by Pigeon Patrol | Nov 21, 2014 | Pigeons in the News
One of nature’s most fascinating phenomena is the collective behaviour of animals. A shoal of fish, a swarm of locusts, and a colony of ants can all act as superorganisms, where the group as a whole makes collective decisions.
Equally interesting are smaller groups that also have this peculiar behaviour, such as a flock of migratory birds that forms a “V” in the sky. Researchers have observed and studied this particular grouping of animals for many decades, yet little is known about their social structure. Do they have leaders? If so, are their roles similar to humans in anyway?
The lack of understanding of this behaviour intrigued Máté Nagy, a zoologist at University of Oxford. He thought that studying at least one species may shed light on the occurrence of this behaviour in the rest of the animal kingdom, including humans.
In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nagy and his colleagues studied the behaviour of domestic pigeons (Columba livia). Their aim was to study social dominance in one task and use the results to analyse the behaviour of leaders (if there were any) in a new task.
Pigeon formation.
For this, they tagged three groups of ten pigeons with a barcode and programmed computers to follow the movements of these pigeons using a video feed. In the first task, designed to study social dominance, the three groups of pigeons were left with a feeding cup. The group tracked three types of behaviour: feeding-queueing (a measure of an individual’s access to food), approach-avoidance (a measure of the interactions between individuals) and pecking order (measure of aggression displayed through fighting and chasing).
After some number-crunching that took the three types of behaviour into consideration, the simple feeding task showed that a social hierarchy existed among pigeons. Nagy was able use that data to identify the socially dominant individuals within each group.
Next, each group was let free so that Nagy could determine if the socially dominant pigeons took on the job of leaders when the pigeons flew as a flock. This time, the pigeons were fitted with a GPS tracker, which allowed Nagy to track the positions of each individual relative to the rest of the flock.
Here Nagy found that the leaders in flock-flying were different from those that were socially dominant during the feeding exercise. These results are unlike what you would see with gray wolves or chacma baboons, where the socially dominant individual may also lead the group. The leaders did have some common features, though. The socially dominant individuals were more aggressive than average flock member and had a comparatively larger body.
Because of the complications involved in flock-flying, it is possible that a somewhat less aggressive, and possibly better informed individual takes the leading position. However, there was no relation between leadership and age, so it wasn’t that the more experienced flyers lead the flock.
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 | Nov 21, 2014 | Pigeons in the News
Many people have heard of Mike Tyson, the fearsome former heavyweight champion– but did as many people know he had a love for pigeons?
The birds, considered a dirty nuisance to most people, were his friends.
Owning 3,000 of the birds, he called pigeon racing his ‘first love’. Much to his wife’s dismay, Tyson can spend hours at the coop, staring at the birds as they flap their wings and hop around.
“The pigeons are man’s first feathered friends, before chickens,” Tyson said. “They were money in ancient times.”
For Mr. Tyson, home was never something to be taken for granted. As a boy growing up in a raucous and dysfunctional apartment in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, he joined some pals in keeping a roof-top suite of pet pigeons. One afternoon, a street tough came along, taunted the future champ, blithely snapped the neck of one of his pigeons and threw the bird back in his face. That was Tyson’s first fight as a result of his love for pigeons.
‘They were my escape,’ he said. ‘I was fat and ugly. Kids teased me all the time. The only joy I had was 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 Pigeon Patrol | Nov 18, 2014 | Pigeons in the News
An errant racing pigeon has Renwick orchard owner Bob Crum cursing the day the bird entered his life.
According to Crum the pigeon arrived three weeks ago and had made itself at home, enjoying a regular supply of food from his hen house. However, the pesky bird’s presence has put his hens off laying, and it doesn’t look ready to leave any time soon.
What Crum first thought was a novelty turned into a daily chase to catch the food thief.
He had made noises to scare the pigeon but unperturbed by the riled fruit grower, it just flew off only to return later. The bird has grey and white plumage with an amulet of pink and purple feathers around its neck.
Crum believed the racing pigeon had deviated from its route.
“We thought it was hanging around because it liked us. We discovered it was eating the hens’ food and was putting them off laying. It causes all hell and the chooks don’t like it. They won’t lay in their nests in the hen house,” he said.
It had been eating wheat and seemed happy, Crum said.
“I felt sorry for it at first but we have had enough. It is pretty clever, it is no bird brain.
“It keeps out smarting me. In the hen house it sneaked out every time I tried to catch it. It flies up to the roof and watches what is happening.”
Crum doesn’t believe in killing the bird so lethal force hasn’t yet been considered. “I don’t have it in me to harm it – I wouldn’t want any thing bad to happen to it,” he said.
He had been in touch with a pigeon club to see if any pigeon fanciers were missing a bird but his inquiries had drawn a blank.
“I hope its missing owner comes and gets it quick.”
If you are missing a racing pigeon call Crum on 03 572 8237.
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 | Nov 18, 2014 | Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeons in the News
Activities including the importing, breeding, trading in and translocation of pigeons are now listed as prohibited activities in terms of the Invasive and Alien Species List as published by the department of water and environmental affairs,” the National Council of SPCAs said in a statement.
The prohibition included “releasing of any specimen of a listed invasive species” which effectively meant that “releasing pigeons to race or as homing pigeons” was illegal.
The NSPCA said the new legislation was published in the Government Gazette on August 1.
Invasive
“Our concerns include the rate of attrition during races. That is, the high number of pigeons who simply do not ever reach their race destination for various reasons including exhaustion, and racing taking place in inclement or extreme weather conditions.”
Relevant industry role players had been informed about the new legislation and the NSPCA was obligated to report any violations to the department, it said.
President of the SA National Pigeon Organisation (Sanpo), Faunty Gillmer said they were seeking a meeting with the environmental affairs minister.
He said the new law, which had been in the pipeline since 2004, would do away with the 100-year-old sport of pigeon racing.
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 | Nov 18, 2014 | Bird Netting, Pigeons in the News
Woody Allen famously dubbed them “rats with wings,” and we all more or less agree: when it comes to pigeons, everyone’s a hater. They’re filthy disease carriers! Parasites of the urban environment! Dumber than chickens!
Not so, says award-winning Toronto-based filmmaker Scott Harper, and he’s setting the record straight in his documentary The Secret Life of Pigeons, airing Thursday November 20 on CBC’s The Nature of Things.
“They can recognize an individual by their face alone,” says Harper, revealing just one of the surprising pigeon truths revealed in his film. The birds are actually highly intelligent, and can differentiate between the nice old lady bringing a bag of corn to share and the mean old witch ready to beat them off with a stick, just by examining their facial features.
Pigeons also have a very long and surprisingly amicable history with humans. Domesticated as far back as ancient Egypt, pigeons have served man as a mode of communication, a tasty snack, a form of entertainment and even as a medium for studying brain chemistry.
Carrier pigeons saved thousands of lives during WWI, and were as close to a walkie talkie as guys like Genghis Khan were going to get.
Pigeon races were once a popular pass time, and though they don’t draw a crowd like they once did, the Queen and Prince Charles continue to keep racing pigeons, and there are still races held as nearby as Bradford, Ontario.
Then there is the world of the pigeon fancier — individuals who breed pigeons for show. Yes, it’s a thing that exists, and we suggest you Google it (to see many photos of grown men — including Mike Tyson — holding their beloved pigeons).
And because pigeons form and then lose memory in a manner remarkably similar to humans, scientists use the birds in Alzheimer’s research and testing.
But perhaps the most surprising fact revealed about these ubiquitous birds is that they continue to exist at all.
“It’s amazing how these birds have survived in a place where they are really not wanted,” says Harper. The story of the urban pigeon actually turns out to be a rather heartbreaking one. Because they are domesticated animals that have found themselves homeless, they don’t feed on anything natural, and so must surviving on little more than refuse and what the odd pigeon lover leaves for them. In fact, says Harper, when someone who regularly feeds the neighbourhood pigeons stop doing so, that whole flock will likely die. “They made feeding pigeons in London’s Trafalgar Square illegal,” says Harper, “and now there are no pigeons in Trafalgar Square.”
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 | Nov 10, 2014 | Animal Deterrent Products, Pigeons in the News
Pigeons are well known for the excessive droppings they cause wherever they go. Watch how famous prankster Remi Gaillard exemplifies this fact.
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)
