by Ryan Ponto | Sep 20, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services, UltraSonic Bird Control
An inventor from Houston, Texas, has a passion for solving problems, and a serious problem is keeping cats secure during surgery recovery. They need to be restrained so they don’t injure themselves or others, but their stress needs to be minimal. Cats are usually wrapped in towels for this purpose, but this method is inadequate and often results in cats running loose.
“As a concerned and dedicated animal-protection volunteer, I’d like to offer veterinarians, veterinary technicians and cat owners a better restraint method,” the inventor said. She has designed and created a prototype of her idea.
The patent-pending Kat Wrap allows for the safe, comfortable restraint of a cat while it’s in surgery recovery. It minimizes stress, promotes calmness and maintains warmth. It also prevents self-injury and injury of others, as well as makes it easier for one person to monitor up to seven cats at one time. In addition, the wrap can be used while clipping the cat’s claws.
Producible in different sizes and colors, as well as versions for other animals (such as rabbits), Kat Wrap is a must for anyone who cares for both the safety and well-being of animals. “As a concerned and dedicated animal-protection volunteer, I’d like to offer veterinarians, veterinary technicians and cat owners a better restraint method,” the inventor added, “and I’d like to donate at least 10% of any profits to animal-protection causes and shelters if my idea succeeds.”
The original design was submitted to the Houston office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 15-HUN-179, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368.
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 | Sep 19, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Spikes
The Carthage Humane Society is currently experiencing an “MFO” at its Dog Kennel Road location south of town.
MFO, you ask?
Yep — maximum feline overload.
Jasper County has always had a feral cat problem — just ask any of our local animal control officers about it. Though they do what they can to save these little guys, it’s like plugging a hole in the Hoover Dam with a wad of chewing gum.
Thomas Jay and Mari Sipeer, both with the CHS, are doing everything they can to stay above the fray.
“At the moment, we’ve got about 90 cats in the system,” said Jay. The cats and kittens are scattered between the shelter, a number of area foster homes and the fine folks at the Joplin PetSmart. “We are definitely full here.”
A large majority of the cats inside the shelter are strays, many of them transported to the shelter either by the city’s animal control officer or warm-hearted residents.
“We’ve got a very large feral cat population,” added Sipeer, who’s affectionately known throughout the CHS building as the ‘Cat Lady.’ “They run loose, they breed, they have kittens, people bring them in and we fill up fast.”
In fact: “After four years, I can still remember cats who were here when I came (to CHS), but right now, I’m just doing good to remember all their names.”
Yep, it’s a busy time.
Luckily, the kittens go pretty quickly. After all, the public does love a sweet-faced kitten. In fact, Jay said one of the stray kittens found inside the CHS lobby has already been adopted out to a special person — the very same Carthage animal control officer who brought him to the shelter in the first place.
“He wanted that kitten,” Sipeer said with a smile.
“It does happen once in a while,” added Jay, “that the officer sees an animal that he wants to adopt.”
Sipeer said something similar happened last year when the driver of a rescue wagon began doting on a rescued kitten and decided he just had to have the little fur ball.
“There’s just a little spark that happens between them,” she said.
Most of the cats currently found inside the shelter are strays, Sipeer said, including the two cats I’ll be highlighting in this week’s column. To better illustrate the stray cat problem, the first cat (Caviar) came to the shelter on Sept. 22. The second cat (Cheesecake) came to the shelter on Sept. 23. Both were picked up at opposite ends of town.
Cheesecake is a 1-year-old female. Caviar is a bit younger, sitting at 8 months. Obviously, Sipeer must have had food on her mind when she got around to naming these two young girls.
“I was going down the food list in our name book,” Sipeer said, chuckling. “Somewhere around here is a cat named Chun King. Earlier, I did the liquor names. Over here,” she said, pointing to a sleeping male cat, “is Bahama” — named, I assume, after the Bahama rum. “In most cases, I name the cats.”
Cheesecake is a large, long-haired female with a bit of Maine Coon in her, illustrated by the tufts of hair found sticking from her ears. She also has striking green eyes.
“She’s such a sweet girl,” Sipeer said of Cheesecake. “She’s very cuddly, and she loves to purr and snuggle. She just has a very loving personality.”
Caviar is a bit less outgoing, Sipeer said, though just as affectionate as any other CHS cat. “She’s never given me any problems,” she said of Caviar, as the short-haired cat with black and white markings on her face and body cuddled against Sipeer’s shoulder.
“All my cats here are very good.”
To open your home to Caviar, Cheesecake or any other stray cat or kitten found at this no-kill shelter, visit the Carthage Humane Society at 13860 Dog Kennel Lane, call the shelter at 417-358-6402 or check out the shelter’s Facebook page.
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 | Sep 17, 2016 | Bird Netting
The problem of feral cats on Bowen waxes and wanes. Feral cats are intact cats, meaning that they breed. They breed fast, they interbreed, and they breed with family cats that are still intact and allowed to roam free. Intact cats fight with other cats for food, for territory, for shelter. Mostly they do not stay in one place. The male feral cats leave to copulate in other territories and spread their genes. The females leave with their family units to find other territories. In a small community like Bowen, they end up being nuisance cats and cause all kinds of problems.
Intact feral cats that wander, as well as cats that are not properly cared for, are more prone to infectious diseases such as Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV), Feline Upper Respiratory Disease, and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV). These are horrible diseases and they are easily spread amongst the feline population.
By contrast, healthy, spayed/neutered barn cats who are well fed and have warm, safe shelter are extremely likely to stay put and take care of the vermin problems on the farm or in the stables. Their very presence can deter small critters and most (but not all) will catch and kill rats and mice.
Feral cats typically inbreed, which is very bad for the cats. Inbred cats don’t live long and have more health problems, especially heart disease. And if they are having kittens at just six months old, it stunts the growth. Signs of excessive inbreeding include small litter sizes (i.e. one or two kittens), crooked noses, misaligned jaws, and abnormal eye set.
Sixteen years ago, Bowen had a major problem with feral cats. That’s one of the reasons why C.A.W.E.S. (Coast Animal Welfare & Education Society) came into being in 2000. Because of the vigilance and hard work of many C.A.W.E.S. volunteers over the years, feline infectious disease on Bowen is almost non-existent. The work involved setting up feeding stations to trap the feral cats and then getting them spayed/neutered before releasing them. Some volunteers have given hundreds of hours to tending the feeding stations and trapping the feral cats. BC SPCA is well aware of the problems caused by feral cats and has given support to this work, as has the Municipality. Bowen’s vet, Dr. Westcott, told me that he has noticed a significant decline in the feral population on Bowen Island and attributes this to the persistence and hard work of the C.A.W.E.S. volunteers. He can’t stress enough the importance of spaying and neutering all cats to prevent over-population as well prevention of certain diseases and maintaining individual and herd health.
Particular signs of inbreeding among the Bowen feral cat population were feet with five or six toes and short, misshapen tails, which were dubbed “the Bowen tail”. These tails occurred on about 50% of the cats caught at that time. Many of the cats were already infected with FIV, which means they could easily have been spreading the disease throughout the entire feline population on Bowen.
Sadly, in the past two or three years C.A.W.E.S. has once again started to receive lots of reports of feral cats. These cats don’t come out of nowhere. The only possible conclusion is that there are members of the Bowen community who have intact cats that are allowed to roam free. When female cats leave with their offspring, probably only half of the litter will survive. There have been several reports in the past two years of kittens found dead or dying, which is a clue that inbreeding is taking place and that the momma cats are too young to take proper care of their kittens.
Currently, on Bowen, there is no limitation on the number of cats that a farm owner or anybody else can adopt. Sterilized cats live longer. A good-sized group of sterilized, healthy cats will take care of the vermin problem on a farm for fifteen to twenty years. In fact, there are cats at the original C.A.W.E.S. feeding station (cats who were sterilized many years ago but never found a human family) who are still alive and kicking at sixteen or seventeen years old – and still catching rats and leaving little “gifts” for the volunteers!
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 | Sep 16, 2016 | Pigeon Spikes, UltraSonic Bird Control
Operations staff at the Owen Roberts International Airport are using new equipment – a fogger – to reduce the number of bird at the airport.
According to a statement issued by the Cayman Islands Airports Authority Tuesday, its Operations Department in collaboration with the Safety Office, is now using “an environmentally safe device” to keep the birds away.
The fogger “deploys a light haze of bird repellent that irritates the bird’s mucous membrane,” the Airports Authority officials said.
“The effect doesn’t harm the bird, however, it does create an unpleasant sensation which causes the bird to leave the area,” the statement continued.
Cayman Islands Airports Authority Chief Safety Officer Andrew McLaughlin said the measure had been put in place because bird strikes are a big issue for airports, so “it’s important that we do everything we can to keep birds and other wildlife away from the aerodrome.”
He added, “We are once again in the middle of a very busy bird season, and I am pleased with the way the fogger has been working so far. The fog is harmless and many motorists may also notice a very fragrant grape scent coming from the area where the fogger is located, since it consists of a substance used in flavoring many types of food.”
The Airports Authority is also urging members of the public to do their part in keeping the airport area clear of wildlife by covering trash cans, picking up garbage and not feeding the birds in the areas surrounding the airport.
A Wildlife Hazard Working Group meeting will be held on Monday, Nov. 28 to alert the public to methods the airports authority is using to mitigate wildlife.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Ryan Ponto | Sep 15, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting
KANAZAWA, ISHIKAWA PREF. – A falcon takes off in a flurry of motion from the arm of a falconer at Kanazawa Station in Ishikawa Prefecture as tourists stand enthralled.
Surrounding landmarks such as Tsuzumi-mon, a wooden gate in the motif of traditional Japanese hand drums, and a modern glass dome named Motenashi, after the word for hospitality, provide a compelling backdrop for the remarkable exhibition.
Set amid such conspicuous structures, its small wonder that Kanazawa Station was recently lauded for its beauty by a U.S. travel magazine.
“Cool!” one spectator cheered. “Impressive!” commented another.
Though it has all the trappings of a tourist attraction, the avian display is actually driven by a crucial mission: keeping pigeons, and their regular aerial bombardments, away from the station.
Pigeon droppings had been a source of concern for city officials since the dome, which was completed in 2004, was in its design stage. From around 2008, local pigeons began using it to shelter from inclement weather as well as from their enemies. For a city that hosts one of the world’s most beautiful train stations, this was a serious concern.
At first, the city tried nets, then wires and pigeon repellent — all to little effect. Their droppings, meanwhile, continued to sully the buildings and were the scourge of tourists.
In dire straits, a section chief at the city government’s road management department, Masahiro Fujita, consulted with a bird control company managed by a falconer in an attempt to get a handle on the situation. The grand opening of the extended Hokuriku Shinkansen Line was not far off.
From June 2015, trained falcons began to circle Kanazawa Station twice a week, and after two months, the area’s roughly 100 pigeons had disappeared. Each day of patrolling costs ¥30,000, and the city set aside nearly ¥500,000 for the campaign under its budget for the current fiscal year to March 2017.
“No large-scale construction work is needed. It only involves one person and a falcon,” Fujita said, emphasizing the method’s cost efficiency.
To the delight of the local tourism industry, the falconry also proved a hit with visitors to the city of Kanazawa, which is an old castle town.
The falconry is also attracting attention from overseas visitors. Falconer Takayuki Yoshida was questioned and photographed so much that he set up a signboard with an explanation in Japanese and English.
“I like it. It goes well with the atmosphere of the station,” said Satoru Kawauchi, a 36-year-old visitor from Tokyo who watched the patrol.
According to the Japanese Falconers’ Association, a nonprofit organization, falcons have come to carry out a wide range of assignments, including tackling problems with wild bird droppings at factories and reducing the number of aircraft bird strikes. Some falconers have started businesses, an association official 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 | Sep 14, 2016 | Bird Netting, Pigeon Spikes
Last week, WIRES rescued an eastern brown snake that had been trapped in netting left on the floor of a garden workshop.
Two snake handlers were required to complete the task, one to hold the head and body of the snake and one to cut the mesh away. Fortunately the snake suffered only minor injury and will be released after some time in care.
Native animals, increasingly displaced from their natural habitat by tree clearing and extreme weather, are resorting to flowering and fruiting trees in our gardens. Tree netting is a popular way to protect fruit from wildlife, but the wrong type can be deadly.
Every year thousands of animals are injured in inappropriate backyard netting or discarded netting. It entangles birds, lizards, snakes, bats and the occasional possum. Hungry animals are easily caught in ‘bird netting’, which has a mesh size greater than 1cm square. Wildlife friendly netting should have a mesh size of less than 5mm. A quick test: If you can poke your finger through the netting space, the mesh size is too big.
If you are using netting in your garden, make sure it is the wildlife friendly type and that it is installed in a way that wildlife do not become entangled. The mesh should be white and have holes smaller than 5mm. There are three wildlife friendly brands of netting: Fruitsaver, Hailguard and Vegenet. Ideally the netting should be tightened over a frame which is clear of the foliage. Netting should be gathered and tied at the base of the tree or drawn tightly to the ground and pegged so that no wildlife can get underneath.
Netting should always be stored in closed bags and disposed of carefully. For further tips, search for ‘wildlife friendly netting’ or have a look at WIRES’ fact sheets on wildlife friendly fencing and wildlife friendly netting.
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 | Sep 13, 2016 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Pigeon Patrol's Services
Two snakes whose writhing encounter in ferny undergrowth at Kembla Heights was captured on video have heralded the start of reptile season.
LET’S DANCE: Two snakes intertwine in a curious scene from amateur video captured at Kembla Heights.
Rachel White noticed the intertwined pair near her Kembla Heights home and posted video of the action as a warning.
WIRES Illawarra reptile co-ordinator Hugh Marriott said the video appeared to show two males locked in combat.
ENSSSNARED: A red-bellied black snake found trapped in bird netting at Kiama makes its displeasure known. Picture: supplied
“They may be trying to force the other into submission, so they can get access to the females that are around,” Mr Marriott said.
But a male-female interaction, akin to foreplay, could not be ruled out.
“If they’re intertwined, not actually biting each other, that’s normally a mating stance,” Mr Marriott said.
“You’ve got to be up close and personal to see that [mating] activity taking place at the end of their tails.”
A snake’s reproductive equipment is located in its cloaca cavity, towards the tip of its tail.
Area reptile handlers have come under increasing demand as recent warmer weather causes snakes, lizards and turtles to end their hibernation.
“We’re coming into that really high-activity period for reptiles, where they’ll stick their heads out looking for food, shelter and a mate,” Mr Marriott said. “We’re fielding calls left, right and centre.”
“Having a pond in your backyard will bring in reptiles because they’re looking for food. They’re attracted to what we provide around our homes.
“Keeping your yard clear of rubbish and having the grass mowed and clear is a good idea.
“If you back onto a bit of bushland or reserve, you’re bound to have visitors who will come into your garden.”
Red-bellied black snakes, diamond pythons and “three or four species that people often mistake for an eastern brown snake” are common in the Illawarra. The region is also home to some small-eyed snakes, golden crowned snakes, black-bellied swamp snakes and tiger snakes.
”They’ve all got to be treated as venomous until proven otherwise,” Mr Marriott said.
“The best action to take is to observe from a distance.
“Never approach or try to kill or capture them, because 90 per cent of people get bitten if they try any of those actions.”
Snake activity can remain high until the end of April, when reptiles will start to bunker down for the winter.
Mr Marriott traveled to Hothersal Street, Kiama on Thursday afternoon to tend to a 1.3-metre red-bellied black snake that had become ensnared in bird netting.
He found the creature healthy and highly agitated. It was eventually freed in Albion Park, with the help of a wildlife rescue volunteer.
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 | Sep 12, 2016 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Pigeon Patrol's Services
DEAR JOAN: We hope you can advise us on a problem. We live in the city and have a metal, flat roof garden building that raccoons or opossums are using as a bathroom.
We also have a small wood utility shed — seldom used — that rats now call home. We have trapped some but in a few weeks, more move in. Any suggestions for a permanent fix on either problem, or is there one?
Lou Cobb, Livermore
DEAR LOU: The problem on your shed is likely raccoons. For some reason, they like creating latrines up off the ground.
It doesn’t really matter which one is doing it — either way, the stuff is toxic and you should be careful when removing it.
Wear gloves and a respirator, and bag up the poop for the garbage. To keep them off, try taking some coffee cans — do they even make those anymore? — or some sort of container. Punch several holes in the side of the container and put some rags soaked in amonia inside, then put the lid on. Set these on top of the roof.
As for the rats, people get very determined to kill them, but as you have experienced, there are plenty of others to take their place. You need to find where they are getting into the shed and then patch holes and block entrances.
Because the shed is wooden, it might be more difficult to keep them from chewing their way in. If that’s happening, consider putting siding or even metal flashing on the building to stop the gnawing.
You should also take a look at your yard and remove anything that makes it attractive to critters, including pet food left out over night, water bowls and heavy ground covers, especially ivy. Keeping them out of your yard is the first step to keeping them out of your shed and off your roof.
DEAR JOAN: I so enjoy your column but was quite dismayed today to see the letter from about using bird netting to stop skunks from digging.
I do hope the writer is using the wildlife-friendly netting instead of the standard netting that is available in most hardware stores. That type of netting can be deadly to to our local wildlife: birds, lizards, snakes and even bats can get tangled in the netting and are unable to escape, often injuring themselves.
At Lindsay Wildlife Experience, the aquatic garter snake, Ribbon, was a victim of that kind of netting. Some of his ribs were broken, making it impossible for him to survive in the wild. He serves as an animal ambassador, allowing our exhibit hall interpreters to tell his story so more people are aware of the dangers of standard garden netting.
I am writing as a concerned citizen and not as a representative of Lindsay Wildlife, although I do volunteer there and appreciate the opportunity to tell Ribbon’s story.
Marni Berendsen, Bay Area
DEAR MARNI: I was aware of the dangers of monofilament bird netting, but I didn’t think about it being a concern lying flat on the ground. But you are, of course, correct.
Creatures can become tangled in the netting, and if they are unable to free themselves, they can starve to death. They also can cut their mouths trying to chew through it, and break bones, as was the case with Ribbon, in their attempts at escape.
If you’re planning to use netting to protect trees, gardens or as a cover on lawns to prevent creatures from digging for grubs, look for types certified as wildlife safe.
Thanks for the reminder, Marni .
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 | Sep 11, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services
So much so, that any gulls in the area scatter in fear as soon as they get a glimpse of the black and white falcon.
“It’s all about the balance of nature,” said Everett, a falconer with Falcon Environmental Services.
“He’s a natural predator and the seagulls know that. When they see him, this area becomes unattractive to them.”
Hornblower Niagara Cruises has contracted services from Falcon Environmental Services for the past two years after it added food and beverage services to its lower deck along the Niagara River.
“Wherever you have an attraction, there’s typically gulls that follow the folks around follow the food and they can make quite the mess,” said Mory DiMaurizo.
When Hornblower first launched ed its food and beverage services, they also installed signs asking guests to not feed the birds.
When the pesky gulls continued to gather en masse on the deck area, staff looked for another solution to discourage the winged intruders and birds of prey have proven to be a highly effective yet non-invasive method of seagull control.
Bullet, a 10-year-old hybrid of a Saker falcon and a gyrfalcon, never has to leave his handler’s side. His presence alone is enough to deter the gulls.
“The birds don’t fly, he’s used as a deterrent and it’s 100 per cent effective,” DeMaurizo said. “The bird is there to create a bubble of awareness around us so that the gulls know this is not an area they want to go in.”
Everett and his raptor companion are also a hit with guests, who are eager to find out why they’re spending time at a tourist attraction.
“I’ve met some incredibly interesting people from all over the world,” he said. “I bet Bullet’s photo is on a lot of Facebook pages.”
DiMaurizo said the duo has been especially popular with international tourists.
“In the Middle East and Asia, falconry is a huge sport that many people are interested in.”
Based out of Alexandria, Ont., Falcon Environmental Services also provides bird control at several Canadian military bases as well as a number of landfill sites in New Jersey.
It has been in charge of wildlife management at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport for almost 20 years.
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 | Sep 10, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting
Dustin A. Duffy, 28, of San Angelo, was arrested on multiple charges after he ran from San Angelo Police Sunday evening, according to a news release.
Police were dispatched to the 3200 block of Guadalupe Street around 6:40 p.m. for the report of unwanted subjects on church property, according to the release. When officers arrived, Duffy, ran from police and jumped a fence at a residence in the 3200 block of San Antonio Street. Officers pursued and watched Duffy jump another fence into a neighboring backyard, according to the San Angelo Police Department.
Duffy was located hiding in a backyard next to a shed. He was taken into custody without incident, according to SAPD. Duffy was charged with two counts of criminal trespass, evading arrest detention with prior conviction, possession of controlled substance Penalty Group 3, and an outstanding parole violation warrant. He was transported to the Tom Green County Jail without incident.
The second subject, a 31-year-old San Angelo man, was cooperative and released from the scene, according to SAPD.
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 Pigeon Patrol | Sep 9, 2016 | Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services
Summary: “Some Noida residents say that they have had to make tough lifestyle choices just to keep the pigeons at bay. “Residents say that pigeons are almost omnipresent in Noida, and the windowsills and air conditioners in high-rises are their preferred locations for building nests. “Others say they have had to give up on some of life’s little pleasures, like enjoying the cool breeze and rains, just to keep the pigeons away. I have had to repeatedly shoo them away from my AC and throw away new nests they build outside the windows. If you are living in a high-rise building in Noida, this must be all too familiar to you.
It’s a bright sunny morning. But before the alarm clock can wake you up, the noisy flapping of the pigeons on your ledge does. If you are living in a high-rise building in Noida, this must be all too familiar to you.
Pigeons might have been great for lovers in ‘Maine Pyaar Kiya’, but they’re a bit of a menace in Noida, and like every other illegal tenant, they are no fun to deal with. Noida’s high-rise-dwellers tell us the things they have to resort to in order to fight the ‘vermin of the sky’.READ ALSO: Stray dog bites irk Noida residents The pigeons have adopted the ‘survival of the fittest’ motto and begun to outsmart the residents’ attempts to ward them off. Aravind Sinha, a resident of a high-rise in Noida Extension, says, “The pigeons would camp outside my bedroom window and make a lot of noise, so my wife and I came up with a solution – throw a glass of water at them through the window.
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 Pigeon Patrol | Sep 8, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting
Indian officials are so paranoid about Pakistan that they took a pigeon into custody on suspicion of espionage on Friday.
According to Indian media reports, investigators from the army and the state intelligence in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district were inspecting the bird which had a text resembling the Urdu language written on its wings.
The bird was handed over to police by a local who spotted the “suspicious text.
“11 digits and some Urdu text were written on its wings which after translation stood for ‘Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday,” said a police official.
In 2015, Indian authorities had captured what they claimed was a ‘spy’ pigeon from Pakistan.
Police in Chandigarh had claimed that the white pigeon bore markings in Urdu and a seal. The pigeon was taken to a local veterinary hospital for an x-ray but no clues were discovered establishing any links with Pakistan.
According to Indian media, the pigeon was flying in the border area during a meeting between Punjab Police and the Indian Army.
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 Pigeon Patrol | Sep 7, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Spikes
People mostly see pigeons in the park. Some feed them while the others shoo them away. They are sometimes considered as “rats in the air.” But, beware because what you might be reading in the park can also be read by pigeons. As research shows, pigeons can also learn how to read.
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In New Zealand, a team of researchers from the University of Otago, headed by Dr. Damien Scarf gathered 18 pigeons and trained them to identify words from the different string of letters. They introduced the birds to 308 four-letter words randomly mixed along thousands of string of letters, and their goal is to peck on the shown words.
For example, in the experiment, the pigeons come on the screen and need to distinguish words from non-words such as “USRP.” Then, the birds need to identify the word among the non-words through pecking. Meanwhile, among the 18 pigeons, researchers identify four pigeons to be outstanding in their experiment. For the birds, sooner or later built vocabularies with a scope of 26 to 58 words over the 8000 non-words shown in a report by IFL Science.com.
To make sure that the pigeons learn and not memorize the words from the non-words, the experts introduce them to new words which they have never seen before. Thus, the birds still correctly identify it.
As a result, Dr. Scarf shared that, the pigeons comprehends certain pairs of letters such as “TH” and “AL” as it was more often show in the English language. The birds were able to identify words with those letters quickly. He also added that “during training, the pigeons derived some general statistical knowledge about the letter combinations that distinguish words from non-words”
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In line with this, another researcher, from the Otago’s Department of Psychology , Professor Michael Colombo suggested that “we may have to seriously re-think the use of the term ‘bird brain’ as a put-down,” according to Phys.org.com.
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 Pigeon Patrol | Sep 6, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes
Dear Diary:
I was biking in Riverside Park near the 79th Street Boat Basin, when suddenly a swarm of pigeons formed a thick, fluttery wall, obstructing my view. I swerved and fell hard on the bike path.
Bloody and barely able to move, I looked up toward the pigeons’ likely point of origin and locked eyes with a woman who was tossing out bird seed. Naturally, I started up a conversation.
“Please stop feeding the pigeons,” I said as politely as I could in my stunned state.
“I’m feeding them on the side of the bike path so that they don’t get in the way of the bikers,” she said.
I frowned. “I don’t think that’s actually going to be very helpful.”
She offered a new line of reasoning: “You know, bikers are dangerous on their own. I’ve seen them get into lots of accidents from sheer carelessness.”
“I’m sorry, but that has nothing to do with feeding pigeons,” I said, trying to steer the conversation back on track.
“Pigeons need to eat too!” she said.
I paused for a moment to consider how I might redirect her overflowing empathy.
“I was just in a potentially life-threatening accident, and I may have broken my arm,” I said. “Personally, I value human life more than pigeon life.”
She frowned.
“O.K.,” she said. “I’ll feed them up on the hill so that they’re not so close to the bikers.”
Yes! I thought. I finally got to her.
But as the ambulance arrived moments later, I couldn’t help but think that my small victory would be a fluttering, er, fleeting one.
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 | Sep 5, 2016 | Bird Netting
Mercedes Equips Delivery Van With Robotic Carrier Pigeons
Mercedes-Benz is looking at mounting automated flying drones onto a new line of electric vans as part of a 500 million-euro ($562 million or roughly Rs. 3,732 crores) investment aimed at speeding delivery times for online orders.
The small pilotless aircraft would be part of a suite of on-board systems, including digital sorting equipment, that could cut both costs and delivery times in half for the final portion of a package’s journey, the carmaker said Wednesday at a presentation in Stuttgart, Germany. The two drones (robotic carrier pigeons) can each fly items weighing as much as 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) as far as 10 kilometers (6 miles), enabling service to difficult-to-reach to places.
The concept is among the Daimler unit’s efforts to help corporate customers speed product transport as volumes rise because of the boom in electronic commerce. Deutsche Post’s DHL division and United Parcel Service are also looking at how to ensure items are delivered on the first attempt even when the consumer isn’t home. Online retailers such as Amazon.com are experimenting with handling deliveries themselves.
“The business in our sector is changing dramatically, so we’re looking far beyond our core product and getting into new markets,” Volker Mornhinweg, who heads Mercedes’s vans business, said in a statement. “We want to make vans an intelligent, connected data center on wheels.”
The investments will be spaced over five years. Mercedes didn’t outline a time frame for when the drones or technologies like a robotic arm for sorting parcels inside the van might become commercially available.
Many industries are researching potential uses of drones beyond dropping the latest Internet shopping on people’s doorsteps, such as railroad-track inspections, spotting criminals on the run or organ delivery for hospitals, though a regulatory structure for the aircraft is still in its infancy.
“The growth in transportation means we have to change our processes accordingly,” said Stefan Maurer, head of Mercedes’s future transport systems for vans.
The drones on the Mercedes concept are fixed to the van’s roof above a hatch that opens to the vehicle’s inside. Made of carbon fiber and aluminum, the mini-copters with four propellers measure about 55 centimeters (22 inches) across. The aircraft were developed jointly with Swiss partner Matternet, and similar models have already helped carry medicine to people in difficult terrain, Mercedes said.
When a van reaches the area where the drone is supposed to take off, a robotic arm in the cargo area moves parcels inside a special box to the hatch, which opens automatically for the drone to pick up the item. Using GPS, the aircraft flies to a landing spot set by the customer, Mercedes 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 | Sep 4, 2016 | Bird Netting
DOWNTOWN — Racing pigeons, valuable birds trained to fly more than 1,000 miles in a clip to win huge prizes, are among the thousands of birds killed each year as they pass through Chicago.
Blame it on the skyscrapers.
The latest death came this week when a racing pigeon, identified by the band around one of its legs, apparently crashed into a building on Wacker Drive.
Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, whose members pick up dead or nearly dead birds that have crashed into buildings, receives hundreds of calls each year about the racing birds.
The birds, unlike regular city pigeons, are banded around their legs and can travel more than 1,000 miles during events. The racing birds, raised in coops and fed by humans, sometimes get lost during races or meet an unfortunate fate when they slam beak-first into a city skyscraper.
Annette Prince, director of the collision monitors, said she’s recently fielded calls from people who have found dead, banded racing pigeons in Old Irving Park, Logan Square and Downtown. That includes the bird discovered dead Tuesday on Upper Wacker between State and Wabash.
“People are racing these everywhere,” Prince said. “They’re trained to come home, but they don’t always make it home. … These birds don’t find food or recognize predators like city pigeons do. If they get lost, they won’t make it. They’ll either starve or get injured.”
Pigeon racing is banned in Chicago, but that doesn’t mean the birds don’t fly through the city during competitions — either as part of the route or by getting lost. One Oak Park-based pigeon last year was blown off course by a storm but nursed back to health by an Indiana family.
Deone Roberts, sport development manager for the American Racing Pigeon Union, said “homing pigeons are always expected home … however, in dealing with nature, there are no finite certainties.”
“There are predators that have an eye for smaller animals such as other birds, small dogs, maybe rodents and other such animals,” Roberts said.
Roberts said her group has more than 600 clubs and 10,000 members (called fanciers) in the United States alone, and there are several other pigeon racing organizations across the country and worldwide. Roberts said the birds are “geniuses” in their own right, noting they can pick up sound from as far as a state away.
“They are amazing creatures,” she said. “To experience them in the racing hobby is to delve into nature unlike the typical activities of man.”
Racing pigeons are identified by bands with letters and numbers on their feet. The band on the pigeon found dead Downtown on Tuesday was not fully visible, but part of it read “AU 2016.” AU is the national organization that registered the bird, in this case the American Racing Pigeon Union; 2016 is the year the bird was hatched and banded/registered. Other information included on bands are letters representing the pigeon club the bird is registered to and numbers to represent each pigeon from that club.
Racing pigeons is a sport that dates to 1200 B.C., according to the Royal Pigeon Racing Association. The birds are descendants of rock doves, which were used by the Romans as messengers to fly more than hundreds of miles. In the 1800s, an official pigeon postal service was used in France, and the birds were used as messengers in World Wars I and II.
There are many theories about why the birds can remember long flights home,including a 10-year study from Oxford University that concluded pigeons use roads to navigate and can change directions at junctions. Other studies say the birds can remember visual clues like landmarks.
“These are amazing birds. They’re underappreciated. They’re smart. They’re great flyers. They learn things,” Prince said.
The hobby can be expensive. One Chinese buyer paid more than $300,000 for a racing pigeon in 2012. The top birds can win huge prizes, too — up to six-figure payouts. Some tournaments cost thousands of dollars to enter.
The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center estimates 365 million to 988 million birds are killed in collisions in the United States each year. In the area Prince and her network of 100 volunteers can cover, about 5,000 birds per year are picked up.
Hundreds of bird species migrate through Chicago every year, especially during thespring and late summer/early fall.
Prince would rather focus on the birds passing through the city because of migrations rather than a race.
“Hours and hours have to be spent answering hundreds of calls and trying to rescue these unfortunate birds,” she said.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Ryan Ponto | Sep 3, 2016 | Bird Netting
I’ve been spending more time around downtown Rochester this year and have become more aware of the presence of pigeons, particularly on and around many of the Mayo buildings. What strikes me as interesting is that there is no outcry about these birds like there is for crows.
Analyzing the habits of the two unrelated birds, I sense the pigeons may just be smart enough to stay under our radar most of the time. On the other hand, it seems like crows almost take the opposite approach and try to see how much they can aggravate us.
Pigeons are members of the family Columbidae, which also includes doves, with both names often used interchangeably around the world. Currently, the pigeons humans encounter most of the time are descendants of pigeons domesticated centuries ago, and they may go by the name rock dove or rock pigeon, depending on which way the wind is blowing the scientific birding communities.
Before they were domesticated, native populations of rock doves/pigeons roosted and nested on cliffs in Europe, North Africa, and western Asia. With tall buildings providing similar ledges and habitat, their move to the cities was a natural one, similar to American swifts switching from hollowed trees to chimneys, and thus being renamed chimney swifts.
Probably the most famous pigeon family members are a couple that are no longer around. Passenger pigeons, named for their migratory behavior, once numbered in the billions across North America. That was, until humans, especially Americans, proved we could quickly exterminate such a prolific species in the name of sport and food gathering.
A second, the dodo bird, was also exterminated by humans in short order when Dutch sailors landed on the Island of Mauritius around 1600. In less than a century, a bird that had evolved over millions of years to be huge and flightless became extinct.
The most famous pigeons still around are probably the homing pigeons, often called carrier or messenger pigeons. The homing pigeon is a variety of domestic pigeon selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distances. Their interesting story is one which will unfold in a future Nature Nut column, possibly next week.
I keep wondering what urban pigeons feed on, and can only assume they find garbage, as well as seeds and other plant materials. They also will eat insects and earthworms. Besides cities, farmyards are another human area pigeons are found in large numbers, probably due to many grains and other seeds readily available.
Pigeons have been eaten, and still are, by many cultures, including Americans. Young pigeons, called squab, are considered a healthy delicacy to many, and in demand throughout the U.S. and worldwide.
Pigeons are eaten by many predators that visit our cities, including hawks, owls and falcons, as well as cats and dogs. I even saw a video of a turtle taking a pigeon on a pond edge.
Feral pigeons, I suspect in part because of their domestication by humans, are now found in cities throughout world. Some gather in famous squares, like that my wife and once visited in Venice, or places like the centuries-old Boston Common Park and Public Gardens, where we observed them earlier this summer.
In many places where they are accepted and even fed by locals and tourists, there are others who would prefer they were gone. Interestingly, in Rochester, where we have a pretty good population of pigeons, feeding them does not seem to have caught on, at least not anywhere that I have observed.
According to City Attorney Terry Adkins, there is no ordinance against feeding pigeons in public parks. So, perhaps the day will come when a pigeon feeding area at Central Park, Discovery Square, or elsewhere becomes a part of DMC planning, as everything else has.
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 | Sep 2, 2016 | Bird Netting
TULSA, Oklahoma – Despite harsh criticism, an Oklahoma senator will host his annual pigeon shoot fundraiser this weekend. That’s where live pigeons are thrown into the air for participants to shoot and kill.
One animal protection group says it will be there to protest.
‘Angel 6,’ a drone used by Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, or SHARK, is ready to take flight again after the group says it was shot down during Senator Jim Inhofe’s pigeon shoot last year.
“These guys are just out there thrill killing,” said SHARK president, Steve Hindi.
Hindi’s group uncovered video of Inhofe’s 2014 pigeon shoot fundraiser and posted it on YouTube.
“It’s a slaughter,” he said. “Birds hand-tossed in front of you, that’s worse than shooting fish in a barrel. There’s no sportsmanship.”
Inhofe held his shoot on private property last September. SHARK protested the event and sent in a drone to get video.
There are no FAA regulations against flying over private property; still, Hindi said someone in Inhofe’s party shot it down.
“They’re not afraid of us attacking them, that’s not what we do. They’re simply afraid of their own behavior being shown to the world,” Hindi said.
He said none of the pigeons are donated for their meat and said none of the event participants keep the birds for eating purposes.
Inhofe’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, said he appreciates that SHARK has a perspective, but said his camp isn’t breaking the law.
Jackson said there’s not a need for donated pigeon meat in the area where the animals are killed, which is near Altus.
He said, “Altus is not a really big place, I don’t believe there was much interest in that.”
Jackson said the Inhofe camp prefers to ignore groups like SHARK.
“Their claims that’s it’s animal abuse or illegal is just false,” Jackson said. “We don’t take them seriously, I think they’re pretty extreme. They protest rodeos, too.”
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife says live pigeon shoots, while not common, are legal in Oklahoma.
The birds aren’t native to the state and they’re not protected by the government, but that won’t stop SHARK showing up with its drone to protest once again this weekend.
“We’re an animal protection organization and this shoot has to stop,” Hindi 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 | Sep 1, 2016 | Bird Netting
OTTERVILLE — When Don Bryant was 11 years old in Belleville, while riding his bike home from school he saw a group of pigeons fly over his head, which led him to his mentor.
Impulsively, he followed the birds to the home of Clarence Haymann, who as his mentor, started Bryant, now 83, with his first pair of pigeons.
After his first pigeon pair, he got another pair and started raising squabs, or baby pigeons, until he had six or seven pair. He spent time with people who raised and raced pigeons to find out how they did it, what to feed them and how to race them himself. His first loft was in the back of his parent’s chicken coop.
“It amazed me how pigeons could find their way home from hundreds of miles away,” marveled Bryant, who has had a cottage in Chautauqua for almost 50 years. “A combination of an extremely accurate internal ‘sun clock’ and magnetic fields enable the birds to return home.
“My best friend, Kenny Borsch, became interested in pigeons, too, and we started training young birds. We were too young to drive a car, so we wired boxes to our bicycles and rode three or four miles to let the birds out to fly home. After awhile, we talked Kenny’s grandfather into driving us 10 miles away to train our birds.”
Bryant built his first loft from lumber he got from a construction site where they were building a bridge.
“I talked the boss into giving me the lumber. They were going to throw it away and I built the loft myself,” he recalled.
Homing pigeons were introduced to the United States in the mid-1800s. In the 1880s, the first 500-mile race took place in this country. Homing pigeons race from 80 to 600 miles at speeds of 40 to 60 mph, over terrain they have often never seen before.
Pigeons have long played an important role in war. Due to their homing ability, speed and altitude, they were often used as military messengers. Carrier pigeons of the Racing Homer breed were used to carry messages in World War I, World War II and the Korean War. They ceased being used as of 1957. They saved thousands of lives while in military service.
Bryant loves long-distance flying. His pigeons fly 100 to 600 miles. When he was 13, he flew his pigeons in one of his first races, which was a 500-mile race. He should have won, but his lack of knowledge caused him to lose first place. He didn’t realize you needed to watch your loft to clock your bird in, the minute it returns to the loft.
He went to the movies instead and didn’t clock in his bird until the next morning. His bird was second, but would have won if he had clocked her in when she returned to the loft. He doesn’t remember the movie he saw, but he never forgot the valuable lesson he learned: stay by your loft.
“To raise money, I had to shine shoes, haul ashes and cut grass to support my pigeons,” Bryant said.
When Bryant enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1951, he gave Kenny all his pigeons. When he came out of the Navy, he met and married his wife, Lynn Schleicher, and raised a family. He didn’t raise pigeons for a number of years.
He began his career in real estate in 1966. He didn’t raise or race pigeons while he was becoming one of the top Realtors in the Riverbend and building his own business — Don Bryant’s Gallery of Homes. He sold his business in 1983.
When he became interested in flying pigeons again, he went into it in a big way. He has four lofts in Otterville, with a partner, Tim Widowski. Two of the lofts are breeding lofts, one is a racing loft and the last loft is for his special birds. Their loft is named “Union Forest.”
The loft has two 15-year-old Houbens and two Stuart Browns. They are the foundation of Widowski and Bryant’s lofts. In all, Bryant and Widowski have more than 100 birds.
“Our birds are great. We carefully breed and train them in order to raise the best birds,” Bryant said.
There are two 10-week periods of racing every year. Old birds fly from April through June. The youngsters start racing in mid-August and fly until mid-October.
Bryant has been very successful in racing his pigeons. His pigeons have won in old-bird races in the last two years: Champion Bird Illinois twice, Champion Loft twice, Master Loft twice, Average Speed in 22 races and National Award 15th in the United States in 2014. The award Bryant is most proud of is that, in 2015, of his bird “Sissy Jane,” which placed second in the United States in the National Ace Old Bird Marathon Distance Standings.
Homing pigeons have pedigrees like racehorses. They are bred and trained with the same care bestowed upon their equine counterparts. Some international races award large cash prizes. Purses can be as high as $600,000. Racing pigeons have sold for more than $260,000 each.
“Being an American and my wife and family are the most important things in my life,” Bryant said.
Bryant and his wife have one son, Chuck Bryant, and two daughters, Donna Minard and Sally Voorhes. Bryant is still busy building and remodeling houses.
“At 83, it keeps me young,” Bryant declared.
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 | Aug 31, 2016 | Bird Netting
It’s official: the hunting season is here again and in certain parts of the country a select few are out hunting bear and sheep and deer. The majority of us, however, are getting our first taste of the hunt with doves. I’m not a great dove hunter, although I’m not exactly to blame. During most of my lifetime, we didn’t even have a dove season in Minnesota. Fortunately, that changed some years back, and now every September 1 I get to head out in hopes of seeing a dove. I say “in hopes of” because dove numbers where I live are not great. You can find them and, on occasion, you can get a shot. But we still don’t have dove hunting in Minnesota like they do in other states.
There are places like Yuma, Arizona, where dove hunting is such a big deal that the local high schoolers hold a fundraiser in the form of a drive-thru dove cleaning station. For $5, the high school band will clean your limit of doves. And, when they are done, you can take your limit to any number of restaurants where they will cook up your birds for you. Just once in my life I would like to experience dove hunting on that level.
For now, however, I will just be happy to get out and see if I can shoot my two or three doves and hopefully get a small meal out of them. While I’m out there, I keep my eyes open for another bird: one that used to be a popular game bird, but that has caught such a bad reputation many people would never consider eating them.
Pigeons are all over the place here in farm country. They live in barns and silos and most farmers will let you come in a shoot a few. Pigeons are a little bigger than doves and equally tasty, in my opinion.
Like doves, pigeons can be prepared in a number of different ways. If you have enough pigeons, you can put together a really nice dinner. Juniper-roasted doves with a cherry port sauce is one of my favorite ways or you can make them just like doves into poppers with a little cream cheese, jalapeño, and bacon.
For these squabs, I am tweaking a Jamie Oliver recipe for a fried squab with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. The pigeons are rubbed with Chinese five spice and then fried whole. It doesn’t take long to fry a whole bird, and you end up with a very tender breast and crispy salty skin. Give pigeons a try, if you haven’t yet—you might be surprised at how good they are.
Spice Rub
2 tablespoon of kosher salt
2 teaspoons Chinese five spice
1 teaspoon black pepper
Small pinch of cayenne for heat
Combine the ingredients and rub it on the inside and outside of the squabs. Let sit out for 30 minutes before frying. Heat oil (I used peanut oil but just about any oil would work) over medium-high heat until oil reaches 350 degrees. Lower the squabs whole in the oil so they are completely submerged. Cook for 4-5 minutes—four if you want some pink in the middle of the breast and five if you don’t. Pull the birds out and set aside to drain and cool. While they pigeons are draining make your sauce.
Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce
Juice of one lemon
Juice of one lime
¼ cup oyster sauce
2 tablespoons of Sriracha
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 clove of garlic minced
Combine all ingredients, mix well and serve with fried squabs.
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)
