ALL I WANTED was a quiet place at the end of the road where I could write my memoirs.
About the years of struggling it took to become an overnight excess with a publishing empire stretching from Oil City to Whiskey Flats dedicated to shining the light of freedom on truth, justice and the American way.
If I could just find the time.
Something is always interrupting.
It’s all part of the nightmare we call country living.
It started with the drumming.
It was sort of a Bo Diddley- on-a-bender beat that just kept going and going and wouldn’t stop.
Naturally, I assumed it was just another Sasquatch drum circle heating up.
Sometimes I think that’s all they do.
Maybe I should apologize, but somebody has to work.
Financing the hunt for Bigfoot and baiting them in takes major funding.
Peanut butter and jam sandwiches don’t grow on trees, you know.
I opened the door and stuck my head out, ready to holler into the woods to get them to pipe down for a while, and saw the real reason for my disturbance: a cute little woodpecker.
With a bright red head and a great big beak, the woodpecker was pounding a hole in the side of the house.
Woodpeckers are some of the dumbest creatures on the planet.
Maybe it’s because they spend their lives beating their head against trees.
It only makes sense that an ecological niche that involves brain damage could lead to an evolutionary dead end.
Shooting the woodpecker was not an option.
That would contravene the Geneva Convention of Birdwatching and possibly upset the neighbors.
There are simple rules to get along in the country, such as drive slowly, mind your own business and don’t spray the neighbors with birdshot.
They could shoot back.
And besides, you have a lot better chance of borrowing stuff from the neighbors if you don’t shoot at them first. Enough said.
Not to mention woodpeckers are a protected species.
The birds seem to sense this.
When I tried to scare it away, the woodpecker looked at me like I was impacting his habitat.
I thought we could all just get along.
And we did until the starlings moved into the woodpecker hole.
This is a curse I would not wish on my best enemy.
First, there is the endless process of the starlings building the nest, which means they have to pull the pink fiberglass insulation out of the wall, scatter it over the yard and replace it with a flammable nest made of moss and dry twigs.
Eventually, the babies hatch.
You will know this from their constant shrieking for food from dawn till dark for weeks on end with a distinct aroma wafting through the wall.
It’s a congealing mass of rotting starling nest just waiting to be used again next year.
I sprang into action.
It was going to be too easy.
I grabbed a fish net and beat on the wall.
When the starling flew out of the woodpecker hole, I caught it, then drove it to town to turn it loose.
I could not imagine a crueler fate.
That was until I returned home to find the starling had beaten me back to the house.
The net trick wouldn’t work anymore.
I had to borrow a ladder from the neighbor and nail a board over the woodpecker hole.
For a moment, there was peace.
I’d just sat down to type a really good column for once and heard a woodpecker beating another hole in the wall.
Here we go again.
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.
Q. On my two-year-old maple tree, at about hip level on the trunk, all the bark is gone all the way down the tree. – S.S., Springfield
If the bark is peeled all the way around, it does not sound too hopeful that the tree will survive. A tree would have a hard time surviving if such damage went even half way around.
This is a process known as girdling, the killing off the tender wood just below the bark. This area of the bark is where all the moisture and nutrients travel up and down the tree to keep the plant alive.
I can think immediately of four possible causes for what you describe.
First, some maple trees do shed plates of bark, and sometimes these can be in rings around the tree. However, the tree is already putting on a new tough layer underneath that will now be the new bark.
The second possibility would be insect damage. You will usually see some holes bored into the tender wood where the bark has been peeled away.
If insects are the culprit, I assume you would find bore holes in the wood and possibly some slime or sawdust lying about on the trunk or on the ground. If you are convinced it is an insect problem then I would have the tree removed and burned or hauled away.
Possibility number three would be squirrel damage. Squirrels may scratch away at bark on a tree to try to get to some insect that may be living underneath the bark.
Finally, it could be a result of woodpecker damage — a woodpecker searching for insects pecks lots of holes into the tree and eventually does enough damage to the bark and the tender layer of new wood underneath, that the two separate and the bark will peel away.
Q: I’ve had a problem in the past with flowers and plants not blooming.– G.H, Springfield
The problem is usually related to the age of the plant, temperature, light, nutrition or pruning practices.
Many plants must reach a certain age before they are mature enough to produce flowers. Fruit trees, such as apples and pears, may require as long as five or six years before they produce fruit. Gingko trees can take up to 15 years before flowering.
A stressful environment may delay flowering even further.
Plants that have been budded or grafted may have delayed flowering or early flowering, depending on the type of rootstock onto which the plant was grafted.
Plants must be positioned to receive the proper amount of sunlight. Some plants flower best in full sun, others prefer cooler conditions in the shade.
Cold weather may kill buds on partially opened flowers. Hot, dry weather may cause buds to dry up. Various apple cultivars and peaches require exposure to periods of low temperatures.
Nutrition imbalances such as too much nitrogen can cause plants to produce primarily leaves and stems with few flowers.
Pruning plants at the wrong time of the year can be a reason plants fail to bloom. Spring-flowering plants begin setting next year’s flower buds in the late spring.
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.
It is difficult to imagine that a bird and a football player have much in common, but they do, and the lowly woodpecker just may hold the key to making safer football helmets.
The history of football is rife with attempts to make a better helmet for players to prevent skull fractures. While the technology does exist to prevent or diminish skull fractures, there is little to no protection from brain injuries. “This is where the woodpeckers come into play,” said traumatic brain injury attorney, Brooks Schuelke of Perlmutter & Schuelke, PLLC in Austin, Texas.
Dr. Gregory Myer, is the director of research and the human performance lab at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine division. Myer was contacted by Xennovate Medical’s CEO, David Smith, who was enthused about the possibilities of a possible breakthrough in brain injury care. The idea proposed came about as a result of studying woodpeckers.
Smith explained to Myer that woodpeckers prevent concussions by wrapping their tongues around their jugular veins to increase blood flow to the brain. This keeps the brain from moving about inside the skull while the bird hammers on wood. Myer understood that since the bird could not protect its head from the outside, the adaptation of winding its tongue around its jugular would prevent brain injuries. Mayer began research on the “Q Collar,” also known as the Neuroshield, which is designed to be worn around the neck and increase blood flow to human brains.
The initial prototype Neuroshield performed well in field tests with high school football teams, soccer teams and a SWAT team. The promising results may give the Neuroshield a chance that it could be pressed into service for the U.S. military. Although there is still more research to conduct, if the theory behind preventing brain trauma is correct, the collar may become an integral part of daily life and even be used while riding a bike or motorcycle. It is anticipated that the collar manufacturer, the Performance Sports Group, may put the product on the market by 2018.
“Traumatic brain injuries are complex and often alter a person’s life completely,” added Schuelke. “If you have been involved in an accident or suspect playing contact sports has resulted in a brain injury, my office is able to explain your legal options to you.”
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.
I’ve become the proprietor of an avian cheeseburger shack. We are so popular with the birds that I now trudge out every morning in my pajamas to make sure there is birdseed for breakfast. Heavy on the sunflower seeds, light on the thistle. We feed blue ones, red ones, black ones, brown ones, some spotted ones with red heads, and some bright yellow ones that are very little. I guess it’s obvious that I’m not too knowledgeable about birds. I am a city girl with a city girl’s appreciation of pigeons in the winter and gulls in the summer.
My Aunt Margie was a fanatic birder. She would go out birding with her binoculars and baggy shorts and wait for some precious specie to waft by. She kept a life list of every bird she had seen. She could trill bird calls if you asked and didn’t snicker. Her house was filled with Audubon prints, clocks that sounded bird calls on the hour and in her yard, a custom-made bird dream house with specs written for some kind of bird. I forget which kind of bird. Privately, we thought she was nuts.
Our own bird obsession started with the woodpecker last summer. Late summer, we started to hear a sharp tap-tap-tapping near the back of our house. Originally, I thought it was a plumbing racket. Or maybe a branch banging remarkably consistently in the wind. But every time I went out to investigate, the noise magically stopped. Just a bird flying away. It took a week for us to connect the dots between the ever-widening hole in the shingle and the bird in the nearby tree.
I went in to my husband. “I think we have Woody Woodpecker.” He reminded me that Woody was a cartoon and made the famous sound of the cartoon from our childhood. Hard to render into syllables, but “Eh-eh-eh-Uh-Oh!” I dragged him outside to see the evidence. We found a moldy copy of Birds of the Northeast clearly identifying the culprit. The next day, a handyman put a metal patch over the hole. Problem solved. The next week the woodpecker migrated (was there only one?) to the other side of the house. Another metal plate. I was starting to worry that our house would morph, from a clapboard farmhouse into an aluminum box, in one-foot-square increments.
My exhaustive research consisted of googling the catchy query, “What to do about woodpeckers?” and it yielded a few solutions. One: move. There are more birds than you. Two: get a birdfeeder and fill it with suet. What the heck. If you can’t beat ’em, feed ’em. It worked! Our woodpeckers invited their suet loving friends over for lunch and stopped snacking on our house. We started to like the birds. So many varieties! All day long, singing and chirping. We bought a new bird book and binoculars.
Our own bird obsession started with the woodpecker last summer. Late summer, we started to hear a sharp tap-tap-tapping near the back of our house. Originally, I thought it was a plumbing racket.
This year, when the frost was still on the morning grass, we got a second bird feeder. One you fill with seed not suet. I bought a big bag of birdseed at the grocery store and poured it in. The birds flocked, excited to locate our free buffet. The first bag lasted a month while the birds were flying back from Florida. Now, we think Yelp for Birds must have given us a very favorable review. At the hardware store, I was flabbergasted by the whole aisle of bird seed, like the cereal aisle at the Stop & Shop. Too many choices.
The guy with the white beard and nice smile asked me an existential question: “What kind of birds do you want?” I had no idea. “The pretty ones,” I answered. He looked at me indulgently, the way he might if I asked for a wrench with a pink handle but couldn’t tell him whether it was an Allen or a whatever. He tapped on a huge bag. “The ‘pretty ones’ like this. They like sunflower seeds. And mix it with this bag of thistle seed too.” For good measure, I bought a red glass hummingbird feeder and hummingbird food too. In for a cardinal, in for a humming bird. Humming birds are attracted by red, my new sage informed me.
He was so right. We became bird heaven by the end of the first day. A fly-in food truck for the Cohasset flock. The J-J’s of the feathered set. Full of seed in the morning, crumbs by evening. I was feeling good. Virtuous even. Then I had lunch with my lovely cousin Marianne, daughter of my Aunt Margie, the birder. “You shouldn’t feed birds in the Spring and Summer, you know”, she said. “They need to forage.” Crestfallen! My little good deed upsetting the organic balance of nature! And then I decided, screw that. Turns out I like operating a cheeseburger stand for birds. I get to see all the pretty ones.
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.
An obsession with keeping the landscape tidy has been blamed for the rapid disappearance of Britain’s smallest woodpecker.
The population of lesser spotted woodpeckers has almost halved since 2009 because dead trees are being quickly removed from parks and woods, the British Trust for Ornithology said. The sparrow-sized birds have been declining since about 1980 and only about 2000 remain.
The birds tend to nest in decaying wood because it is softer and therefore easier for them to peck when carving a nesting hole.
Trust spokesman Paul Stancliffe said decaying trees used to be left in place but landowners were now more likely to remove them, partly because of excessive concerns over health and safety.
“They are being tidied up much more, especially in parks,” he said. “If there is a danger of trees falling across paths, they are being removed.”
The decline is revealed in an annual report on wild bird populations based on data collected by the trust. Greenfinches have fallen by 39 per cent and turtle doves by 70 per cent over the same period. Both affected by trichomonosis, a disease that affects the throat and prevents birds from feeding.
There are signs, however, that a decline in farmland birds may have been halted. The number of farmland birds has more than halved since 1970, mainly due to the intensification of farming and increased pesticide use. The latest figures show a 6 per cent increase in the birds from 2014 to 2015.
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.
Strong claws, short legs and stiff tail feathers enable woodpeckers to climb tree trunks and use their sharp bills to chisel out insects for food, make nest holes and drum territorial signals to rivals.
Second to the ivory-billed woodpecker, the pileated woodpecker is the largest commonly seen in North America. This perched bird is almost entirely black on its back and wings. A white chin and dark bill put the finishing touches on its distinguished look.
Preferring dense, mature forest, it seems to be adapting well to human encroachment, becoming more common and tolerant of disturbed habitats — so that very well could be the “rat-a-tat-tat” you hear at your front door.
In woodlands or your backyard you can listen for its slow, resounding hammering. If it’s nearby, look up, follow the sound and you’ll probably be able to spot its pointed, blood-red capped head on the side of a tree, leaving a long rectangular or oval hole. Carpenter ants in fallen trees and stumps are its major food source.
The tongue of the woodpecker is long, usually with barbed tips, so it can be thrust out to spear an insect and draw it out of its hiding place in the wood. The tongue is coated with sticky saliva that helps it gather small insects like ants, but they also eat berries, fruits and nuts.
You might say their diet consists of protein, fiber-rich carbohydrates and grains, which means low fat and natural sugars. Maybe we humans should adapt a woodpecker diet. But I don’t think that’s what my husband means when he says I eat like a bird at dinner time.
Larger holes can be found for nesting. Fine chips of wood form at the bottom of the hole to cushion the eggs. When hatched, the young are featherless.
Red-bellied woodpeckers look like zebras in flight with their black-and-white barred backs. The male has red on his crown and nape. Females only have red on their necks, but both have a reddish patch on their belly, thus the name red-bellied woodpecker. They are common in open woodlands and parks.
The red-headed woodpecker is definitely colorful, sporting an entire head of dark red plumage contrasting with a blue-black back and snowy white underside. It inhabits open woods, farmlands, parks and backyards, foraging tree trunks and the ground for insects, berries and acorns. It will utilize any vacant cavity in a fence post, dead tree or even an electric pole to store acorns for the winter.
My hanging bird feeder serves as a quick snack stop for numerous red-bellied woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers and even the small white-breasted nuthatch, a short-tailed acrobatic bird that looks very similar to a woodpecker the way it hangs upside down on the bird feeder and scales a tree trunk.
When you check out the rapping at your front door and find no one there, it could be that a woodpecker was making a visit. Now, if they start ringing the doorbell, well, I don’t know about that!
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.
Since your column talks a lot about crows … For the last few years I have had two crows with a white feather on their wing and believed it was something white they had gotten into – maybe paint. Later I heard they were from Nova Scotia. I wonder if that’s true? Did they fly all the way over here?
Anyway, you asked me where Bear River got its name. Well, at one time a lot of bears lived in the woods here in Bear River and there are many rivers flowing through the trees. The bears are all gone now but as I walk through the trails I wonder if one might be lurking in the woods.
We have a walking trail back of our home and there’s an old tree with the bark all shaved off and sawdust down all around the tree on the ground. I heard a commotion around that area for days now and saw two Northern Flickers flying around. I thought I’d take a look and found a perfectly round hole in the tree that looked like a carpenter had drilled it out. How exciting. It’s carved perfectly round.
A red bucket has been hanging on the branch below the woodpecker hole for years and when I peeked inside there was a big pile of sawdust. It must have come from the hole because when I was sitting on my hammock, I saw the woodpecker pounding away at the hole and sawdust was flying everywhere. It made me wonder if he looked at that sawdust and was quite proud of his accomplishment.
While I am writing to you Brenda, do you know what kind of seeds woodpeckers eat? We have lots of little black and white woodpeckers with little red hats on the back of their heads. Maybe they eat more than insects.
In the trail behind my home I spotted an owl on a tree and then realized there were three of them. I can hear them hooting close by at night.
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.
I recently had the opportunity to go out in the field with Kerry Brust, a red-cockaded woodpecker biologist in the North Carolina Sandhills. I went with Brust to put brightly colored and aluminum bands on nestling red-cockaded woodpeckers. It’s part of a research project begun in 1978, initiated by Dr. Phil Doerr and Dr. Jay Carter III of N.C. State University. Sandhills Ecological Institute, a nonprofit formed in 1998, continues the research in collaboration with Dr. Jeff Walters’ lab at Virginia Tech. The Sandhills institute was created to: research and monitor the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and related ecosystems in North and South Carolina; promote the study of and education about the longleaf pine and related ecosystems; engage in scientific studies and promote education regarding the red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) and its habitats. The institute maintains demographic databases on the woodpeckers and studies the biology and behavior of the species. The studies have provided insights that are applied throughout the Southeast and have helped in the creating of important tools for managing the red-cockaded woodpeckers, such as artificial cavities and cavity restrictors. The intensive monitoring of the birds’ population entails inspecting the status of cluster and cavity trees, routine nest checks from April to July, color-banding nestlings and unbanded adults, conducting adult group census, and checking on fledglings to document whether reproduction is successful. Brust is co-director of the Sandhills institute with Jay Carter and is the supervising biologist. Two other full-time biologists assist her, Andy Van Lanen and Anna Prinz. Each year the institute monitors approximately 300 red-cockaded woodpecker clusters at Fort Bragg, Camp Mackall, the Sandhills Game Land, McCain Forest, The Nature Conservancy’s Calloway Forest, Weymouth Woods State Nature Preserve and various private lands.
We were out on Fort Bragg. Federal lands (including those owned by the Department of Defense) are required to protect federally listed species such as red-cockaded woodpeckers. The birds were listed as endangered in 1968 and were one of the first species covered under the 1973 Endangered Species Act. They are a non-migratory, cooperatively breeding species that lives in family groups and defends a set territory called a cluster. Clusters are the collection of cavity trees used by a single woodpecker family group. Groups can be a breeding pair only, or have as many as four to five generally related helpers. They’re considered an “umbrella” species, meaning other species also benefit from management for the red-cockaded woodpeckers, such as prescribed fire, thinning of understories, etc. We went out early in the morning, and since it was drizzling, we started our day just doing nest checks. This involves using a camera on a pole that can be stuck in the cavity. It sends an image down to a viewer where we can see what is in the nest. The first few nests had nothing in them but wood chips, which is how the woodpeckers prepare for egg laying. We finally found a newly hatched chick, about three days old, with eggs that still had not hatched. It stopped raining so we were able to go to a nest where babies needed to be banded. Brust climbs ladders that she stacks as she goes to get up to the cavity hole. She uses a delicate string noose to carefully remove the babies from the nest. Then she places them in a soft cotton bag to carry them down and back to the truck. Here she pulls them out and masterfully places bands on their legs while they are wriggling about and making soft chirping noises. Then she climbs back up and puts them safely back in their nest. The ideal age for banding nestlings is 6 to 8 days old. It was remarkable to get to see these birds up close. The North Carolina Sandhills population of red-cockaded woodpecker is just one of 13 Primary Core Recovery Populations the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has designated throughout the Southeast as needed for complete recovery of the species. Although population increases have been observed within Sandhills public lands, the woodpeckers are still a protected species. While military training restrictions for the Army have been relaxed on Fort Bragg, regulations remain in place for development and timber harvesting that affect the woodpeckers’ foraging and nesting habitat. As with many listed species, the birds’ future remains precarious. It’s good that groups like the Sandhills Ecological Institute are helping watch over the species that remain.
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.
NEW ULM — The electric distribution system in New Ulm is under attack from woodpeckers.
Over the last year, the New Ulm Electric Distribution Department discovered significant woodpecker damage to the wooden transmission line crossing the Minnesota River and connecting to the Fort Ridgely substation.
“It sounds quite humorous, but it is a recent phenomenon for us,” Utilities Director Patrick Wrase said. The wooden poles at the river crossing have been in place since the 1980s but no woodpecker damage has been noticed until the last few months.
“I don’t want call it an infestation, but we have a good population of woodpeckers in this area, and we’re dealing with the nesting of that group in our transmission poles across the river,” Wrase said.
Dan Pirsig with the Electrical Department gave a presentation about the woodpecker problem. Staff first noticed the damage on the poles crossing the river last fall. Repairs were conducted in January, and structural assessments were performed. The recommendation was to replace the poles.
Replacing the poles is estimated at $30,000 per transmission pole. At this time there are five poles with damage bringing replacement costs up to a total of $150,000. The wood poles would be replaced with steel poles to prevent further woodpecker damage. In addition, the steel poles cost less than the laminate wood poles
Currently there are only five poles with damage, but approximately 34 poles are at risk from woodpecker damage. The cost of replacing all at-risk poles would exceed $500,000.
Pirsig said this is a time-sensitive issue. This is an ongoing problem that will not go away. If the integrity of the poles is compromised, they could break off in a wind storm or blizzard.
Pirsig said the department will begin wrapping the poles in a mesh material as a preventive maintenance method and repair the damage already done.
Wrase said other cities have had success with the mesh wrapping. The wrapping can be purchased for under $100 and would cover multiple poles.
The replacement project will be budgeted in 2018 and details will be presented at that time.
In other news, the New Ulm Public Utilities Commission approved the execution of a settlement agreement with the Hutchinson Utilities Commission (HUC) to resolve the metering error and resulting over-billing for natural gas the Hutchinson Commission caused to the New Ulm Public Utilities Commission (NUPUC).
In April, a draft of the agreement was prepared and approved by the PUC. New Ulm City Attorney Roger Hippert submitted the document to HUC for consideration and has been informed the document will be accepted by HUC without any changes and can be considered the final settlement agreement.
The settlement calls for a $1,298,645.98 payment from HUC to NUPUC. Once received, the $1.3 million will go into a fund to replenish the gas departments reserves.
“The additional expenses have been paid out to our gas supplier throughout this process,” Wrase said. The cost of this overcharge was not passed on to utility rates, but reserve funds were used. This payment will cover the loss to gas reserves.
The payment from Hutchinson does not resolve the entire metering issue. At the close of the meeting, the PUC entered a closed session to discuss possible litigation related to unpaid unaccounted-for gas transported on the Fairfax gas pipelines to the Heartland Corn Products ethanol plant.
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.
An older gentleman approached me at a recent Audubon chapter meeting. “Yep, I used to see plenty of them when I was a kid,” he said. “They hung around an old corn crib on our farm.”
Sadly, I have heard similar comments throughout my home state of Minnesota over the past few years. The old gentleman was correct; there used to be a lot more Red-headed Woodpeckers.
Since the 1960s, the species’ numbers have plummeted across most of its range. According to Minnesota Audubon, Red-headed Woodpeckers have declined almost 80 percent since the 1960s in Minnesota alone. They are also pretty much gone from our New England states, where, in the 1800s, a bounty was placed on the birds as they descended on, and cleaned out, farmers’ cherry orchards.
Numerous state breeding bird atlases and Christmas Bird Counts have documented the extent of the decline. The cause is a little more speculative. In the Upper Midwest, the drop correlates consistently with a loss of oak savanna habitat. Savanna is characterized by a flat, open understory interspersed with small clumps of living and dead oak trees. In Minnesota, over 98 percent of the original oak savanna is gone, mostly as a result of suburban development and intensive agriculture. Developers just love the land since it’s flat and has little water and few trees; there’s not much to do but just build homes.
For the past eight years, a small but energetic group of committed birders has been working to preserve and expand Red-headed Woodpecker habitat in the Upper Midwest. Through the group’s citizen-science research, we have learned a lot about the charismatic woodpecker and the habitat it needs to thrive.
The boldly marked bird is hard to confuse with other North American woodpeckers — even the poorly named Red-bellied Woodpecker. Both the male and female have almost identical red, black, and white plumage. The only way to distinguish gender is via DNA evidence.
Red-headed Woodpeckers are not shy, so, in one sense, they’re relatively easy research subjects, but they are cavity nesters and picky about habitat. Biologists refer to them as habitat specialists. In the Upper Midwest, two needs are essential: oak savanna with clumps of live and dead oak trees, and regular disturbance by fire.
Creating a savanna
We learned about the importance of frequent burning from biologist Rich King, the former naturalist at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, in central Wisconsin. He had success creating an oak savanna out of what was pretty much an oak forest at the refuge. First he designated and preserved small clusters of live and dead trees. Then he chopped down the remaining trees and cleared the understory. Still, only a few birds showed up to inspect the new savanna. It wasn’t until a burning regime was initiated that things changed. The results were dramatic. Within three years of regular disturbance, 70 nesting pairs were present on the newly created savanna.
Why is burning so important? Most of us associate woodpeckers with pecking trees in search of insects, larvae, or grubs. Red-headed Woodpeckers, however, spend most of the spring and early summer catching flying insects. Their close cousins, the Acorn and Lewis’s Woodpeckers, do the same. The birds usually position themselves at the end of dead limbs and then either hawk insects (fly up) or stoop (drop down) to catch insects close to the ground. The thicker the understory, the more hiding places insects have. Regular burning keeps the understory low and makes insects more accessible.
Our Red-Headed Woodpecker Recovery Project initially considered building nest boxes (as had been so successful with the bluebird), but King convinced us it was more important to preserve and expand the oak savanna. The woodpeckers will excavate their own nest cavities if habitat is present.
With the help of 25 committed volunteers, the recovery project surveyed the entire state to discover the location of remaining healthy oak savannas where groups, or what we call clusters, of Red-headed Woodpeckers were present. (We define a cluster as three or more pairs in an area a quarter mile in diameter.) Individual pairs still remain throughout the southern and central parts of the state, but the pairs are scattered and often located in isolated telephone poles and a few remaining abandoned farmsteads. Few groupings or clusters remain.
Given this situation, it made sense to locate the remaining healthy groups of birds and then work with landowners and managers to retain, and hopefully expand, that habitat. Presently, groups of Red-headed Woodpeckers are holding their own in seven areas — four on state or federally owned and managed land, one on a private nature reserve, and two on golf courses. As natural oak savanna disappears, some birds have resorted to golf courses that are nature-friendly and have stands of red, white, or bur oak.
Key to our project is the cooperation of the University of Minnesota and its field station at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, in East Bethel, just north of Minneapolis. The reserve encompasses over 5,400 acres of woods, wetlands, and oak savanna and is home to 30-40 breeding pairs of beautiful and raucous woodpeckers. Eight years of research at Cedar Creek has taught us a lot about the bird, its preferred habitat, and what we might do to expand its numbers.
So what have we learned? Red-headed Woodpeckers feed primarily on insects in the spring and early summer. The remainder of the year, however, they are opportunistic feeders — that is, not very picky. As the summer progresses, they begin to feed on fruits and berries. Then, in the fall, when the acorn crop matures, they eat both acorns and the grubs that are often inside them. Acorn crops are cyclical. In good years, some birds will cache the nuts to eat in winter. If the birds do not overwinter, we assume they move only far enough south to secure territory and food.
How and when the birds decide to overwinter, or to leave, is a mystery. In 2012, 180 mature and juvenile woodpeckers were in our 400-acre research area. The acorn crop was not good, but we were amazed at how rapidly the birds left. All but two departed in two or three days in the second week in August. How was the exit coordinated? Did the birds communicate with each other? In contrast, only a few woodpeckers flew away in August 2015, while 72 chose to overwinter. Do they not only sense the health of the acorn crop but also have clues to the severity of the winter? We are learning much, but the mysteries of overwintering still remain.
Most birders know that Red-headed Woodpeckers are cavity nesters. What may be less known is that, generally, they are high nesters. For more than 200 nests that we have documented, the average cavity height was about 26 feet, and our highest nest was 65 feet up. The loftiness helps explain why the birds fledge so many young; 75 percent of nests produce at least one fledgling. High nests discourage predation. Nesting preference is for dead trees or dead limbs in live trees. We have recorded successful cavities in the trunks of living oak and live aspen, but a survey of all nests shows the woodpeckers clearly prefer to nest in dead wood.
Egg-laying begins in early May, and the average clutch size is four to five eggs. It takes about 12-14 days for eggs to hatch and another 26 days until juveniles are old enough to fledge, for a total of about 40 days from egg-laying to fledging. On average, only two of the brood will survive to fledging. We are studying why brood success (that is, the number of fledglings per total eggs laid) is a little less than 50 percent, but our data are consistent with other studies and historical writings. It’s just another mystery waiting to be solved.
One rather nasty piece of news: Red-headed Woodpeckers are messy nesters. They do little, if anything, to keep their nests clean. Indeed, in one case, the male died while in the nest cavity, and the female laid her eggs on top of his carcass.
Research methods
Our research methods include color-banding and then observing nesting success with a narrow miniature camera mounted on an extendable pole. Careful monitoring of our work has shown little if any negative impact on the birds’ activities. The woodpeckers are not shy. In fact, once they recognize our surveyors, the birds often follow them around looking for a handout, as we stock scattered feeding stations with peanuts.
We have used both mist-nets and Potter traps (small cage-like traps) to capture birds. The first time we used a cage trap, we baited it with sunflower seeds and peanuts and inadvertently tossed in a few macadamia nuts that one of our researchers was snacking on. The first woodpecker to arrive immediately seized upon the macadamia nuts and was trapped. Since ours is a low-budget project, we quickly decided that we could not afford to use macadamia nuts regularly; the birds would have to settle for peanuts.
We have banded more than 170 Red-headed Woodpeckers with both metal numbered federal tags and colored plastic bands. We use six different colors, which afford us hundreds of possible combinations, so we can identify every bird from a distance. The first thing we learned, following our initial banding efforts, was that many of our birds return to the Cedar Creek savanna year after year. That may not sound stunning, but little, if any, published research demonstrates such site fidelity.
The first year, we banded 50 birds; none overwintered. The next spring, 17 of the banded birds returned. Recapture proved that we had banded them the previous spring. In addition, we have documented examples of nest-tree fidelity — that is, birds returning to either the same tree or one near it the following year. We are still gathering data, but we have also seen examples of year-to-year mate fidelity.
Red-headed Woodpeckers are often portrayed as territorial birds, and they are, but at Cedar Creek they also exhibit a clear colonial nature. All of the birds we have studied have been found in less than 400 of the reserve’s 5,400 acres. The reserve includes a few hundred additional acres of savanna, but they have not been burned regularly. This tells us that if adequate habitat, low understory, and food are present, the woodpeckers tend to cluster.
They do, however, remain territorial vis-à-vis their particular nest site but apparently don’t need much elbow room. We have recorded nests as close as 30 feet to each other. The birds will defend that perimeter but, other than that, seem content to have neighbors nearby. The size of the reserve’s colony varies between 30 and 40 verified nests per year.
Our research is important, but so, too, is our advocacy work across the region. We share our findings with agencies and landowners on whose land groups of birds persist. The work has been gratifying, as state and federal agencies have made commitments to expand oak savannas and to conduct regular burning of the understory. Recently, Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, northwest of Minneapolis, agreed to recreate oak savanna on two parcels of forested land. Thanks to their efforts, Red-headed Woodpeckers were verified nesting at the refuge last year for the first time in 10 years, and this year, observers documented additional birds on another savanna area and on the auto-tour road. We have also helped with burns and serve as consultants for the Belwin Conservancy, a non-profit organization that is recreating oak savanna on the nearly 1,400 acres of permanently protected land it owns in Afton and West Lakeland townships, east of Minneapolis.
While most of our efforts focus on small clusters of woodpeckers — three to six pairs — a few years ago we discovered a concentration that may be even larger than the one we are studying at Cedar Creek. The colony is in an unlikely place — Camp Ripley, one of the largest National Guard training centers in the Midwest.
The facility covers 53,000 acres near Little Falls, in the central part of the state. Within it are two large firing ranges (totaling nine square miles) that are burned every year so troops can fire armaments and fighter planes can drop bombs. This may not sound attractive to you, but it is to the woodpeckers. Because of the yearly burns and many broken trees, the birds have set up shop in the firing ranges.
Forbidden to take one step onto the grounds due to unexploded ordinances, we can only drive two roads that circumnavigate both ranges and have to locate woodpeckers using spotting scopes and binoculars. On our first visit, we saw numbers of adults and juveniles. We can only guess how many pairs are present and what it takes to raise a brood within an active firing range. Still, our cursory surveys reveal that the birds are doing quite well. As an old fishing buddy used to say, “Go figure!”
Although we are only in the fledgling stage of research and habitat-recovery work, we are optimistic that something can be done to stop the decline of the Red-headed Woodpecker and to increase its numbers. A certain type of savanna habitat is essential, along with regular burning to sustain an open understory. In recent years, as the Cedar Creek staff has expanded the burning regime, the woodpeckers have moved into the newly burned territory and begun nesting.
It may be difficult to create new groups or clusters, but if an area has a history of hosting Red-headed Woodpeckers, and a few pairs remain, it is realistic to enhance and expand that habitat through land acquisition, selective tree cutting, and regular burning regimes.
Nothing is guaranteed, but we believe the wisdom from the movie Field of Dreams holds: If you build it, they will come.
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.
Curtis Warrenfeltz sent several photos of a pileated woodpecker feeding its babies in a tree hole at Stumpy Lake. Steve Daniel sent photos of the woodpecker, too.
Randa Gustard in Kempsville sent photos of a little male pine warbler feeding on mealworms from her hand. See it on my blog. See also Jonathan Snyder’s photo of an eastern kingbird perched among the pink-red berries of a serviceberry tree at Stumpy Lake and read Harvey Seargeant’s tale of freeing a squirrel in Portsmouth from a collar it had round its neck.
Carolyn Osmond sent a photo of a small bright red and black wheel bug nymph in her Windsor Woods yard. Wheel bugs are also called assassin bugs. Both the little nymph and its parents can pack a mean bite. On the other hand, wheel bugs are beneficial insects and are good for the garden. They won’t jump on you to bite, but don’t handle them.
Pam Monahan sent a very cute photo of a young rabbit standing straight up, almost as if on tiptoes, to reach a tasty leaf in Monahan’s West Neck yard. “I have always been curious about how those cute, adorable eastern cottontails can wreak havoc in the garden,” Monahan said. “I now know!”
Lorinda Vincent sent a close-up photo of two pretty yellow goldfinches at her feeder in her yard in the Stumpy Lake area.
Rose Hipple in Kempsville photographed a great crested flycatcher with an insect in its mouth. The territorial bird has been attacking his image in her window, thinking that he is fending off intruding males!
Mack Barefield sent several photos of bluebird parents feeding and coaxing their young from the birdhouse. “It is absolutely miraculous how all this new life unfolds in such a short time,” Barefield said.
Denise Maples in Kempsville also sent a stunning photo of a male hummer, its throat shimmering with color.
Steve Daniel photographed a diamondback terrapin at the water’s edge on the Chesapeake Bay beach 100 yards from the Lynnhaven Inlet. These critters occasionally roam from their river salt marsh habitat.
Wendy Romine photographed what she thinks is a muskrat. It has been going back and forth across their cove in the early morning and evenings and “drags greenery” along, most probably to build its den.
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.
London has about eight million trees across the capital, backed up by countless young saplings. The trees provide food and shelter for wildlife, including woodland specialists such as great spotted woodpeckers, now raising their young in nest holes high above the ground.
The recently-hatched chicks are calling to their parents in high-pitched peeps and squeals, and fattening up on a diet of insects and larvae. The chicks will fledge and leave the nest after about three weeks — some will go with mum, others with dad — to explore our woods, parks and gardens.
ES Views: Lack of police has also led to soldiers on out streets
Great spotted woodpeckers are perhaps best known for their loud “drumming”, in which they strike dead trees and branches with their bills in short, rapid bursts. The noise advertises ownership of territories and keeps couples in touch. Some have even learnt to hammer on old rooftop TV aerials, sending out a noisy signal to their woodpecker neighbours.
They can chisel 10cm deep into trees in search of larvae but enjoy a wide diet that includes beetles, ants and spiders, pine-cone seeds, berries and nuts. They may raid the nest holes of smaller birds for eggs and chicks, and will visit bird feeders for peanuts and suet. Blackbird-sized but rather more resplendent, they sport a dashing coat of black and white, with white shoulder patches and Superman-style red “underwear” beneath the tail. Males also boast a red patch behind their head.
Lesser spotted woodpeckers are similarly attired but smaller, about the size of a house sparrow. While the great spotted is increasing in numbers the lesser spotted is seldom seen in the capital, although it was once more commonplace. To enjoy the sight of woodpeckers and woodland wildlife, check out London Tree Week, starting tomorrow.
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.
Two downy woodpeckers and a barred owl were among the 94animals admitted to the von Arx Wildlife Hospital at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida last week.
Other admissions include a black-crowned night-heron, a snowy egret, a black skimmer, a black racer and a marsh rabbit.
Getting the downy woodpeckers the help they needed required information, communication and skill. A homeowner on Marco Island cut down a row of trees on his property. As he was looking through the brush he noticed three woodpeckers on the ground. Not knowing what to do or how to contact the hospital, he left the babies on the ground. Twenty-four hours later hospital staff received a message about the situation. The homeowner was contacted; unfortunately he hadn’t checked on the babies for over 10 hours and he wasn’t home so he couldn’t go out to check if the babies were still alive.
A volunteer from Marco Island went to the site and searched for the babies. He found a yard full of woodpecker activity.
Our volunteer found two live baby downy woodpeckers still in the brush pile where they had been hiding since the tree was cut down. Amazingly, the adult downy woodpeckers were still tending to the babies on the ground. Our volunteer was concerned about the amount of time the babies had been on the ground so he brought them to the wildlife hospital for a check-up.
The health check on the two downy woodpeckers showed they were in good condition. Hospital staff knew the parents were around so we planned to re-nest. An old branch that contained a downy woodpecker nest cavity that was at the hospital from a previous admission was used as the “new” nest for the two babies. The branch containing the baby woodpeckers was attached to a bit of tree trunk that hadn’t been cut down.
Hospital staff didn’t need to wait and watch to verify if the adult woodpeckers would continue to care for their babies in the “new” nest cavity – the mother downy woodpecker was literally waiting with a bug in her mouth while staff secured the branch in place. As soon as our worker stepped away the mother went to the hole to feed her babies!
A typically re-nesting isn’t always so obviously and instantly successful; sometimes it takes a few minutes or hours to verify the adults have returned to care for their young.
Successes such as this reinforce the need for people to put in the time and any effort it might take to reunite wild animal babies with their parents – it is amazing to witness.
Interestingly, there was another cut tree in the same yard that contained an active red-bellied woodpecker nest. The homeowner had noticed this nest and attached the portion of the cut tree containing the nest cavity and baby red-bellied woodpeckers to a nearby stump. The adult red-bellied woodpeckers were not deterred and adjusted to the new location of their nest as well and were caring for their babies.
Please check any trees for active nests before doing any trimming or removal. If you find an active nest avoid performing any work until the nest is no longer active. If you accidentally cut down a nest, bring the babies to the hospital for care. Injured babies must receive professional medical care. Depending on the situation, healthy babies may be re-nested so they can grow up in the wild, learning skills from their parents needed to survive on their own.
The barred owl was admitted after being found stuck in the mud in a roadside ditch in south Lee County. The owl was hypothermic but alert. Our first priority was to raise the owl’s body temperature. The bird was given subcutaneous electrolytes and placed in an animal intensive care unit which has controlled temperature and humidity. After several hours of warmth, the owl was given a bath to rinse some of the mud from its feathers. Pain medication and electrolytes were administered and the owl was returned to the intensive care unit for the night.
An exam the following morning showed the owl was slightly more responsive but was tachycardic and had harsh lung sounds on inspiration. An antibiotic, as well as Chinese herbs, were added to the owl’s treatment plan.
The owl received a second bath and within another 24 hours was eating on its own. After several days of treatment, the owl no longer required the intensive care unit. The owl was moved to an indoor cage and continues to gain strength as it recovers in the bird room at the wildlife hospital.
Recent Releases
A Florida brown snake, an eastern screech owl, three downy woodpeckers, four common grackles, three northern mockingbirds, four blue jays, a mourning dove, six eastern cottontails, a Swainson’s thrush, a painted bunting, three brown thrashers, three mottled ducks, four Virginia opossums, a yellow-bellied slider and a broad-winged hawk were released this past week.
Opportunities to Help
Please join us in celebrating the Conservancy of Southwest Florida’s annual Wildlife Hospital Baby Shower on Saturday, June 3rd. Visit the Conservancy website at www.conservancy.org/babyshower for details on how to get involved and help us continue to provide quality care to the hundreds of baby animals we will care for this season. All donations are truly vital in helping us continue our work to protect Southwest Florida’s 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.
Vancouver authorities stumbled upon a sobering indicator of the city’s opioid problem this week.
Vancouver Police Department Superintendent Michelle Davey tweeted a photo showing a pigeon nest made of opioid needles.
“Pigeons spotted making a nest out of #needles in a #DTES SRO room,” she said. “Sad reality of the #opioidcrisis #fentanyl #frontline #notstaged.”
Staff Sgt. Randy Fincham said the photo was taken in the British Columbia city’s Downtown Eastside neighborhood by a homeless outreach coordinator. The officer, according to the Vancouver Courrier, saw pigeons fly out of the room before snapping the shot of a rundown dirty sink filled needles and three white eggs.
Vancouver has become a hot spot for drugs such as heroin coming in from the Pacific Ocean, reports PRI. Many of the drugs, PRI wrote, stay in the Downtown Eastside neighborhood.
The VPD said the photo was shared, “to show the reality of drug use in the Downtown Eastside,” and to start, “a conversation about the harm reduction efforts of first responders, and the need for treatment options for substance users.”
In the U.S., heroin use has increased in both men and women and across income levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bolstered by huge increases in cases involving heroin, Americans are dying from drug overdoses at more than double the rate they did in 1999.
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.
NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — Too many pigeons in downtown Nampa have been causing problems for the area’s buildings and patrons.
The urban renewal agency recently approved a plan to allow a city resident to live-trap the pigeons for free, the Idaho Press-Tribune reported.
The birds’ poop is the main concern, said Randy Haverfield, chairman of the agency.
“It’s something to be concerned about,” Haverfield said. “We just need to get (them) under control.”
The poop damages rooftops’ paint and exterior surfaces, said Brian Foster, city facilities management superintendent. The amount is also a health risk to employees performing maintenance on the roofs, he said.
Air is filtered into the city’s library, but the massive amounts of poop on its roof could contain hazardous bacteria.
About 30 pigeons currently occupy the library’s roof. Foster said he has seen that number increase to 60 pigeons.
The resident who will be trapping the birds, Tim Ault, used to trap them in the 1980s when they were a problem downtown. Nampa Mayor Bob Henry vouched for his expertise.
“We’ve got a real problem, and he’s very successful with what he does,” Henry said.
Ault would use the pigeons he traps for dog training, Henry said.
The city has looked into netting to guard the building from the birds, but officials said that could block maintenance work to the structure and would cost about $10,000.
In previous years, the city put spike strips on the parking garage, which is another choice spot for pigeons.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
To start off this article, both scientists and the internet are unsure if this picture is real. However, police are reporting that birds made a nest out of hypodermic needles in Canada.
Michelle Davey, who is a Canadian Vancouver Police Superintendent tweeted the photo that has been making its rounds on the internet.
The picture shows a dirty sink that is filled with, what appears to be, used hypodermic needles. Laying on top of the syringes are three bleach-white eggs. The caption to the tweet reads “Pigeons spotted making a nest out of #needles in a #DTES SRO room. Sad reality of the #opioidcrisis #fentanyl #frontline #notstaged.”
According to Huffington Post, Police Sgt. Randy Fincham stated that the photo “was snapped by the department’s former homeless outreach coordinator while inspecting empty single-room occupancy housing.” Davey shared the photo on social media hoping to gain awareness to the city’s growing drug problem.
Fincham also told Huffington Post that “the image was also shared to start a conversation – a conversation about the harm-reduction efforts of first responders, and the need for treatment options for substance users.”
However, even though the photo is hoping to start a conversation, it seems like some are using it to question if it was all staged. Rita McMahon, director of the Wild Bird Fund wildlife rehabilitation center in New York City told Huffington Post that “Well, it could be [real], but I don’t think it is.”
McMahon went on to state that pigeons typically lay only two eggs. When they are making a nest, the bird would gather a series of items and not just use one.
The National Audubon Society is currently investigating the photo in order to see if it real. Regardless of what bird experts have to say about the image, the Vancouver Police Department still states that it is genuine.
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.
A picture of a pigeons’ nest made entirely from used syringes has been shared by police in the Canadian city of Vancouver to highlight its drug crisis but experts have questioned its authenticity.
Shared on social media by Superintendent Michelle Davey, she said it had been found in a single room occupancy in the Downtown Eastside area of the city, The Independent reported.
She described the image as reflecting the “sad reality of the opioid crisis” in the city.
She also added “#notstaged”—a claim disputed by some social media users who have said it is a hoax.
Luc-Alain Giraldeau, a scientist at l’Universite du Quebec a Montreal, told the National Post newspaper that he was certain the image did not show a real pigeons’ nest.
He said it contained too many eggs as pigeons usually only lay two at a time. He added that it lacks the thick coat of pigeon feces that the birds typically use to keep their eggs warm. Pigeon nests are “always constructed on a flat surface”, he said.
He declared: “This cannot be a pigeon nest.”
Marion Chatelain, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Warsaw specializing in the urbanization of wildlife, agreed.
“To the best of my knowledge, feral pigeons do not use human wastes to build their nest,” she wrote in an email to the National Post, adding that it is very peculiar to see more than two eggs in a nest.
Nathaniel Wheelwright, a veteran bird biologist at Maine’s Bowdoin College, told the newspaper, “My first reaction was that it looks faked.”
However he added: “But then pigeons do build flimsy platform nests of thick twigs and house wrens sometimes nest in bags of nails. So, it could be.”
Regardless of the authenticity of the image, it has served to draw international attention to the city’s problem with prescription opioid abuse.
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.
Bird strikes can cause costly damage at airports and are dangerous to aircraft, and the effect of a collision with an aircraft can even be fatal.
But a Canadian airport hopes to resolve this problem by using ‘Robird’ – a drone that mimics the flight of a falcon.
The lifelike falcon drone can be used to chase off birds, convincing them that it’s a real life predator.
The Robird will scare real birds away from Edmonton International Airport, Canada’s largest airport in terms of surface area, starting at the end of May.
Flocks in the vicinity will be scared off by the combination of silhouette and wing movement.
In essence, the manufacturers say, the birds believe that one of their natural enemies is eyeing them up, as the Robird has the appearance and weight of a real falcon.
Robird – which is propelled by flapping wings – will has already been tested at Dusseldorf Weeze airport in Germany to help protect aircraft as they take off and land.
‘This is a historic step for the Robird and our company,’ says Nico Nijenhuis, the CEO of Clear Flight Solutions, a spin-off company of the University of Twente in the Netherlands that produces the Robird.
‘We currently operate our Robirds in a variety of places, but taking the step towards full integration within daily operations at an airport is huge.
‘For years, there has been a lot of interest from airports.
‘To now officially start integrating our operations at a major Canadian airport is absolutely fantastic.’
The Robird will become part of a large-scale drone project at Edmonton Airport, which includes using drones to observe wildlife, inspect buildings and take 3-D measurements.
Currently, Edmonton Airport uses sound effects and lasers to keep birds away, nut the problem with existing bird control solutions is that birds get used to them, and quickly learn to fly around them.
So Clear Flight Solutions has been looking at how the Robird can be combined with these techniques to reinforce one another.
For the first three months, the Robird’s effectiveness at keeping birds away will be carefully monitored, and the project further optimized.
There will also be consultations with pilots and airline companies who need to become familiar with the procedures surrounding the robotic bird.
Birds are also a problem for the agricultural industry, waste disposal, ports and the oil as gas industry, and the Robird could help those sectors too.
‘The applications to an ecologically friendly and impactful technology such as the Robird are huge,’ said Jordan Cicoria from Aerium, a Canadian company that is collaborating with Clear Flight Solutions for the Robird project.
‘Airports, tailings ponds, wind farms, agriculture to name a few.
‘The results are real in terms of safety, environment, and economics.’
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.
Canada’s Edmonton International Airport (EIA) has deployed a full suite of unmanned aerial system (UAS) services to enhance its daily operations.
Beginning in the second quarter of 2017, bird control service provider Clear Flight Solutions (CFS) and ‘UAV-as-a-service’ provider AERIUM Analytics will focus on safely incorporating Robird and integrated drone technology at the airport.
The UAS solutions will be integrated to improve EIA’s wildlife management plan, while ensuring continued growth of the Edmonton Metro Region’s ‘aerotropolis’.
CFS’s Robird technology will guide birds safely away from air traffic, while ensuring that they do not nest near airside operations and glide paths.
Robird is a proven technology that offers effective, ecologically friendly solution for bird control.
The robotic system imitates the flight of an actual falcon and easily convinces other birds of the presence of a predator in the area.
“We currently operate our Robirds in a variety of places, but taking the step towards full integration within daily operations at an airport is huge.”
CFS chief executive officer Nico Nijenhuis said: “We currently operate our Robirds in a variety of places, but taking the step towards full integration within daily operations at an airport is huge.
“For years, there has been a lot of interest from airports. To now officially start integrating our operations at a major Canadian airport is absolutely fantastic.”
As part of the deployment, CFS AERIUM will provide UAS mapping and inspections services to help EIA in its maintenance programmes and future economic development efforts.
The UAS missions, which were conducted under tight supervision within 400m of active runways, have already proven competency and met safety and hazard identification risk assessment requirements.
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.
Kit Columbidae, a third-year biology major at the College of Creative Studies, has turned to a classic form of communication following the loss of his iPhone. Columbidae, whose phone was broken in a bike accident, says he got the idea when he looked up from the pavement and saw a pigeon staring at him.
“I had read about homing pigeons before, of course,” he said. “They were vital back in the day, especially during wartime. I thought they had all died out. But looking into those beady, intelligent eyes, I knew that they shouldn’t be too hard to train.”
Columbidae began his project by visiting Atkinson Farms, a local hatchery. Though the owner of the hatchery mainly raises and sells chickens and ducks, she has a longstanding personal interest in homing pigeons and decided to take Columbidae under her wing.
“Ms. Atkinson has been so helpful throughout this entire process,” he said. “Her grandfather raised carrier pigeons during World War II, so I guess you could say it runs in her family.”
Toby, the homing pigeon Columbidae has been working with — named after Atkinson’s grandfather — will be taking his maiden voyage next week.
“Toby’s done a few short flights so far, just to the apartment across the way and stuff like that. You’d think the travel time would make communication slower, but people are much more likely to respond to you when there’s a pigeon flapping about in their face.”
Zoey Brandt is a third-year English major who recently broke her phone.
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.
