by Ryan Ponto | May 5, 2017 | Bird Netting
Luckily, staff at a car wash in Blackburn spotted the pink pigeon and called for help from the RSPCA.
The charity’s Inspector Nina Small who came to the pink pigeon’s rescue admitted the bird was one of strangest things she has ever witnessed.
Inspector Small said: “I’ve never seen anything like it in 15 years of this job.
“He was covered in a pink, greasy paint-like substance from head to tail with only his eyes clear.
“And he was in a car wash of all places. Perhaps he was trying to clean himself off…
“After a wash, his feathers were still stained pink. The amount of paint coming off his body was astonishing.
“We can’t be sure whether the bird had been deliberately covered in paint or whether he’d fallen in something.
“If someone has intentionally painted the pigeon’s feathers then I’d be very concerned for other birds and animals in the area.
“This is a cruel and unnecessary thing to do to an animal and could cause health problems, impair his ability to fly and make him more vulnerable to predators.”
Predators such as feral cars and introduced rats along with loss of forest habitat were the reason that Mauritius pink pigeons all but disappeared from the Indian Ocean island notorious for witnessing the 17th Century extinction of the dodo.
In 1991, there were only 10 pink pigeons left alive but work by the Durrell Conservation Trust nurtured the critically endangered species so that around 500 now exist.
For Blackburn’s pink pigeon, a recovery programme is also underway to nurse him back to flying fitness.
Inspector Small added: “Luckily this pigeon wasn’t injured and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to clean all of the paint off of his feathers and get him back to good condition so he can be released back into the wild where he belongs.
“I just hope his feathers haven’t been permanently damaged and that his flight won’t be affected, which could mean he will need to stay in care much longer before being released.”
by Ryan Ponto | May 5, 2017 | Bird Netting
Logan Dean gently cradled a pigeon named Pablo in his hands.
He stood inside the backyard loft where Logan and his dad, Scott, feed, water and care for dozens of racing homers — pigeons bred and trained to use their instinctive ability to fly long distances and find their way back home.
Scott guided a half dozen of the birds to a platform aside the loft, while a few pigeons fluttered their wings and moved from one perch to another. May sunshine beamed through screened windows, lighting the shelter.
“It’s so addicting,” Scott said of the hobby. “The birds are so calming and peaceful. Sometimes we’ll even bring lawn chairs out here and just sit and talk and watch the birds.”
And occasionally Pablo, 15-year-old Logan’s favorite, sits on the teenager’s shoulder in the Deans’ living room, watching TV with the family.
Logan and Scott are among 20 members of the Crossroads Racing Pigeon Club, which has roots dating to the 1950s. The homing ability of pigeons can be traced back 5,000 years, according to the American Racing Pigeon Union. The father-son Dean duo just got started last year, and Logan’s glad they did.
“I love being able to do this with my dad and come out here and be able to do this with the birds,” Logan said. “They just fascinate me.”
The Crossroads ranges from firefighters, such as Scott, to a retired delivery driver, doctor, restaurant manager, teachers and other vocations. Some care for 30 pigeons, while others maintain as many as 500.
The members’ ages run from 94 to 15, said Ron Deisher, club president. They come from as far north as Montezuma to Bruceville in southern Indiana, from eastern Illinois to the outskirts of Indianapolis.
They raise and train racing homers to fly back to the birds’ home lofts, where they know to find food, safety, shelter and daily attention. It’s a gradual process. Scott and Logan keep a couple dozen breeding pigeons, and their eggs hatch in about 18 days. When the racing homers hit five weeks old, they’ll start flying. Those flights begin with a simple release at the home loft, letting them fly and return. Soon, the Deans drive the birds to a spot 10 miles away, and release them to fly back home. Eventually, the pigeons can find their way home from distances of hundreds of miles, often from release points designated along Interstate 70, Scott explained.
Some perils exist. Hawks and falcons prey on racing homers occasionally, Deisher said. Also, hunters sometimes mistake pigeons for doves and shoot them. Some are killed by hitting utility power lines. The vast majority, Deisher emphasized, safely reach their destination, motivated by the desire for the food, water and comfort of their home lofts.
A natural GPS, of sorts, enables homing pigeons to navigate even confusing territory and return home, according to a report in ZME Science this spring. The story cited two curious findings. First, the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that pigeons use low-frequency waves emitted by the earth to map their path. Second, the creatures also may be able to relay knowledge among each other, Oxford University scientists said, an ability previously thought to be limited to humans and primates.
Return is ‘exciting part’
Pigeons in the Crossroads club are putting that uncanny knack to use right now. The group’s spring racing season, for older pigeons (those born before this year), is under way and continues into June. Its fall season runs from August to October and features the young racers, all born in 2017. Members drive their pigeons to a race starting point on a Friday evening, leave them with organizers overnight and drive home. Officials release the birds at sunrise and alert the competing members by email.
Each member awaits the birds’ arrivals to their home lofts, where an electronic timer records the pigeons’ identities and flight time and speed. (Some fly longer or shorter distances, depending on the owner’s home location.) Those times and speeds are relayed to the organizers, who calculate the order of finish and prize money, and all of the club’s $100-per-bird race entry fees go toward those prizes, said Walt Williams, a longtime member.
Racing homers’ flight speed averages about 45 mph, so a club member may wait more than two hours for a pigeon to return from a 100-mile race.
“That’s the exciting part,” Scott Dean said, grinning.
Pigeons fly home from incredible distances, said Deisher, a 58-year-old former college instructor and insurance businessman from Darwin, Illinois, who now raises and sells the birds for a living. He’s released his own racing homers at Kansas City, Missouri, and added, “You can’t drive on the interstate and beat ‘em home.”
“These birds are athletes,” Deisher said, “and you treat them just like that.”
Along with food and water, racing homers typically get vitamins, minerals and any needed medications, Scott Dean said. Tending to them requires time. As a firefighter who often works 24-hour shifts, Scott is grateful to have his son’s active partnership. “He does as much with them as I do,” Scott said.
Youth involvement crucial
The involvement of young people in the sport matters to both the Crossroads club and the national organization. The American Racing Pigeon Union hired Karen Clifton, whose background was in marketing, to target growth in youth participation, she said by telephone from the group’s base in Oklahoma City. Its overall membership grew from 7,100 in 1999 to just under 10,000 this year, but junior membership has tripled.
That increase “is a good thing, because you want to get young people involved to perpetuate it,” Clifton said.
Williams began the hobby as an 8-year-old. Ed Chambers, a teacher in his hometown of Hymera, started a club in 1958 for kids to raise and show pigeons at county fairs. By the early 1960s, that group — the Sycamore Haven 4-H Pigeon Club — included adults and continued until 1996. The following year, the West Central Indiana Racing Pigeon Club formed, evolving in 2006 into the Crossroads club, which keeps a “working man’s” affordability, Williams said, by spreading prize money to several places in the finish order.
Williams’ interest hasn’t wavered since boyhood. Now 68, he lives south of Fairbanks in rural Sullivan County.
“I just enjoy it,” Williams said. “The birds are relaxing and a lot of fun. And, there’s a sense of accomplishment when a bird that you raised comes back in at the end of a 300-mile race.”
Americans’ fascination with homing pigeons rose after their heralded exploits in World War I and World War II. Allied forces used the birds to deliver vital messages in dangerous zones where radio communications were either disabled or too risky, according to American Racing Pigeon Union archives. They crossed seas and endured harsh weather, yet “provided the balance between victory and defeat” in some situations.
“They delivered,” Clifton said.
Today, local and regional clubs do presentations to church, scouting, farm and service to help spread the racing and homing pigeons’ popularity, Clifton said. While most pigeon fanciers live in California and Texas, the Midwest makes up nearly half of the national organization’s membership.
Here in western Indiana, Scott Dean is happy with the niche he and Logan found in the sport. “A lot of people don’t realize how much fun these birds are,” Scott said inside his loft, surrounded by cooing pigeons. “I’ve had a lot of hobbies over the years, and this one, by far, I enjoy the most.”
Williams discovered that joy long ago. While he likes the racing, sometimes he’s happy to just observe the birds.
“I like to sit on the porch,” he said, “and watch.”
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 | May 4, 2017 | Bird Netting
Logan Dean gently cradled a pigeon named Pablo in his hands.
He stood inside the backyard loft where Logan and his dad, Scott, feed, water and care for dozens of racing homers — pigeons bred and trained to use their instinctive ability to fly long distances and find their way back home.
Scott guided a half dozen of the birds to a platform aside the loft, while a few pigeons fluttered their wings and moved from one perch to another. May sunshine beamed through screened windows, lighting the shelter.
“It’s so addicting,” Scott said of the hobby. “The birds are so calming and peaceful. Sometimes we’ll even bring lawn chairs out here and just sit and talk and watch the birds.”
And occasionally Pablo, 15-year-old Logan’s favorite, sits on the teenager’s shoulder in the Deans’ living room, watching TV with the family.
Logan and Scott are among 20 members of the Crossroads Racing Pigeon Club, which has roots dating to the 1950s. The homing ability of pigeons can be traced back 5,000 years, according to the American Racing Pigeon Union. The father-son Dean duo just got started last year, and Logan’s glad they did.
“I love being able to do this with my dad and come out here and be able to do this with the birds,” Logan said. “They just fascinate me.”
The Crossroads ranges from firefighters, such as Scott, to a retired delivery driver, doctor, restaurant manager, teachers and other vocations. Some care for 30 pigeons, while others maintain as many as 500.
The members’ ages run from 94 to 15, said Ron Deisher, club president. They come from as far north as Montezuma to Bruceville in southern Indiana, from eastern Illinois to the outskirts of Indianapolis.
They raise and train racing homers to fly back to the birds’ home lofts, where they know to find food, safety, shelter and daily attention. It’s a gradual process. Scott and Logan keep a couple dozen breeding pigeons, and their eggs hatch in about 18 days. When the racing homers hit five weeks old, they’ll start flying. Those flights begin with a simple release at the home loft, letting them fly and return. Soon, the Deans drive the birds to a spot 10 miles away, and release them to fly back home. Eventually, the pigeons can find their way home from distances of hundreds of miles, often from release points designated along Interstate 70, Scott explained.
Some perils exist. Hawks and falcons prey on racing homers occasionally, Deisher said. Also, hunters sometimes mistake pigeons for doves and shoot them. Some are killed by hitting utility power lines. The vast majority, Deisher emphasized, safely reach their destination, motivated by the desire for the food, water and comfort of their home lofts.
A natural GPS, of sorts, enables homing pigeons to navigate even confusing territory and return home, according to a report in ZME Science this spring. The story cited two curious findings. First, the U.S. Geological Survey concluded that pigeons use low-frequency waves emitted by the earth to map their path. Second, the creatures also may be able to relay knowledge among each other, Oxford University scientists said, an ability previously thought to be limited to humans and primates.
Return is ‘exciting part’
Pigeons in the Crossroads club are putting that uncanny knack to use right now. The group’s spring racing season, for older pigeons (those born before this year), is under way and continues into June. Its fall season runs from August to October and features the young racers, all born in 2017. Members drive their pigeons to a race starting point on a Friday evening, leave them with organizers overnight and drive home. Officials release the birds at sunrise and alert the competing members by email.
Each member awaits the birds’ arrivals to their home lofts, where an electronic timer records the pigeons’ identities and flight time and speed. (Some fly longer or shorter distances, depending on the owner’s home location.) Those times and speeds are relayed to the organizers, who calculate the order of finish and prize money, and all of the club’s $100-per-bird race entry fees go toward those prizes, said Walt Williams, a longtime member.
Racing homers’ flight speed averages about 45 mph, so a club member may wait more than two hours for a pigeon to return from a 100-mile race.
“That’s the exciting part,” Scott Dean said, grinning.
Pigeons fly home from incredible distances, said Deisher, a 58-year-old former college instructor and insurance businessman from Darwin, Illinois, who now raises and sells the birds for a living. He’s released his own racing homers at Kansas City, Missouri, and added, “You can’t drive on the interstate and beat ‘em home.”
“These birds are athletes,” Deisher said, “and you treat them just like that.”
Along with food and water, racing homers typically get vitamins, minerals and any needed medications, Scott Dean said. Tending to them requires time. As a firefighter who often works 24-hour shifts, Scott is grateful to have his son’s active partnership. “He does as much with them as I do,” Scott said.
Youth involvement crucial
The involvement of young people in the sport matters to both the Crossroads club and the national organization. The American Racing Pigeon Union hired Karen Clifton, whose background was in marketing, to target growth in youth participation, she said by telephone from the group’s base in Oklahoma City. Its overall membership grew from 7,100 in 1999 to just under 10,000 this year, but junior membership has tripled.
That increase “is a good thing, because you want to get young people involved to perpetuate it,” Clifton said.
Williams began the hobby as an 8-year-old. Ed Chambers, a teacher in his hometown of Hymera, started a club in 1958 for kids to raise and show pigeons at county fairs. By the early 1960s, that group — the Sycamore Haven 4-H Pigeon Club — included adults and continued until 1996. The following year, the West Central Indiana Racing Pigeon Club formed, evolving in 2006 into the Crossroads club, which keeps a “working man’s” affordability, Williams said, by spreading prize money to several places in the finish order.
Williams’ interest hasn’t wavered since boyhood. Now 68, he lives south of Fairbanks in rural Sullivan County.
“I just enjoy it,” Williams said. “The birds are relaxing and a lot of fun. And, there’s a sense of accomplishment when a bird that you raised comes back in at the end of a 300-mile race.”
Americans’ fascination with homing pigeons rose after their heralded exploits in World War I and World War II. Allied forces used the birds to deliver vital messages in dangerous zones where radio communications were either disabled or too risky, according to American Racing Pigeon Union archives. They crossed seas and endured harsh weather, yet “provided the balance between victory and defeat” in some situations.
“They delivered,” Clifton said.
Today, local and regional clubs do presentations to church, scouting, farm and service to help spread the racing and homing pigeons’ popularity, Clifton said. While most pigeon fanciers live in California and Texas, the Midwest makes up nearly half of the national organization’s membership.
Here in western Indiana, Scott Dean is happy with the niche he and Logan found in the sport. “A lot of people don’t realize how much fun these birds are,” Scott said inside his loft, surrounded by cooing pigeons. “I’ve had a lot of hobbies over the years, and this one, by far, I enjoy the most.”
Williams discovered that joy long ago. While he likes the racing, sometimes he’s happy to just observe the birds.
“I like to sit on the porch,” he said, “and watch.”
by Ryan Ponto | May 4, 2017 | Bird Netting
PITTSBURG, Kan. — If the neighbors happened to hear Bob Mangile in his front yard earlier this spring hooting at a towering pecan tree, they didn’t let on that they thought it was odd.
“Hoo-hoo hoooooo hoo-hoo,” he called, hands cupped around his mouth to amplify the sound.
He was tenaciously trying to get a great horned owl to reveal more of itself than just its iconic ear tufts, which could be seen — but just barely — in the crotch of the tree.
On this day, his efforts were fruitless.
No matter. Inside, in his many photo files, he has evidence for anyone interested that there was yet another owl species nesting and rearing young just feet from the Pittsburg bungalow he shares on three acres with his wife, Liz.
Giving up on the owl, Mangile moved from the front yard to the back to say hello to more wildlife; first chickens, then a squirrel he feeds by hand, then a few hundred pigeons and lastly, a wren renting a coffee can in his workshop. Soon, when the weather is warm enough, he’ll add bullfrogs, salamanders and turtles to the list.
Forty years ago, none of it was here.
“It was a naked, bare horse pasture when we moved here,” Mangile said.
Today, it’s a wildlife sanctuary, certified by the state and filled with plant and animal life. But the couple are not done yet.
“It takes 40 years to grow a forest, but it takes much longer for those trees to die off and allow woodpeckers, squirrels and so on to nest in hollowed out trunks and stumps,” Mangile said. “Folks do not realize that a view of a lot of green trees is not a complete forest.”
Wild child
Mangile grew up in Chicago, an unlikely place to develop an affinity for nature. It was a childhood friend there who unwittingly introduced him to caring for pigeons.
“He got a BB gun for Christmas, and he wanted to show me how good he was with it,” Mangile said. “He shot a feral pigeon off of a bungalow, and it tumbled to the ground and we caught it.”
With an injured wing, it couldn’t fly. But it laid an egg that night.
Lacking any other nesting material, the two friends cut a hole in most of the pages of an old book and made a bowl-like structure and put the egg in it. They watched and waited.
“It never hatched, of course, but that was how my love affair with taking care of pigeons started,” Mangile said.
About the same time, Liz was growing up in Southeast Kansas, becoming an angler at a young age. She learned to seine and fish on the Neosho River, where her dad would awaken her during the night to run lines. She has fond memories of those days.
Today, she doesn’t mind that Bob has around 300 pigeons in backyard coops. He’s a self-taught expert on pigeon genetics and earlier this spring sent samples of the “blood feathers” of several of his pigeons to the University of Utah. There, as part of a DNA sequencing project, they are being tested for the relationship of two unique genes as they relate to blindness or vision impairment.
Nor does she mind that he actively encourages broad-headed skinks by creating habitat — dead trees, stumps and rock piles — in their yard. By doing so, he’s developed a breeding population of the skinks, which are on the threatened species list in Kansas.
Birds of a feather
Both founders of the Sperry-Galligar Audubon Chapter some 20 years ago and still active members, the couple enjoy feathered wildlife best of all.
They’ve built countless bird houses for others, are fixtures at the chapter’s annual birdseed sale to raise funds for projects, help to coordinate the annual Christmas bird count, and for years, Bob has kept tedious records of the fledging success of fellow bluebirders who keep nesting boxes.
He was elated when owls began nesting here. First, it was screech owls who chose a box on a tree in the back pasture. The owls would often visit the squirrel boxes he installed by the back door, popping up at dusk and sitting in the openings for awhile, sometimes calling into the night.
Then, barred owls took up residence. Not to be confused with barn owls, they’re the ones that call “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?” They fledged babies in the backyard as well, then moved to the huge pecan tree out front.
Again last year, in the pecan tree, the barred owls nested. There were no babies — at least none that Mangile could see — and he speculated that a great horned owl made lunch of them.
This year, it was a great horned owl that nested there in the pecan tree. Mangile isn’t sure it was successful, as it disappeared about the time he expected a hatching.
Hands on
Mangile paused for a moment on his jaunt around the acreage to call to a squirrel and feed it by hand. It’s a common occurrence, he said — it knows his voice. Moments later, a chicken approached and allowed him to pick it up. And when he reached inside one of his many coops, pigeons allowed him to handle them.
“A few years ago, a barred owl baby fell from the tree, and I picked it up and put it back in a different tree on our west fence line,” Mangile recalled.
It stayed for a few days before hopping south from tree to tree, then taking flight.
“I’ve had bullfrogs tame enough to touch at my pond out back,” he said. “And Boxie the Box Turtle — it would come up for food and allow me to handle it without any fear. Type in ‘Boxie the turtle eating’ in YouTube, and you can see some video.”
Mangile, who retired years ago from McNally Manufacturing, said he’s been interested in nature and had an affinity for wildlife for as long as he can remember.
“People ask how long, and I just say, ‘I guess I was born this way’,” he said.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Ryan Ponto | May 3, 2017 | Bird Netting
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.
by Ryan Ponto | May 3, 2017 | Bird Netting
Luckily, staff at a car wash in Blackburn spotted the pink pigeon and called for help from the RSPCA.
The charity’s Inspector Nina Small who came to the pink pigeon’s rescue admitted the bird was one of strangest things she has ever witnessed.
Inspector Small said: “I’ve never seen anything like it in 15 years of this job.
I’ve never seen anything like it in 15 years of this job
Inspector Nina Small
“He was covered in a pink, greasy paint-like substance from head to tail with only his eyes clear.
“And he was in a car wash of all places. Perhaps he was trying to clean himself off…
“After a wash, his feathers were still stained pink. The amount of paint coming off his body was astonishing.
“We can’t be sure whether the bird had been deliberately covered in paint or whether he’d fallen in something.
Staff at a car wash in Blackburn spotted the pink pigeon and called for help from the RSPCA
“If someone has intentionally painted the pigeon’s feathers then I’d be very concerned for other birds and animals in the area.
“This is a cruel and unnecessary thing to do to an animal and could cause health problems, impair his ability to fly and make him more vulnerable to predators.”
Predators such as feral cars and introduced rats along with loss of forest habitat were the reason that Mauritius pink pigeons all but disappeared from the Indian Ocean island notorious for witnessing the 17th Century extinction of the dodo.
In 1991, there were only 10 pink pigeons left alive but work by the Durrell Conservation Trust nurtured the critically endangered species so that around 500 now exist.
For Blackburn’s pink pigeon, a recovery programme is also underway to nurse him back to flying fitness.
Inspector Small added: “Luckily this pigeon wasn’t injured and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to clean all of the paint off of his feathers and get him back to good condition so he can be released back into the wild where he belongs.
“I just hope his feathers haven’t been permanently damaged and that his flight won’t be affected, which could mean he will need to stay in care much longer before being released.”
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 | May 2, 2017 | Bird Netting
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.
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.
She described the image as reflecting the “sad reality of the opioid crisis” in the city, alongside the hashtags “#fentanyl #frontline”.
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’Univérsité du Québec à Montréal, 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 added: “This cannot be a pigeon nest.”
Marion Chatelain, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Warsaw specialising in the urbanisation 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 opiod abuse.
In December nine people died from fentanyl overdoses across the city in one 24 hour period.
Asked for comment by The Independent, Vancouver Police spokesperson Randy Fincham said: “The photo is authentic, as it was taken by a VPD officer. There are lots of possibilities leading to the creation of the nest, before the police arrived, but I’m not an ornithologist. The pigeons flew out the window when officers entered the vacant room.”
He added: “The plethora of bird experts who have now “chirped” in on the topic are more than welcome to do so.”
In a separate interview with VICE News, he said the point of tweeting the image was to “share the prevalence of drug use down there, some of the challenges people who live in the area face, and the problems police face. And to provide insight into a world that very few people need to see and it’s a sad reflection of what’s happening in the community down there.”
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 | May 2, 2017 | Bird Netting
PITTSBURG, Kan. — If the neighbors happened to hear Bob Mangile in his front yard earlier this spring hooting at a towering pecan tree, they didn’t let on that they thought it was odd.
“Hoo-hoo hoooooo hoo-hoo,” he called, hands cupped around his mouth to amplify the sound.
He was tenaciously trying to get a great horned owl to reveal more of itself than just its iconic ear tufts, which could be seen — but just barely — in the crotch of the tree.
On this day, his efforts were fruitless.
No matter. Inside, in his many photo files, he has evidence for anyone interested that there was yet another owl species nesting and rearing young just feet from the Pittsburg bungalow he shares on three acres with his wife, Liz.
Giving up on the owl, Mangile moved from the front yard to the back to say hello to more wildlife; first chickens, then a squirrel he feeds by hand, then a few hundred pigeons and lastly, a wren renting a coffee can in his workshop. Soon, when the weather is warm enough, he’ll add bullfrogs, salamanders and turtles to the list.
Forty years ago, none of it was here.
“It was a naked, bare horse pasture when we moved here,” Mangile said.
Today, it’s a wildlife sanctuary, certified by the state and filled with plant and animal life. But the couple are not done yet.
“It takes 40 years to grow a forest, but it takes much longer for those trees to die off and allow woodpeckers, squirrels and so on to nest in hollowed out trunks and stumps,” Mangile said. “Folks do not realize that a view of a lot of green trees is not a complete forest.”
Wild child
Mangile grew up in Chicago, an unlikely place to develop an affinity for nature. It was a childhood friend there who unwittingly introduced him to caring for pigeons.
“He got a BB gun for Christmas, and he wanted to show me how good he was with it,” Mangile said. “He shot a feral pigeon off of a bungalow, and it tumbled to the ground and we caught it.”
With an injured wing, it couldn’t fly. But it laid an egg that night.
Lacking any other nesting material, the two friends cut a hole in most of the pages of an old book and made a bowl-like structure and put the egg in it. They watched and waited.
“It never hatched, of course, but that was how my love affair with taking care of pigeons started,” Mangile said.
About the same time, Liz was growing up in Southeast Kansas, becoming an angler at a young age. She learned to seine and fish on the Neosho River, where her dad would awaken her during the night to run lines. She has fond memories of those days.
Today, she doesn’t mind that Bob has around 300 pigeons in backyard coops. He’s a self-taught expert on pigeon genetics and earlier this spring sent samples of the “blood feathers” of several of his pigeons to the University of Utah. There, as part of a DNA sequencing project, they are being tested for the relationship of two unique genes as they relate to blindness or vision impairment.
Nor does she mind that he actively encourages broad-headed skinks by creating habitat — dead trees, stumps and rock piles — in their yard. By doing so, he’s developed a breeding population of the skinks, which are on the threatened species list in Kansas.
Birds of a feather
Both founders of the Sperry-Galligar Audubon Chapter some 20 years ago and still active members, the couple enjoy feathered wildlife best of all.
They’ve built countless bird houses for others, are fixtures at the chapter’s annual birdseed sale to raise funds for projects, help to coordinate the annual Christmas bird count, and for years, Bob has kept tedious records of the fledging success of fellow bluebirders who keep nesting boxes.
He was elated when owls began nesting here. First, it was screech owls who chose a box on a tree in the back pasture. The owls would often visit the squirrel boxes he installed by the back door, popping up at dusk and sitting in the openings for awhile, sometimes calling into the night.
Then, barred owls took up residence. Not to be confused with barn owls, they’re the ones that call “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?” They fledged babies in the backyard as well, then moved to the huge pecan tree out front.
Again last year, in the pecan tree, the barred owls nested. There were no babies — at least none that Mangile could see — and he speculated that a great horned owl made lunch of them.
This year, it was a great horned owl that nested there in the pecan tree. Mangile isn’t sure it was successful, as it disappeared about the time he expected a hatching.
Hands on
Mangile paused for a moment on his jaunt around the acreage to call to a squirrel and feed it by hand. It’s a common occurrence, he said — it knows his voice. Moments later, a chicken approached and allowed him to pick it up. And when he reached inside one of his many coops, pigeons allowed him to handle them.
“A few years ago, a barred owl baby fell from the tree, and I picked it up and put it back in a different tree on our west fence line,” Mangile recalled.
It stayed for a few days before hopping south from tree to tree, then taking flight.
“I’ve had bullfrogs tame enough to touch at my pond out back,” he said. “And Boxie the Box Turtle — it would come up for food and allow me to handle it without any fear. Type in ‘Boxie the turtle eating’ in YouTube, and you can see some video.”
Mangile, who retired years ago from McNally Manufacturing, said he’s been interested in nature and had an affinity for wildlife for as long as he can remember.
“People ask how long, and I just say, ‘I guess I was born this way’,” he said.
by Ryan Ponto | May 1, 2017 | Bird Netting
With a hungry nation at war against Germany in spring 1917, the Arkansas Gazette encouraged gardening. And people gardened.
But not simply because one Little Rock newspaper said to. Many entities and agencies heard the call from Assistant U.S. Agriculture Secretary Carl Vrooman for more planting of food crops.
His “war gardens” didn’t acquire the nickname remembered today — victory gardens — until World War II, but the concept was full blown in 1917. Families should grow their own so the commercial food supply could be diverted to troops and starving allies.
Among patriotic efforts, the Cotton Belt, Iron Mountain and Rock Island railroads offered unused land along their rights-ofway to gardeners, free of charge. Iron Mountain even had its own agriculturist, one Clyde O. Carpenter, son of Perrian P. Carpenter of Little Rock. “C.O.” only rarely appeared in print as “Clyde O.,” which suggests he had a friend inside the press.
On March 23, 1917, the Gazette added a gardening advice column written by Carpenter, who also was — inhale — “agricultural commissioner of the Arkansas Profitable Farming Bureau of the Little Rock Board of Commerce.” Fred Heiskell, managing editor of the Gazette, also belonged to the profitable bureau, and the newspaper covered its doings like white on rice. Carpenter’s first advice?
Home gardeners should not be discouraged because of the recent rainy and unfavorable weather. There still is time to plant and raise all the vegetables that have been mentioned in the bulletins issued by the Board of Commerce except early peas. However, there are some late varieties of peas that may be planted. “Iron Mountain” was the nickname of the debt-ridden St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, which in May 1917 completed its merger with the no-longer bankrupt Missouri Pacific Railroad. Also in May, Carpenter left to lead the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce. He had been Iron Mountain’s farm man for six years.
Announcing his loss to Little Rock on May 13, the Gazette published an interview with a photograph. Readers saw a clean-shaven, fair-haired 30-yearold with an altar-boy sort of face and round wire glasses.
Just a year later, Carpenter left the Chamber to manage a big
cotton and ranching concern owned by Mann Land & Investment Co. on the Red River. And it wasn’t long after that he landed another new job, as farm agent for the Bank of Jonesboro.
The Gazette continued to find in him a highly quotable source on Profitable Farming Bureau affairs through early 1920, when he was hired away from Jonesboro by the Fourth National Bank of Macon, Ga.
Two other bureau stalwarts soon cut a pigeon wing (left rapidly) for that bank, and for a while afterward the Gazette took a keen interest in the wondrous advances in farm practice being made in Macon.
Besides earnest gardening advice, humor cropped up here and there, such as this from April 15, 1917:
Fervid Request for “Dope” on Home Gardens
Grown desperate by facing the rising cost of “sowbelly” et al., T.H. Hale, 3516 West Tenth street, Little Rock, Ark., sent the following appeal to the Profitable Farming Bureau of the Board of Commerce for instructions on raising a home garden.
“Enclosed find stamp, for which please send to my address … the bulletin on ‘The Home Garden in the South.’
“Sowbelly at 40 cents per, chops (mostly bones) at 25 cents and all necessaries competing with the zeppelins in soaring ability, is sufficient inducement for one to try to raise something, even though it be nothing but hell, for that is about as good a term as I can think of when I break my back trying to reach the bottom of a bed of slate through the medium of a pick in an effort to persuade a radish to look at the rising sun — to say nothing about the neighbors’ chickens adding to the torments in successful efforts to resurrect the
radish, thereby adding fuel to the already hot flames.”
Here’s a different horticultural hell, from April 18:
Pigeons Ruin Gardens
Fred Parrett, 2318 West Seventh street, who is growing, or attempting to grow, a home garden, complained to the police yesterday that his chickenwire fence was ineffective for pigeons, which fly into his garden all day long to feast on the seed he plants.
That was followed by this, May 9:
May Shoot at Pigeons that Harm Gardens
Special to the Gazette. Pine Bluff, May 8. — Following the passage of an ordinance which makes it illegal for owners of chickens to let fowls run at large in the the city, the City Council has announced that home gardeners will be permitted to use their shotguns in defense of their gardens against pigeons, which are said to be doing considerable damage.
We must not imagine that pigeons were universally reviled.
Advertisements convey the going rate for Purina pigeon feed was $4.75 for 100 pounds; and small businesses had pigeons for sale in the classifieds. Gummer Squab Plant at 1217 College St. in Little Rock had “homer pigeons, $1.50 per pair; Carneaux pigeons, $3 per pair, also squabs.”
On June 4, rail agent W.G. Hopkins played a key role in a St. Louis pigeon race by releasing a shipment of 36 pigeons promptly at 11 a.m. at Beebe.
And this item landed in the Oct. 14 Gazette:
Pigeon in Long Flight
Members of the various Concourse Associations here — men devoted to the breeding and flying of homing pigeons — are much interested in the recent long distance flight undertaken by a dozen of the best birds belonging to members of the Pittsburgh association. The birds were taken to Denver, Colo., and there released for a flight to the home lofts, a distance of approximately 1,500 miles.
Fritz, a pigeon which has made a number of long distance flights for his owner, Dr. O.J. Bennett, won the race by making the trip in 11 days and five hours, after making a long detour to the north to escape the torrid heat across the Mississippi valley, as did all the birds, shortly after their release at Denver. The flight is supposed to be a record for the route, though the 1,500 miles has been covered by old birds in fewer hours, when flying from the South to the North on clear days in midsummer.
Only seven birds arrived, the last after 21 days and three hours.
“Pigeon handlers” were among the skilled recruits sought for the Army when Maj. Walton D. Hood, commander of the 312th Signal Battalion at Little Rock, announced in December 1917 that he had 200 openings.
So there were pigeon fanciers and pigeon haters, and both may have cited the war to back up their opinions. Might have … but I haven’t found evidence in the archives that anyone did.
by Ryan Ponto | May 1, 2017 | Bird Netting
With a hungry nation at war against Germany in spring 1917, the Arkansas Gazette encouraged gardening. And people gardened.
But not simply because one Little Rock newspaper said to. Many entities and agencies heard the call from Assistant U.S. Agriculture Secretary Carl Vrooman for more planting of food crops.
His “war gardens” didn’t acquire the nickname remembered today — victory gardens — until World War II, but the concept was full blown in 1917. Families should grow their own so the commercial food supply could be diverted to troops and starving allies.
Among patriotic efforts, the Cotton Belt, Iron Mountain and Rock Island railroads offered unused land along their rights-ofway to gardeners, free of charge. Iron Mountain even had its own agriculturist, one Clyde O. Carpenter, son of Perrian P. Carpenter of Little Rock. “C.O.” only rarely appeared in print as “Clyde O.,” which suggests he had a friend inside the press.
On March 23, 1917, the Gazette added a gardening advice column written by Carpenter, who also was — inhale — “agricultural commissioner of the Arkansas Profitable Farming Bureau of the Little Rock Board of Commerce.” Fred Heiskell, managing editor of the Gazette, also belonged to the profitable bureau, and the newspaper covered its doings like white on rice. Carpenter’s first advice?
Home gardeners should not be discouraged because of the recent rainy and unfavorable weather. There still is time to plant and raise all the vegetables that have been mentioned in the bulletins issued by the Board of Commerce except early peas. However, there are some late varieties of peas that may be planted. “Iron Mountain” was the nickname of the debt-ridden St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, which in May 1917 completed its merger with the no-longer bankrupt Missouri Pacific Railroad. Also in May, Carpenter left to lead the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce. He had been Iron Mountain’s farm man for six years.
Announcing his loss to Little Rock on May 13, the Gazette published an interview with a photograph. Readers saw a clean-shaven, fair-haired 30-yearold with an altar-boy sort of face and round wire glasses.
Just a year later, Carpenter left the Chamber to manage a big
cotton and ranching concern owned by Mann Land & Investment Co. on the Red River. And it wasn’t long after that he landed another new job, as farm agent for the Bank of Jonesboro.
The Gazette continued to find in him a highly quotable source on Profitable Farming Bureau affairs through early 1920, when he was hired away from Jonesboro by the Fourth National Bank of Macon, Ga.
Two other bureau stalwarts soon cut a pigeon wing (left rapidly) for that bank, and for a while afterward the Gazette took a keen interest in the wondrous advances in farm practice being made in Macon.
Besides earnest gardening advice, humor cropped up here and there, such as this from April 15, 1917:
Fervid Request for “Dope” on Home Gardens
Grown desperate by facing the rising cost of “sowbelly” et al., T.H. Hale, 3516 West Tenth street, Little Rock, Ark., sent the following appeal to the Profitable Farming Bureau of the Board of Commerce for instructions on raising a home garden.
“Enclosed find stamp, for which please send to my address … the bulletin on ‘The Home Garden in the South.’
“Sowbelly at 40 cents per, chops (mostly bones) at 25 cents and all necessaries competing with the zeppelins in soaring ability, is sufficient inducement for one to try to raise something, even though it be nothing but hell, for that is about as good a term as I can think of when I break my back trying to reach the bottom of a bed of slate through the medium of a pick in an effort to persuade a radish to look at the rising sun — to say nothing about the neighbors’ chickens adding to the torments in successful efforts to resurrect the
radish, thereby adding fuel to the already hot flames.”
Here’s a different horticultural hell, from April 18:
Pigeons Ruin Gardens
Fred Parrett, 2318 West Seventh street, who is growing, or attempting to grow, a home garden, complained to the police yesterday that his chickenwire fence was ineffective for pigeons, which fly into his garden all day long to feast on the seed he plants.
That was followed by this, May 9:
May Shoot at Pigeons that Harm Gardens
Special to the Gazette. Pine Bluff, May 8. — Following the passage of an ordinance which makes it illegal for owners of chickens to let fowls run at large in the the city, the City Council has announced that home gardeners will be permitted to use their shotguns in defense of their gardens against pigeons, which are said to be doing considerable damage.
We must not imagine that pigeons were universally reviled.
Advertisements convey the going rate for Purina pigeon feed was $4.75 for 100 pounds; and small businesses had pigeons for sale in the classifieds. Gummer Squab Plant at 1217 College St. in Little Rock had “homer pigeons, $1.50 per pair; Carneaux pigeons, $3 per pair, also squabs.”
On June 4, rail agent W.G. Hopkins played a key role in a St. Louis pigeon race by releasing a shipment of 36 pigeons promptly at 11 a.m. at Beebe.
And this item landed in the Oct. 14 Gazette:
Pigeon in Long Flight
Members of the various Concourse Associations here — men devoted to the breeding and flying of homing pigeons — are much interested in the recent long distance flight undertaken by a dozen of the best birds belonging to members of the Pittsburgh association. The birds were taken to Denver, Colo., and there released for a flight to the home lofts, a distance of approximately 1,500 miles.
Fritz, a pigeon which has made a number of long distance flights for his owner, Dr. O.J. Bennett, won the race by making the trip in 11 days and five hours, after making a long detour to the north to escape the torrid heat across the Mississippi valley, as did all the birds, shortly after their release at Denver. The flight is supposed to be a record for the route, though the 1,500 miles has been covered by old birds in fewer hours, when flying from the South to the North on clear days in midsummer.
Only seven birds arrived, the last after 21 days and three hours.
“Pigeon handlers” were among the skilled recruits sought for the Army when Maj. Walton D. Hood, commander of the 312th Signal Battalion at Little Rock, announced in December 1917 that he had 200 openings.
So there were pigeon fanciers and pigeon haters, and both may have cited the war to back up their opinions. Might have … but I haven’t found evidence in the archives that anyone did.
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 | Apr 30, 2017 | Bird Netting
The Amarillo Racing Pigeon Club and the American Racing Pigeon Union co-hosted the Homing Pigeon Expo on April 15.
Dina Navarro won the grand prize drawing at the event, while Steve Shennum got the first prize drawing at the event at Ranchers Supply, 8048 River Road.
Several racing pigeons were on display, and attendees were able to send a message via homing pigeon.
The event was designed to help educate the public about racing homing pigeons.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Ryan Ponto | Apr 29, 2017 | Bird Netting
A REPORT detailing new figures from Bathurst’s Pest Bird Management Strategy has left councillors calling for more to be done to eradicate pigeons from the city.
Councillor Bobby Bourke, who has long campaigned for the removal of pigeons from the central business district, said the figures were pleasing, but could be better.
Figures in a report put together by the director of environmental planning and building services revealed that a total of 2108 pigeons had been removed from the CBD since March 2013.
Their removal was the result of two different methods, trapping and contract shooting.
Bathurst Regional Council has also installed ‘Don’t feed pigeons’ signs in Machattie Park, installed exclusion mesh and spikes, sold nest boxes to members of the public and produced a Backyards for Wildlife booklet as part of the strategy.
While there is no accurate figure CBD’s pigeon population prior to the adoption of the strategy, Cr Bourke said it was likely significantly more than how many have been removed.
“I think if we did have an accurate figure, 2000 is very low and we have to keep on going with this pigeon control and we need to eradicate them to whatever extent we can do it,” he said.
Cr Bourke praised staff for working on cleaning up areas that have been defecated on by pigeons, but said that it needed to be done more frequently to keep the CBD looking good.
He also said more attention had to be paid to the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum, where some of the worst pigeon-related damage has been seen.
It was a point Cr Monica Morse could agree with, and she took it further by asking council to look into preparing a report on the damage that has been sustained at the museum.
“I don’t know whether there has ever been a report into the damage that has been done, but it is significant,” she said.
Cr Morse also said there should be a cost benefit analysis prepared on the Pest Bird Management Strategy overall to see how much money has been spent on the selected methods to eradicate pigeons.
According to the report to council, the most effective methods have been shooting, trapping and exclusion devices.
Options that council is considering for the future are birth control, which has yet to be approved in Australia, and distress callers.
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 | Apr 28, 2017 | Bird Netting
Green Party campaigners want a rail operator to take responsibility for pigeon poo ‘raining down’ from a railway bridge in Old Town.
Netting, to prevent pigeons from perching and nesting, was taken down from underneath the bridge at the junction of High Street and Clemens Street in 2015.
But campaigners are having trouble getting Network Rail to replace the netting and then maintain it.
Shopkeeper David Jordan, who has been campaigning for the operator to problem, said: “No one wants to take responsibility for the problem.
“It was very shortsighted to remove the old netting without having thought about what would happen when the pigeons returned to the bridge. On a wet day it can be quite hazardous to walk on the affected pavement, let alone what it looks like“.
Warwick District Council’s legal department has confirmed that Section 74 of the Public Health Act 1961 states that the authority has the power to stop such pigeon nuisance and case law indicates that with a bridge owned by a rail company, the company must pay for this.
Martin Luckhurst, of the area’s Green Party group, thanked the council’s team for providing evidence that Network Rail are responsible and said: “If this pigeon poo problem was affecting the suits of senior managers at Network Rail, it would have been sorted out by now.
“My message to them is ‘we’re not giving up until this is fixed. It’s time for you to accept responsibility and take action’.”
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 | Apr 27, 2017 | Bird Netting
The first race of the season for Grantham and District North Road Racing Pigeon Club was won by Mr and Mrs D. Dixon, of Wilsford, whose birds were the first two to return home.
Race sponsors were Bev and Ian Doughty. Results: 1 Mr & Mrs D. Dixon 1518.9, 2 Mr & Mrs D. Dixon 1517.1, 3 J. Norris 1476.6, 4 J. Norris 1476.3, 5 T. Ballaam 1459.7, 6 D. Fowler & son 1459.6, 7 J. Norris 1453.9, 8 J. Norris 1445.1, 9 D. Fowler & son 1438.2, 10 D. Gilbert 1426.3.
l Grantham United’s second race of the season was won again by J. Ramm whose birds came home first, second and fourth for the second successive week.
Ten members sent 191 birds from Bedhampton.
Results: 1 J. Ramm 1311, 2 J. Ramm 1311, 3 D. Parker & son & Rogerson 1294, 4 J. Ramm 1292, 5 Mr and Mrs L. Gilbert 1278, 6 D. Parker & son & Rogerson 1276, 7 C. Creighton 1244, 8 A. J. Gillbard 1225, 9 J. Ablitt 1208, 10 H. Walker 1190, 11 K. Hollingsworth 1107, 12 G. Jones 1040.
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 | Apr 26, 2017 | Bird Netting
In times gone by white doves or pigeons were often viewed as traditional symbols or messengers of peace and pacifism, but, in the new millennium, when technological advances are being made in minutes, days, months and years, one would not have expected a bird to come across from Pakistan with a message of sorts imprinted under one of its wings.
New Delhi [India], April 25 (ANI): In times gone by white doves or pigeons were often viewed as traditional symbols or messengers of peace and pacifism, but, in the new millennium, when technological advances are being made in minutes, days, months and years, one would not have expected a bird to come across from Pakistan with a message of sorts imprinted under one of its wings.
This is exactly what happened at the border out post (BOP) Babalianwala on the Rajasthan-Sindh border on Tuesday, when a white-colored pigeon landed from the Pakistan side at 7.55 a.m. and sat on a barrel of LMG for about five minutes before being caught by Border Security Force (BSF) border patrol personnel posted there.
Acting on the orders of commanding officer of the 135th Battalion of the BSF, B.K. Sharma, BSF personnel Sunil Pathania and Sarad Yadav examined the pigeon and found the serial number 03023633 written on its tail.
A similar incident was reported on January 13, 2017 at Samathewala. At that time too, a pigeon was nabbed and was found to have a metallic ring with the tag number 021JEET-KPK on its right leg.
The use of a dove or a pigeon and an olive branch as a symbol of peace originated with the early Christians. These birds often appear in political cartoons, on banners and signs at events promoting peace such as the Olympic Games, or at various anti-war or anti-violence protests, etc.), as also in pacifist literature.
A person who is a pacifist is sometimes referred to as a dove, while a person opposed to diplomacy can be referred to as a hawk, but when it comes to relations between India and Pakistan, a bird being regarded as a messenger of peace is a far-fetched notion, and can only be viewed with suspicion and distrust.(ANI)
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 | Apr 25, 2017 | Bird Netting
Is it just me or does anyone else walk around London wondering why the heck we never see baby pigeons? No…just me? It can’t be just me. Pigeons are everywhere, but where on earth are the little baby pigeons?? Well my pigeon -oving friends, there is an explanation for this.
Basically, the pigeons we see flying around the city fighting for our food are feral pigeons originally bred from wild rock droves that breed nearby sea cliffs and mountains around Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. So, these little (some sometimes big) like to nest in tall buildings, like they would nest in tall trees back home.
This means we never see baby pigeons because they’re too busy enjoying living the high life up in their high high nests. It normally takes them around 25-32 days to leave their nests, and by then they’re normally fully grown. So nada babies for us! They don’t even grow feathers until they can leave the nest, so it’s probably a good thing as a naked pigeon would be even weirder than a grown one.
If you do happen to spot a little one that’s tried to fly the nest before he, or she is big enough – make a makeshift nest for them or take them to a wildlife rehabilitator. SAVE THE BABY. That’s enough pigeon chat.
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 | Apr 24, 2017 | Bird Netting
PEDESTRIANS risk being covered in pigeon poo every time they walk under the High Street railway bridge in Leamington’s Old Town.
Netting used to be fitted under the bridge in a bid to stop the birds nesting, but it was taken down in 2015 following complaints about them becoming trapped and dying.
But the Green Party and local shopkeepers are now calling on Network Rail – who they say are responsible for the issue – to reinstate the netting and keep it maintained.
Shopkeeper David Jordan, who owns Jordans which sits directly under the bridge, said: “No one wants to take responsibility for the problem.
“It was very short-sighted to remove the old netting without having thought about what would happen when the pigeons returned to the bridge. On a wet day it can be quite hazardous to walk on the affected pavement – let alone what it looks like.“
And Green Party campaigner Martin Luckhurst says they will continue to appeal to Network Rail until the issue is resolved.
He said: “We’re not giving up until this is fixed. It’s time for Network Rail to accept responsibility and take action.”
Pigeons have long been a problem in Old Town.
An attempt to resolve the issue came in 2007 AND saw £10,000 ‘luxury coop’ installed on Court Street car park in a bid to entice them away from the area’s bridges.
It was removed a few years later following complaints from residents it was attracting rats.
Network Rail had not responded to our request for a comment at the time of going to press.
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 | Apr 23, 2017 | Bird Netting
Members of the Newport Planning Commission met Tuesday and approved the site plan for a boat launch and 16’x 16’ float pavilion on the Pigeon River.
The site is planned for just west of the railroad trestle.
Codes Officer Mark Robinson said the owners of a new distillery on West Main Street hope to erect a neon sign on the roof of the operation, in an effort to attract tourists. He said such a move would require Planning Commission approval.
The body also is considering a resolution for the city council’s consideration, which would require sidewalks in front of new businesses on the Highway 25/70 and Highway 321 commercial corridors.
City Planner Gary Carver asked the body for its feedback on the issue of requiring a grass strip along the roadways to the west and south of Newport, to separate the roadway from the sidewalk.
There is concern that there may be hesitancy on the part of pedestrians if they are placed close to speeding vehicles. A grass strip would provide a buffer, but also would require upkeep.
Another question being considered has to do with the issue of making the sidewalks available to bicyclists.
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 | Apr 22, 2017 | Bird Netting
It all began at the ripe age of 6.
Even then, Charles Morgan knew his interest in pigeons was more than just a flight of fancy.
“I lived in Chelsea and neighbors had pigeons in the eaves of their house,” he said. “My best friend and I caught a few of these and kept them for pets.”
His fascination with the birds became a full-fledged passion when his father, an engineer, transferred the family to Texas for work. Soon after the move, Morgan caught a lucky break when he discovered his neighbor down the street had pigeons and doves. At only 10 years old, he saved enough money to build his own pigeon loft. After that, there was no looking back.
Except for a 10-year stint in the Army, Morgan, now 74, has owned pigeons since his start in Texas. It was not until the ’60s that he began to race them, however.
“They’re just like athletes,” he said.
He has a point.
During the races, pigeons fly anywhere from 100 to 600 miles before returning to their home base. With such immense physical feats required of the birds, Morgan trains them multiple times per week.
Morgan, a retired New York State Department of Transportation worker who lives in Rhinebeck with his wife Leslie, 61, has come a long way since his 10-year-old loft-building days. His handyman skills helped him to build not one, but seven lofts for his winged friends.
“They know which loft to go in,” he said. “They fly home, they land on the loft, and they walk very quickly right in the door.”
“I say ‘incoming’ when I see one coming in,” Leslie Morgan said. Over the course of their 24-year relationship, she has become nearly as invested in the birds as he is.
“He spends more time with the birds than with me,” she said, semi-jokingly.
With the number of factors involved in raising pigeons, the fact that Morgan spends three hours per day at the lofts is no surprise. In addition to making sure that no predators approach the housing, he also mixes his own feed for the birds, checks to see if any of them are sick and provides medication when needed.
Morgan’s pigeons are some of the best-kept birds around, which is why he races them regularly with the Northern Catskill Pigeon Club. Although he also used to show pigeons professionally, he said he prefers the athleticism that underlines the races. On race days, he transports his fastest flyers to a predetermined release site. The competing birds, which have had computer tracking chips in their legs since they were 5 days old, are placed in a special truck to ensure a simultaneous release.
When the birds return home, their unique chips are scanned to determine their race time down to the second.
“It’s an exact science,” Morgan said.
While racing pigeons remains one of his preferred activities, he also relies upon his feathered flock to bring joy to others. Together, he and his wife run Wings and Memories, a white bird release business. Morgan is quick to point out that the birds used for releases are pigeons, not doves, since doves do not have the same uncanny sense of direction.
“We let the birds go at weddings and funerals,” he said. “We do a lot of support for autism walks, suicide prevention and local causes.”
They work with charities such as March of Dimes and Relay for Cancer in addition to their standard slew of weddings, funerals and even gender reveal parties.
Through the business, Morgan has also worked with a number of brands on photo shoots and commercials. Members of his flock have been featured on everything from a Maybelline Cosmetics and a Prudential commercial, respectively, to a photo shoot with Bride Magazine and the December 2016 cover of Real Simple Magazine.
Morgan recalls kidding around with the photographers at one of the shoots. He jokingly told his birds to stay put, a command which others thought was in earnest.
“I would herd the birds back in a crate” whenever the crew needed to make an adjustment to the scene, he said. “Once I walked away and said ‘stay’ (to the birds) and one of the photographers went ‘wow.’”
Although his talents with the feathered fleet may not be that extensive, his devotion to them is unparalleled. Leslie Morgan recalled a touching moment when Morgan braved the elements to rescue one of his younger birds from an impending storm.
“We had a baby that got discombobulated and landed on the shed near the loft,” she said. Because the birds will not fly at night in the dark, the little one remained glued to the roof even as the clouds approached.
Seeing this, Morgan “gets out a ladder in the dark with a storm coming. As it’s starting to rain, he’s climbing up there to pick up the little bird and make sure it’s OK. They’re all part of the family, and he makes sure everyone’s OK,” she said.
Morgan wholeheartedly agreed. He and his wife may have a fully grown human brood, with two sons, a daughter, and a number of sisters and brothers in the area, but their pigeons are part of the family as well.
“They’re just something I grew up with,” he said. “The pigeons amaze me. You can take them hundreds of miles away and they will still return home.”
Home is where the heart is, after all.
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 | Apr 21, 2017 | Bird Netting
We join Ian Harford as he sets out for a day on the pigeons.
It’s a beautiful although slightly overcast morning as we set ourselves up for a day on the pigeons.
Start of pigeon season, and my first day shooting since the end of last game shooting season; so we have our fingers crossed for a good day.
First off, we need to get set up in a hide. It’s important to set out early, so you get your hide placed and built before the pigeons come out from roost.
Using nets and poles will give you a good base of a blind to work from and helps if you dress it with any fallen and broken branches and brashing to offer more natural surroundings when the pigeons hopefully fall into your decoy pattern.
Placing your blind under a tree that has some bare branches early in the season will make it a good sitting tree. Offering clear spaces for a clear shot free from hanging foliage.
Most of the decoys in our pattern are around 15-25 yards out in front of us so shooting should be reasonably straightforward.
There’s a pretty brisk wind this morning, so as the birds are coming over us they will have the wind in their wings so there will be some speed there, which we need to account for!
Realtree Max-5 is a great all round Pigeon Shooting pattern whether it’s for early pigeons, or well into the spring and summer. It has a lot to offer with the dark background for early season and the green elements work well for the early spring. The Max-5 offers incredible detail; each pattern has been strategically placed to create super-realistic tone, contrast and shadow.
When you appear from behind your blind it is important to be camouflagued to blend in with the surroundings so that your pigeons continue to come into your pattern. Having a great white silhouette appearing out of your blind every so often when you go to shoot will deter the pigeons to another spot, and you don’t want your neighbour to get your shooting!
Pigeon Shooting provides a fantastic days sport and normally is a great help to the farmer in maintaining the crops. It’s remained overcast for the duration of our day but didn’t alter our opportunity. The wind was pretty strong all day.
Interesting thing about today, was the way the pattern attracted the birds. Some of them came right in, and others came into the centre and hovered before landing, they didn’t want to come into the pattern. Something about it just seemed to spook them. That enabled us to take quite a few long shots but as you may know, those are not always quite as successful as bringing the birds into the pattern and shooting them at 15-20 yards.
However, some of those shots around the pattern were spectacular. I managed to bag 23, although there are a lot more empty cartridges on the floor! That’s half the fun of this sport.
It feels great when you make a good shot and the bird comes down, but equally it has to be sporting. The 23 pigeons I shot today won’t really see a big dent in the population around our shooting area, there really are a lot of birds and my guide knows exactly where to find them.
If it is not your area that you are shooting and you have been invited on a day it really is important to find out the key facts of the ground. What time do they start to move? Which direction do they generally come from? Do they favour a particular flight path? And what kind of pattern did they use on this ground before to bring the birds in?
Equally if it is your own ground, it is important to do a reconnaissance beforehand. Watch the ground on similar days to that you’ll be shooting on, make some notes for certain times of the day and plan your day in advance.
Today has been a truly wonderful day in the field. Great countryside, fantastic views and great shooting sport.
Now the hard bit, the tidying up! Packing away decoys, nets and blinds, picking up the cartridges, putting back the branches and brashings and making sure any rubbish is taken home.
And finally, picking up the carcasses and taking them home for tea!
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)
