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 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)
