazards.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 16, 2017 | Bird Netting
The first red-cockaded woodpeckers to be hatched in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in at least four decades were welcomed in early May by biologists.
Two of three chicks survived and have since been seen flying around with their parents. The woodpeckers are an endangered species.
“It’s a real milestone,” said Bryan Watts, director of The Center for Conservation Biology, and a first step in establishing a population of the swamp’s once indigenous bird. It’s also part of a larger recovery effort that includes a growing colony in Sussex.
“We’re sort of holding the line up here from keeping the species from contracting further south,” Watts said.
The red-cockaded woodpecker is a small, black and white bird named for the male’s flash of red feathers. They’re unique in that they carve their homes in live trees and mate for life, though young are raised by a collaborative group.
The birds once numbered in the hundreds of thousands in the Southeast and as far north as New Jersey, biologists say. But logging, development and forestry practices reduced the bird’s habitat and sparked a 20th century decline.
The species was listed as endangered in 1970, and hadn’t been seen in the Great Dismal Swamp since 1974. Public and private agencies have been working for years to get the population back up. The Nature Conservancy’s Piney Grove Preserve in Sussex is the only other Virginia enclave and home to 70 birds broken into 14 breeding groups, Watts said.
Over the past two years, 18 woodpeckers have been released into artificial roosts in the Great Dismal Swamp, relocated from populations in North and South Carolina. There were slim hopes the five remaining birds – two males, three females – would reproduce this year.
“But the birds worked it out,” Watts said.
Two nests with eggs were discovered initially. Three chicks hatched in the first nest on May 13, but one bird was grossly underweight and died, biologists said. The second nest was found devoid of eggs or babies. Biologists suspect a snake got them before they hatched.
Colored leg bands, which the surviving birds got at 7 days old, help scientists track them, according to Watts and Jennifer Wright, biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.
The birds are featherless and rubbery at that age – primitive looking and golf-ball sized – yet still flexible and hardy, Watts and Wright said. The chicks’ eyes are initially closed. They can only discern light and dark, which makes them easier to extract from the nest.
Still “you want to be careful,” Wright said. “It’s all by feel.”
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 15, 2017 | Bird Netting
Downy Woodpeckers are year-round residents of our area, raising their families in summer as well as spending winters here. When the breeding season arrives, a pair selects a nest site in a dead branch and sets to work excavating a cavity. Both male and female dig the cavity, and all the work is done with their beaks — breaking off pieces of wood and discarding them as the nest takes the shape of a gourd, larger at the bottom.
You can tell the male from female because the male has a red patch on the nape of his neck. Females lack this colorful adornment.
Woodpeckers employ three strategies for safe and secure nests. They need to be hard to find, difficult to reach, and hard to get into. A nest that is well-hidden high in a tree is difficult for such predators as snakes and raccoons to find and reach. And, if reached, a cavity nest with a small entrance is hard to get into.
It takes the pair about 16 days to excavate the nest, then male and female take turns incubating the three to nine eggs the female lays. It takes just 12 days for them to hatch.
With as many as nine babies in the nest, it must be hard to keep it clean, right? Baby woodpeckers are fed several times each hour, and what goes in must come out.
Removal of baby woodpecker poo is made easier because it comes out in the form of a fecal sac — a gelatinous capsule that Papa carries in his beak and drops well away from the nest.
Leaving the nest must be a little scary for young woodpeckers. Imagine looking out of the nest from 15 feet up the tree and trying to fly for the first time.
Young downy woodpeckers do this when they’re just 3 weeks old.
The fledglings are fed by the parents for another 3 weeks, then they’re on their own.
Of the seven species of woodpeckers that can be found in this area, the downy is the second most common, outnumbered only by the red-bellied woodpecker.
Both the downy and the red-bellied can be seen in most suburban neighborhoods that have lots of trees. You can enjoy these birds by stocking a simple tube feeder with sunflower seeds. Nuthatches, chickadees, titmice and finches will also be drawn to these feeders, providing you with many hours of pleasure enjoying these birds.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 14, 2017 | Bird Netting
With a decision forthcoming on proposed protections for a rare species of woodpecker found in the Black Hills, a new population estimate for the bird has provoked warring reactions from opposing sides of the debate.
A master’s thesis presented in May by Elizabeth Matseur of the University of Columbia-Missouri estimated a population of 2,920 black-backed woodpeckers in the Black Hills in 2015, and 3,439 in 2016.
Those numbers are about three to four times higher than the estimate included in a still-pending 2012 petition to list the birds as a threatened or endangered species.
The petition was submitted by four environmental and conservation groups. A decision is required by Sept. 30 from the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in cooperation with the secretary of the Department of the Interior.
A Black Hills timber industry group opposes the listing because it could result in more protected habitat for the birds, and therefore reduced logging, in the Black Hills National Forest.
Ben Wudtke, forest programs manager for the Black Hills Forest Resource Association, said the new research disproves the case for listing the birds as threatened or endangered.
“This study should put the final nail in the coffin and show that black-backed woodpeckers are doing very well in the Black Hills,” Wudtke said.
Chad Hanson, a representative from one of the groups that submitted the petition, said that simply is not true because the student researcher’s findings are fundamentally flawed.
Hanson is an ecologist for the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute in Big Bear City, Calif. He said the new research has “one major flaw” — a buffer area of 500 meters between sites where birds were counted, rather than 1,500 meters, which Hanson said is the appropriate standard.
“To avoid overcounting, you have to take that into account,” Hanson said. “They would’ve counted some birds not just twice, but with a 500-meter buffer, they very likely would’ve counted some birds three times or more.”
In other words, Hanson thinks the population estimates in the new research might be inflated by a factor of three. But even if the new estimates are accurate, he said, they still fall below the threshold of 4,000 individual birds that the petition cites as necessary to avoid a risk of extinction.
Matseur, the author of the thesis, said she and her collaborators accounted for the likelihood of individual birds being counted more than once.
“We feel this is an accurate model and population estimate,” Matseur said.
The research was sought by the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station, which provided support for the work along with partners including state government agencies in South Dakota and Wyoming, Matseur said.
Matseur and a crew of up to five helpers spent the summers of 2015 and 2016 doing a combined 1,800 miles of off-trail hiking in the Black Hills. They followed predetermined routes and stopped for five minutes apiece at predetermined points to watch and listen for black-backed woodpeckers. Each detection point was visited three times per summer.
In all, the team made 7,110 stops at the detection points and logged 362 detections of black-backed woodpeckers.
“Sometimes we would go a week without detecting a woodpecker,” Matseur said, “but that made it more exciting when we got one.”
Matseur and her team put their data into a statistical model that included additional factors, such as forest conditions, to produce estimates of the total black-backed woodpecker population in the Black Hills.
The birds are about the size of a robin and are adapted to peck insect larvae from trees in burned areas of the forest. The black-backed woodpeckers in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming are said to be a genetically distinct subspecies, as are another population of black-backed woodpeckers in Oregon and California. The two groups are the only ones covered by the petition for threatened or endangered status.
The petition groups say that decades of firefighting, fire prevention and post-fire logging have destroyed much of the charred and snag-filled habitat — full of dead and dying trees — that black-backed woodpeckers need for long-term viability.
A mountain pine beetle epidemic in the Black Hills that lasted from the 1990s through last year created some additional habitat for the birds, which is a factor that could account for increased numbers. But researchers say the snag-filled areas created by mountain pine beetles are not as conducive to a thriving black-backed woodpecker population as the snags created by fires.
Managers of the Black Hills National Forest already strive to preserve some black-backed woodpecker habitat. If the birds are listed as threatened or endangered, forest managers could be required to protect more areas for the birds.
“The result is, there would be less logging,” said Hanson, of the John Muir Project. “That’s almost certainly true. And there should be. Ecologically, that is what’s called for here.”
In national forests, the U.S. Forest Service selects areas to open for logging and sells logging rights to private companies through a competitive bidding process. For timber that was cut during the 2016 fiscal year in the Black Hills National Forest, the Forest Service received $2.17 million, according to the agency’s quarterly reports.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 13, 2017 | Bird Netting
How’s this for a happy problem: Several North Jersey backyard birders report that downy woodpeckers have been hogging the sugar water in their hummingbird feeders this summer.
What nerve!
Most folks view the interlopers more as a phenomenon than an irritant, but after asking around, I’ve found that the freeloading is fairly widespread, and it has likely been going on for as long as there have been hummingbird feeders,
A quick search of my old emails found that a reader had written to me seven years ago about the problem and — heaven forbid — I never replied. Think of this column as part belated apology and part how-to article.
Don Torino of the Bergen County Audubon Society says that “it seems in the last few years downys at hummingbird feeders have become very common. Some folks seem a little frustrated at times but most think it’s a very interesting behavior.”
Torino’s solution for the frustrated folks: “Put up an extra feeder and enjoy the hummers and the woodpeckers together. It shouldn’t be about trying to control wildlife behavior. Just sit back and enjoy the show.”
When you think of it, hummingbird feeders are the very definition of an attractive nuisance — a source of free sugar water for any insect, bird or mammal that can find its way to the feeder.
That means not just ants and bees and downy woodpeckers but such freeloaders as squirrels, Baltimore orioles, house finches and (in Arizona) even bats. If white-tailed deer figured out a way to mooch the sugar water, you can bet they’d be there, too.
As a birder in Oakland reports: “I have had a downy at my feeder all summer, and now the red-bellied is there as well. The little hummer has to wait his turn.”
Concerned that the interlopers are drinking too much of the sugar water and your neighborhood hummingbirds aren’t getting their fair share? Tired of refilling your hummingbird feeder all the time? Here’s some advice.
The secret to success with feeders of any kind often involves design, and it turns out that hummingbird feeders come in all sorts of nifty shapes and sizes to ward off unwanted spongers.
For example, if ants are a problem, you can buy feeders with little moats. (Last time I checked, ants were lousy swimmers.)
If other mooching birds are a problem, you can buy a hummingbird feeder without any perches. These feeders look pretty cool, like large Christmas ornaments.
As for bees, I am told you should avoid feeders with those little yellow-flower accents. (I once had a feeder like that, but a bunch of rowdy squirrels deflowered it.) It seems that red attracts hummingbirds, but the fake yellow flowers draw wasps and bees.
Other birders have reported that squirrels are raiding their hummer feeders as well. That raises the question: How do you keep squirrels away from hummingbird feeders?
The answer is the same for all feeders: Make the feeder harder to get to (think “baffles”), and then pray a lot. I have found that like telemarketers, squirrels are nearly impossible to get rid of, no matter how hard you try.
Tiny tasers, anyone? (For the telemarketers, of course. You didn’t think I’d … )
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 12, 2017 | Bird Netting
We have talked about the activities of nature’s little critters in the past, but it never ceases to amaze me as to what can happen in an instance.
Last week, while on vacation, I was sitting on the porch taking a break from some chores, and my wife was behind camp working in her flower garden.
Earlier, she had been filling the bird feeders and had taken a piece of suet, about half the size of a golf ball, and placed in on the ground while she refilled the cages.
Well, shortly following that, a chipmunk came out of his den, which he has many entrances to in the area, and began enjoying the morsel of suet. However, a nearby woodpecker decided that it was his, and began pecking at the chipmunk’s head. The chipmunk was undeterred by all of this and continued to eat the suet, despite taking quite a beating from the woodpecker.
Meanwhile, two mourning doves landed nearby, and decided to get in on the action. They began to approach the other two combatants, sneaking in from behind the woodpecker. At that point, I thought to myself, “this will be interesting.” Unfortunately, my wife was not aware this was going on and came around from behind the camp and began to say something to me. At that point, the confrontation broke up. The chipmunk scooted off to his den, and the three birds flew off in their own directions. We’ll never know how that would have turned out.
Later, that evening, I noticed the chunk of suet was no longer on the ground, so one of them won out on that fight.
But that was nothing compared to what we witnessed on Saturday. It was a beautiful day, and we were out on the lake to take in some fishing. There was a bass tournament going on that day, so many boats and anglers were in the area. At one point, we saw a small bass, about 12-inches in length, floating in the water, obviously dead. We left it, citing that the circle of life would come into play, and some bird of prey, an osprey, bald eagle, or even a sea gull would come along and scavenge that up.
One of the things we did notice in the almost three hours we were fishing was that there were no birds present in the crystal blue sky. Usually, they are all around us.
Finally, at one point, we heard the call of a bald eagle, although we could not see it. I summized it was perched in a nearby tree and possibly warning us not to approach the dead fish, which it possibly had its eyes on for lunch.
The fish was floating approximately 15 yards away from our boat when a bald eagle came swooping down from a nearby tree and flew parallel to the water – maybe five feet from the water level – for about 20 feet, extended its talons, picked that fish right from the surface of the water, and proceeded, at the same altitude, down the shoreline and disappeared around a bend into a cove.
I have seen bald eagles scoop up fish from the lake before, but not from that close a distance. It goes without saying the scene was spectacular. Bald eagles are massive birds.
Even when you think you have seen all Mother Nature has to offer, something like this comes along.
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 Ryan Ponto | Jul 11, 2017 | Bird Netting
The red-cockaded woodpecker is an endangered bird, and approximately nine call the 1,700-acre W.G. Jones State Forest near The Woodlands home.
The birds are mostly spread out across Southeastern states, and officials with the Texas A&M Forest Service do what they can to ensure the forest is in good condition for the birds to thrive, said Donna Work, Texas A&M Forest Service biologist.
“In this forest, sometimes they stay where you put them, and sometimes they don’t,” Work said. “They kind of mix around and find their place in the population.”
To maintain the environment for red-cockaded woodpeckers, forest officials keep up with mulching, spraying herbicide and burning the midlayer of plants in the forest, when necessary. This maintains an herbaceous ground covering for bugs, which are a large part of the bird’s diet. Removing the midlayer of flora also protects the birds from rat snakes and other predators, Work said.
To rebuild the population in Jones State Forest, some red-cockaded woodpeckers were translocated—or safely moved—from Louisiana in 2014, Work said.
“In our case, we really needed something to enhance our gene pool because we’re kind of isolated here and kind of stagnating,” she said.
Red-cockaded woodpeckers have declined in population due to habitat loss, Work said. Although birds were moved to the state forest, no hatchlings were born last year. However, three-fourths of the birds that were moved in 2014 have remained in the forest, she said.
Forest officials continue to monitor nest activity and check in on the family groups, which consist of one breeding female, one breeding male and one or two helper birds, said Work, adding there are approximately four family groups in the forest.
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)
