by Ryan Ponto | Feb 22, 2017 | Animal Deterrent Products
It’s a last opportunity to qualify for the Pertemps Final at Haydock on Saturday but there may be an unusual element to this particular Qualifier with virtually none of the field likely to actually secure a run at the Festival unless they can up their ratings by a couple of pounds with a big run.
Mydor just about falls into category, having been handed a British mark of 133, whereas 135 has been the bottom-rating for the Final for the last three years. However, the Irish pigeon is adamant that Tony Martin’s runner he can overcome that problem by scoring here under Brian Hughes.
He hasn’t always been the most consistent performer, but cheekpieces have improved his application of late and he ran particularly well at Leopardstown on his latest start.
Warrantor is a young stayer who is still to produce his best over fences and should reward an each-way interest in the Betfred Grand National Trial at Haydock on Saturday.
Warren Greatrex has always held a candle for the eight year old despite the gelding’s somewhat patchy career so far over the larger obstacles. However, his two performances this season, a close second in a valuable handicap at the Open meeting at Cheltenham in November, and a respectable fifth on the same course on New Year’s Day suggest he is progressing nicely.
His stable are now in much better form than at any stage of the season, and he is likely to be well at home on what is likely to be dead tacky ground.
Fletchers Flyer has had his problems this winter, but he deserves his place in the line-up for the Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase at Ascot and should prove hard to beat. Harry Fry has some attractive targets for this highly-talented gelding upcoming, and he showed he can hold his own against top company when winning a handicap at the Punchestown Festival as a very raw novice.
The fact that the victory came during the embryonic stages of this campaign means he still qualifies for a race like this, and, not for the first time, this looks a relatively weak race for Grade Two level.
Beyond Conceit can retain his 100 per cent record over hurdles in the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle on the same card. A smart performer on the Flat for Andrew Balding, he made light work of the opposition on his hurdling bow at Newbury four and a half weeks ago. Nicky Henderson is looking at one of the novice events at the Festival for the eight year old in just over three weeks’ time, and has given him a nice break since the win to try and ensure he is at his most potent for this very important warm-up race.
Divine Spear, a stablemate of Beyond Conceit, is improving with racing and he is fancied to add to his Fontwell win over Christmas in the Les Ambassadeurs Casino Handicap Hurdle. He still showed signs of inexperience when a staying-on third at Cheltenham last time, and should give promising claimer Ned Curtis another great ride in this open-looking race.
At Wincanton, Ben Pauling’s Whin Park was not unfancied when down the field in a bumper at Warwick on his debut and he should go well at a decent price in what looks a weak race for the Betway National Hunt Novices’ Hurdle.
There are two all-weather cards in Britain on Saturday and both could prove unusually informative as we move into a stage of the year when the major Flat stables are getting ready to fire their guns again.
Flight Of Fantasy was unlucky to get collared at Kempton last time, having seemed as if she had put the race to bed at the two-furlong pole and plenty will fancy her to gain appropriate compensation in the 32Red Maiden Fillies’ Stakes at Lingfield.
However, there’s a good word for the unraced First Moon, with Josephine Gordon aboard, as she makes her debut in the same race for Hugo Palmer. A Khalid Abdullah-owned filly, she reportedly excelled in a recent gallop.
Amy Murphy has proved a profitable trainer for Catching Pigeons readers to follow in recent weeks and she introduces Gwendolyn on her first run for the yard in the Betway Dash Handicap.
This is Gwendolyn’s third Newmarket yard and she hasn’t joined the stable looking especially well-handicapped, but there must be the possibility that she will find improvement for the in-form Murphy and could be worth a small bet if the price is right.
The two Jamies, Osborne and Spencer, are a very successful combination when they get together and should go close with Hungarian Rhapsody in the 32Red Maiden at Kempton on Saturday evening. The son of Exceed And Excel carries the familiar white colours of Michael Buckley, and has shown enough at home to suggest a bold show on his first racecourse appearance.
Queen Odessa beat the very highly rated Kayf Grace in a bumper last season and she should step up on her only outing so far this term in the 32Red Casino Mares Only Novices Hurdle at Market Rasen on Sunday. Although she has not seen action for three months, she should be fit enough and this looks a run-of-the-mill event.
There are few more popular horses in Newmarket than Stand Guard, who already holds the honour of having won more All-weather races in Britain than any other horse.
He’s 13 and clearly getting no quicker in his old age but John Butler believes there might just be a little more juice to be squeezed from these pips and he was a shade unfortunate to get undone by a ridiculously slow early gallop at Kempton earlier this week.
Stand Guard has an entry at Southwell on Tuesday and at first glance looks to have been found a very good opportunity to win again on a surface where he has plenty of old form in the book.
Claimantakinforgan will not have been missed much by racecourse commentators during a mid-season break, but this impressive Haydock bumper winner is held in high regard at Seven Barrows and his cheery fan club are looking forward to seeing him back in action, perhaps as early as this week
He is better than his most recent outing at Ascot suggests and is back in good form on gallops after his mid-term hols.
The valuable £50,000 Goffs Bumper at Newbury just after Cheltenham could be an early lucrative spring target.
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 | Feb 15, 2017 | Animal Deterrent Products
Memes are a curious thing. They seemingly spring out of nowhere, dominant social media and often just as quickly and without warning, go away.
However, the latest meme to dominant Facebook is truly baffling. At least with past memes like Rick Roll’d, Pepe the Frog, Crying Jordan, or Super Bowl riffs, it’s pretty easy to figure out their origin stories.
So, what exactly is that head-banging bird you’ve probably been seeing all over your favorite Facebook pages?
World, meet Trash Dove.
The animated GIF was created by artist Syd Weiler and offered as a digital sticker pack. The Daily Dot reports that it really first took off as a meme in Thailand, though it’s unclear exactly why. In an interview, Weiler didn’t exactly clear things up, saying:
“Pigeons are such strange birds, they have very beautiful mottled, shimmery feathers, but they waddle around and bob their heads and beg for crumbs. They’re like beautiful doves, except they eat trash.”
Um, ok?
One Reddit user offered a theory:
“As for how it is popular, it is because some people somehow found the sticker (this one in particular) very annoying (well including me). Many other people think the sticker is cool and/or it’s funny how someone got annoyed over this and began spamming with it in comments section. This went viral when popular Facebook pages joined the spamming festival and soon enough it’s all over Facebook.”
And there’s no denying the Trash Dove has become near omnipresent and therefore quite annoying to lots and lots of people. So annoying that someone named Adam Lockwood started a Change.org petition to have it banned from Facebook – one that already has more than 10,000 digital signatures. As the petition language explains:
Remove the purple bird from Facebook, it’s constantly spammed in the comments and must be stopped, if you only sign one petition today, make it this one! #MakeFacebookGreatAgain !
Until then, you might have to start getting used to the annoying little purple bird head banging through the comments section of all your favorite sites and message boards.
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 | Feb 5, 2017 | Animal Deterrent Products
The fate of Abbotsford’s urban pigeon prohibition is still unclear after council received a report last week that noted the bird ban aligns with the city’s current zoning bylaw, but that those regulations are currently under review.
The issue was raised last fall by Gurbir Brar, who raises pigeons and says the bylaw banning them is irrational and unnecessary.
Brar told council in October that other jurisdictions, including Calgary and Surrey, allow the keeping of hobby pigeons in residential areas, without a problem. He compared pigeons to cats, and said the birds – when properly trained – are much less disruptive than felines to the surrounding community. He was accompanied by more than a dozen fellow pigeon fanciers.
Staff were directed to prepare a report, which was presented to council last week.
In it, assistant planner Nick Crosman notes that pigeons are currently defined as poultry, rather than pets, and thereby are an agriculture use. Currently, residential zones don’t permit such uses.
But the city’s zoning bylaw is currently undergoing a revision to align it with the 2016 Official Community Plan. That document would seem to be more friendlier to pigeon-rearing, and includes a statement that suggests council consider allowing “urban agriculture activities that encourage self-sufficiency.” Pigeons and backyard fowl aren’t mentioned in the OCP.
The updated zoning bylaw will come to council for approval or revision. Any changes would require a public hearing.
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 | Jan 24, 2017 | Animal Deterrent Products
The universal acclaim that greeted Planet Earth II shows that people still love watching nature documentaries. Optimists would see this as a sign that we still care about the environment. I am not so sure.
As a child, I watched nature documentaries to actually learn about the natural world. Now, people watch nature documentaries for their graphic violence and sexual content. Having lived in the 21st century for almost seventeen years, their minds now respond to little else.
Like everyone else, I was deeply saddened to see the end of Planet Earth II. Sex and violence abounded. I’ve never liked wasps, since one stung me on the ankle for absolutely no reason as a boy, and I like to see frogs do well, so what better way to spend a Sunday evening than watching a frog repeatedly kick a wasp in the eye? Few moments in modern British television have equalled the sight of the mighty snow leopard, wandering around the Himalayas, occasionally urinating alluringly on a rock.
The last episode of the series went into our cities. Pigeons were treated badly, being eaten by both peregrine falcons and immigrant fish. Monkeys did well; in one city in India they have convinced the locals that they are gods, and now abuse the humans’ goodwill, running around completely naked and demanding food.
The urban slant to this episode did however get me thinking about the animals that can be found in Oxford—and I’m not talking about the freshers! Most Oxford students are disgustingly self-centred, not only do they never take the time to appreciate the animal kingdom—the dissolute life they lead even has a harmful effect on animal life.
Instead of just looking at the nice river, they insist on rowing on it, killing innocent fish with every oar stroke. Instead of walking around the nice meadow, they must run around it in tight sportswear, every other step crushing a duck’s windpipe. Instead of just going to the nice nightclub and listening to the music, they insist on taking ketamine—thereby depriving horses of much-needed stress relief in the modern business environment.
In my one and a half years at Oxford, I have come to appreciate the amazing wealth and diversity of wildlife in Oxford, and I now take almost as much pleasure in looking at animals in real life, as I do from memes. Oxford’s animals have evolved over time to take advantage of the city’s scholastic environment.
In my first term at Oxford I was surprised to stumble upon a reading group for Marxist pigeons, convened in the bird pond outside my building. Magdalen College was originally set up to that local aristocratic families could provide an education for their deer herds, but after the publication of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which warned all landowners of the dangers of talking animals, an age-old tradition was ceased.
Now the deer must make do with the occasional piece of cheap airport literature thrown into their paddock by ‘allied’ students.
I could go on enumerating the many wonders of Oxford’s animal scene: the feminist rats, the techno cattle, even the queer squirrels. I have learnt however in my time at Oxford that most students are simply not interested in the benefits that quiet contemplation of nature can bring. Nature is only of interest to them when it appears mediated by a television screen and David Attenborough’s rasping death rattle.
Compared to the glamourous lives of the animals we see in Planet Earth, it is easy to wrongly believe that Oxford’s non-human inhabitants are boring creatures. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The animals that David Attenborough presents to us are horrible show-offs, whereas the rats and pigeons of Oxford retain a modicum of traditional British reticence.
Your average black rat is perfectly capable of hunting giraffes in the desert, or of catching a fish for its wife and family in the waters of the Antarctic. It chooses not to however out of its natural modesty.
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 | Jan 13, 2017 | Animal Deterrent Products
TOWN bells have historically been a part of our culture as one of the earliest ways to call people together or warn of imminent danger.
Before the advent of telephones and social media, the bells would call us to work, prayer and sound out celebrations for special events.
Even when the telephone took over as the first means of spreading information, the bells helped everyone keep time, and ensured a town ran smoothly.
As such it was an important job and it lay with the timekeeper.
Fifty years ago in Haddington, that job fell to 62-year-old William Barber, who, reported the Haddingtonshire Courier in 1967, was facing a particular problem with lazy pigeons.
The town clock, often relied on by the townsfolk, was being knocked out of time by pigeons who apparently had taken to resting on its hands.
Mr Barber revealed that their favourite resting place had become a problem.
He said: “Often a pigeon will land on a hand which is going down and the weight of the bird will make the clock go fast, but if the pigeon is sitting on the hand while it is going up, it will more than likely stop the clock altogether.”
Haddington Town Council’s attempts to deter the pigeons saw netting introduced to try and keep them away, but it quickly deteriorated as the pigeons used it for nests.
Mr Barber must have seen it all in his years as the official timekeeper of the town clock.
At the age of 62, he had climbed the steep stone stairs into the steeple every week for 27 years to wind up the weights which drove the hands, correct the faces and clean any obstructions.
He took over the mantle from his predecessor James Pringle, a well-known Haddington watchmaker and jeweller, when he retired, having studied at his side for a number of years, learning all the old clock’s idiosyncrasies.
The Town House, from which the clock tower rises, was built in 1748 and designed by William Adams. The steeple itself was added in 1830 and designed by Gillespie and Graham. As late as 1967, it involved some heavy work to keep the clock in check.
Working on the same principle as a grandfather clock, the weights were suspended on steel hawsers and winding them up was not as simple as turning a handle. Instead, they used machinery adapted from agriculture to move them.
And the clock itself had its own clock – a small electric one which controlled when the faces of the larger clock were lit up.
Mr Barber revealed that pigeons were far from the only problems faced as he tried to keep time for the town.
He said: “The clock is not terribly accurate but it is unusual in that it strikes the quarter, half and hour. There are not so many town clocks that do this. Besides the pigeons, there are many other factors which dictate whether the clock goes fast or slow. The weather can affect the clock badly. Quite often snow or ice sticks to the face and stops the hands from going round.”
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 | Jan 9, 2017 | Animal Deterrent Products
Faunal extinctions are calamitous events. There is something tremendously unsettling about the passing of a species into oblivion, especially if there are local implications.
Such was the case with regard to the passenger pigeon, which officially became extinct a century ago. Historically, the bird was a prominent part of Ontario’s avifauna. Anecdotal evidence confirms it occurred in Ontario in enormous numbers.
Accounts of its historical abundance defy belief. In the 1840s, it comprised fully 40 per cent of the entire total bird population of North America. It bred in 45 of Ontario’s 55 counties, often at communal rookeries comprising tens of thousands of nests.
There is astonishing eyewitness evidence of its staggering numbers.
“A grand migration of passenger pigeons (took place at Niagara-on-the-Lake) including a flock one-mile wide and 300 miles long … that took 14 hours to pass by,” reported a soldier at Fort Mississauga in 1860.
In 1832, flocks of passenger pigeons migrated over Toronto for four consecutive days and Royal Ontario Museum records indicate the smallest of the flocks comprised 500-600 individual pigeons.
According to C.J.S. Bethune, in 1858 he encountered a 10-acre stubble field “literally blue with pigeons so thick that one could hardly see the ground.”
A huge pigeon rookery along both sides of the Speed River, from Guelph to Rockton, in 1835 had so many pigeons that “trees were broken down by the weight of the pigeons … (and) wagonloads were shot for food,” a local historian confirmed.
In addition to several rookeries in Oro-Medonte, a profusion of reports illustrate immense flocks at Blyth, Huron County, at Goderich, at Sunnidale, Simcoe County and in Guelph.
At Clearview, near Lake Huron, “vast clouds that darkened the sun” were reported in the mid-1850s. In 1870, pigeons were so plentiful that one market gunner reported he shot “400 before 10 a.m.”
Apparently, people back then thought the pigeon population was inexhaustible. According to researcher P.H. Ehrlich, “the birds were netted, baited with salt, shot at nests, clubbed, live-trapped and later shot in competitions … pigeons were sold for food for 50 cents per barrel.”
One market gunner reported he shot three million pigeons over a 30-year period. In 1878, at a Michigan pigeon rookery, 50,000 were shot each day for almost five months, according to Pete Petosky a former Michigan Department of Natural Resources official.
Eventually, the pigeons could not withstand the relentless slaughter.
The last surviving rookery in Ontario was confirmed near Kingston in 1898 (20 birds and 12 nests). Two specimens were collected at Toronto in 1890 and the last confirmed Ontario specimen was shot by Otto Reinecke near Niagara Falls in September 1891.
The last wild adult in North America was shot in Illinois on March 12, 1901.
Three captive passenger pigeons survived in the Cincinnati Zoo a few years later: one died in April 1909, another in July 1910 and the last living passenger pigeon (Martha) died on Sept. 1, 1914.
All that remain of the billions of passenger pigeons that once darkened the skies over North America are 1,535 skins and 16 skeletons.
Passenger pigeons were about 15 inches long. They fed on fruit, nuts, berries and seeds. Scientists think it might be possible to re-create the species using advanced DNA technology.
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)
