by Pigeon Patrol | Dec 13, 2014 | Bird Netting
Once the most plentiful bird on our planet, the passenger pigeon is now extinct. The last of the Passengers, named Martha, died in Cincinnati zoo in 1914.
Molecular biologists are looking into ways to regenerate the species, but are running into opposition from conservationists who are worried this will lessen the urgency when it comes to saving endangered species.
Let’s hear your opinion: Should we bring back the passenger pigeon?
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 | Dec 13, 2014 | Bird Netting
In a bizarre case, a pigeon has hatched a chicken egg on the balcony of a Bur Dubai resident.
Fready Samuel, an Indian ad man and entrepreneur, said that the pigeon had been homing in on his balcony for a few weeks before it laid two eggs in the corner of a plant holder.
“I was observing the bird and she spent four days sitting on the eggs. But sadly the eggs got spoilt because of the water in the plant holder. I felt so bad for the pigeon and wanted to do something about it,” said Samuel.
He said his immediate objective was to replace the spoilt eggs in the plant holder with new pigeon eggs.
“I tried very hard but couldn’t find any pigeon eggs. So I decided to keep two chicken eggs which in any case would have been consumed for breakfast. My only aim was to comfort the pigeon which had lost its eggs four days into its hatching cycle.”
As it turns out, the pigeon did take comfort.
Samuel said he read up about the hatching patterns of pigeons and hens, but was in for a complete surprise.
“I researched about both their hatching patterns and learnt that pigeons hatch eggs in 14 days while hens take 21 days. I expected the pigeon to sit on the eggs for only 10 days as she had already spent four days on her own eggs. But she actually spent 21 days on the new eggs. What’s more, one of the eggs hatched to our utter surprise and we had a beautiful ‘dove chick’ on our balcony. It was a truly amazing experience.”
He said he plans to leave the chick, now one week old, at his cousin’s Al Quoz villa where she could be in the company of other hens and chickens.
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 | Bird Netting
The pigeon has side-mounted eyes, unlike humans and owls which have forward facing eyes. As pigeons have monocular vision rather than binocular vision they bob their heads for depth of perception. The pigeon’s eyes function much better with stationary images and therefore as the pigeon takes a step forward the head is temporarily left behind. The next step jerks the head forward again and so on. This allows the bird to correctly orient itself.
Visual presentation of a pigeon bobbing it’s head
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 | Bird Netting
Gamblers are real bird-brains in the way they are tempted to take risks, scientists have found.
Research has shown that both human gamblers and pigeons are 35% more likely to take greater risks when there is a chance of a big win.
Dr Elliot Ludvig, from the University of Warwick’s Department of Psychology, said: “Birds are distantly related to humans, yet we still share the same basic psychology that drives risk-taking. This may be due to a shared common ancestry or similar evolutionary pressures.
“When people gamble, they often rely on past experiences with risk and rewards to make decisions. What we found in this study is that pigeons used these past experiences in very similar ways to guide their future gambling decisions. Any big wins we’ve had in the past are memorable and stand-out when we are making our decision to gamble again.”
Human volunteers and pigeons were tested with four options: two that led to high-value rewards and two that led to low-value rewards.
While humans were rewarded with points, the pigeons were rewarded with food.
For each high or low reward level, one safe option resulted in a guaranteed fixed reward, and one risky option yielded a 50/50 chance of a better or worse outcome.
Both birds and humans alike were found to be 35% more likely to take a gamble on the high-value rewards.
The study, published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, was conducted in collaboration with the University of Alberta, Canada, and part-funded by the Alberta Gambling Research Institute.
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
1. Large population of pigeons is a health hazard.
Our huge feral pigeon population is a health hazard and creates many problems in the city. Pigeon droppings dirty public spaces, do costly damage to buildings, and can spread life-threatening diseases, especially to the elderly and immune-deficient. Their nesting materials block drains and harbor parasites like bird mites. Pigeon food makes a mess and attracts rats.
2. Feeding pigeons promotes overbreeding.
Pigeon feeding produces overbreeding. Pigeons normally breed two or three times a year, producing two eggs per brood. Overfed city pigeons can breed up to eight times a year.
Sometimes having a tender heart towards pigeons may have destructive consequences
3. Pigeons are harmed when fed.
When you feed pigeons, you are not doing them a favor. They lose their natural ability to scavenge and survive on their own. Pigeon over population leads to overcrowded, unsanitary conditions and produces sick and injured birds. A smaller flock is healthier and does less damage.
4. It attracts other pests
People who feed pigeons often end up feeding more than they bargained for. If food is too plentiful, pigeons may not always eat everything that is left out for them. The remaining food may attract rats and mice.
Lovely, though pigeons have become an increasing environmental and health concern in recent years
5. It affects other birds
Feeding feral pigeons can deprive other birds of food and might scare them from your garden. Smaller birds such as thrushes and finches are often frightened off when numbers of much larger pigeons arrive. Feral pigeons can also carry viruses that can be spread to other birds causing death.
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)
