NORWAY — The pigeons are back in the Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street.
A broken first-floor window on the back side of the vacant building appears to be the access point, and it’s not the first time they’ve gotten in through broken windows.
In July 2013, building owner Sam Patel was notified by Code Enforcement Officer Joelle Corey-Whitman that the town would take legal action because the broken windows were a public hazard. The eight broken second-story windows and the lower half of the eight third-story windows eventually were covered with plywood.
Patel, a retailer in southern Maine, purchased the empty, partially-renovated, three-story, brick building in December 2012 from TD Bank. It was transferred to Patel’s limited liability company, Jasmin LLC, on Dec. 14, 2012. Since then, no action has been taken to reuse it.
Efforts by the Sun Journal to reach Patel were unsuccessful.
In 2008, the interior of the building was gutted by the former owners, but efforts to renovate and reuse the building ceased in 2010 when they lost control of the building in foreclosure.
The building remains empty. The first floor is covered with pigeon droppings and the tin ceiling appears to be rusted and broken in many spots. Temporary electrical lighting remains in the ceiling and a few pieces of lumber are on the floor.
A study of Odd Fellows Hall by Resurgence Engineering and Preservation of Portland several years ago indicated it would cost more than $800,000 to fully renovate the building.
The Odd Fellows Hall was named one of Maine’s 10 most endangered historic places by Maine Preservation of Portland in 2013.
The basement and first floor were built in1894 after the “Great Fire” destroyed much of the downtown business district. The other floors were added in 1910. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of Norway’s historic downtown district.
The third floor contained a high-ceiling ceremonial space for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Norway Lodge No. 16, which owned the building during the 19th century. The second floor had a kitchen and large dining area, along with law offices and a courthouse. The first floor traditionally has been storefronts.
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.
Sunday marks the commencement of wood pigeon hunting season which continues until the end of October. The Finnish Hunters’ Association points out that many of the birds in southern parts of the country are at present from the second brood, therefore birds flying in pairs or alone should be saved at the start of the season.
If you go into the woods today…be sure to know your wood pigeon (pictured) from your stock pigeon. The latter is a protected species.Image: Erkki Sillanpää
Wood pigeon hunting traditionally opens the start of the hunting season. Abundant populations are the main reason for the pigeon hunt, with the fleet and unpredictable bird proving highly popular game year after year.
The Hunters’ Association also points out the importance of species identification. The stock pigeon, which is a protected species, is smaller than the wood pigeon and doesn’t have white spots on its wings. Its mode of flight is also different.
Hunters should also keep in mind that they cannot move in a field in which crops are unharvested without the farmer’s permission and that the shooting without permission is prohibited within 150 metres of inhabited dwellings.
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.
IN “THE silence of the birds” (Jan 4), wildlife scientist Umesh Srinivasan said that logged forests being converted into oil palm plantations have next to zero value for tropical biodiversity.
In land-scarce Singapore, what little that is left of our pristine primary tropical forests is mainly confined to the catchment areas, nature reserves and some offshore islands. Biodiversity can occur only with minimum human encroachment.
Wildlife can either adapt, move on or perish. Some animals have found new food sources and shelter in our urban environment and some have even flourished.
The most ubiquitous is the mynah bird, which can be seen all around, from parks to hawker centres. Their nightly gathering on roadside trees in large numbers is a constant source of nuisance, with their noise and droppings.
Another is the pigeon. If fed by people who disregard feeding prohibitions, their numbers can explode quickly. Their droppings also transmit diseases.
Cutting down trees or drastically trimming tree canopies to reduce bird roosting is not sustainable as it reduces the amount of shade for pedestrians.
The prey-predator ratio should be restored. In nature, when this delicate balance is maintained, the pool of species preyed upon will not increase beyond the point that it causes depletion of food and water resources.
In Singapore, there seems to be very few indigenous birds of prey to help bring down the population of mynahs and pigeons.
We could emulate the US, where the peregrine falcon was released in various cities to help reduce the pigeon population.
Perhaps, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority could commission a study on which species of birds are most adaptable to living in Singapore’s city area and suburbs.
There could be a breeding and release programme. GPS devices could be attached to the released birds in a way that would not restrict their movements, just like the civet cats on Ubin (“Civets on Ubin get GPS collars”; Jan 23).
If this programme proves successful, we might be able to completely solve the problem caused by the huge population of mynahs and pigeons here.
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.
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — The owners of a San Francisco tofu company agreed in a consent decree filed in federal court Tuesday to cease operations until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines the company is selling clean and sanitary food.
The consent decree concerning the Fong Kee Tofu Co. Inc. was filed in the court of U.S. Magistrate Kandis Westmore in Oakland.
The settlement stems from a civil lawsuit filed against the company and owners Yan Hui Fong, Jen Ying Fong and Suny Fong on Jan. 23 by the U.S. Justice Department at the request of the FDA. The lawsuit alleged that unsanitary conditions at the company were causing its products to become adulterated.
It alleged that FDA inspectors last year observed pigeons on top of plastic-wrapped raw soybean pallets, insects flying around the area used to process firm tofu, lack of proper handwashing by employees, and residue on equipment that was supposed to have been cleaned.
Kasie Lee, a lawyer for the company and its owners, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Joyce Branda said in a statement, “Fong Kee Tofu was repeatedly informed that the sanitation practices at its facility were deficient.”
“The failure to make sure that its facility was operating under sanitary conditions could be a serious risk to the public health and needed to be remedied,” Branda said.
The company’s products include firm tofu, soft tofu, fried tofu balls, soybean cake and soy drinks made from soybeans from Missouri, according to the lawsuit.
The company and owners agreed in the consent decree to be bound by a permanent injunction that requires them to stop preparing, manufacturing, packaging and selling the products.
If they wish to resume operations, they must hire an outside sanitation expert, labeling expert and auditor to develop and monitor a program for preparing uncontaminated and correctly labeled food. The experts can be three separate people or the same person.
The company cannot resume its business until it receives written authorization from the FDA. It would then be subject to FDA inspections without prior notice, under the injunction.
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.
During one of the worst winters on record for native pigeons dying of disease, state officials continue to seek public assistance in monitoring the disease’s progression and removing transmission sources from their yards.
The band-tailed pigeon is the only pigeon native to California. It is especially susceptible to avian trichomonosis, a disease caused by a single-cell protozoan called Trichomonas gallinae.
The protozoan is believed to have co-evolved with the common rock pigeon, which was introduced from Europe. It causes lesions to form in infected birds’ mouths and throats. The birds, which subsist largely on acorns that they swallow whole, are unable to move food down their throats and starve or can even suffocate.
A state scientist said the ongoing drought may be aiding in the disease’s transmission among the band-tailed pigeon population.
“These mortality events seem to occur more frequently in winters with lower precipitation, so it’s certainly possible that the mortality events that we’re seeing this winter are related to drought conditions,” said Krysta Rogers, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The drought has reduced the number of available water sources, thereby concentrating the numbers of birds at remaining watering holes.
“Anytime you have a small volume of water and lots of band-tailed pigeons utilizing it, if there is this parasite circulating within the population, it can spread more rapidly in that close contact,” Rogers said.
Rogers gave a rough estimate that as many as 10,000 band-tailed pigeons have died in California this winter as a result of the disease. Hard numbers are difficult to produce, because birds are difficult to monitor. Current estimates of the disease’s impact are based on reports of dead birds submitted by the public.
Rogers said the department is continuing to ask for citizens to report on sick or dead birds that they find.
You can report on ill or dead birds at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Mortality Reporting website.
The department is also asking for residents to remove feeders, birdbaths and fountains until the pigeons leave their wintering grounds. Rogers said that it’s unclear whether past calls for restricting the features have aided in disease control but that the request is logical.
“I can’t really put a number on whether or not it helps, because I don’t know if people are actually doing it or not,” Rogers said. “I think it’s one of the easiest things that can be done. If that bird feeder and that bird bath aren’t available for wild birds, then disease transmission definitely will not happen there.”
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.
The unassuming pigeon, a city denizen so common some call them “rats with wings,” really deserves more respect. These birds can be beautiful (just ask the competitors at the National Pigeon Association’s 93rd annual Grand National Pigeon Show), useful messengers and surprisingly agile fliers. They are are also smarter than many might think, according to new research out of the University of Iowa. Pigeons can learn to recognize and categorize objects much the way human toddlers do, reports a university news release.
The researchers showed three pigeons photographs of 128 objects that all fell into one of 16 categories: baby, bottle, cake, car, cracker, dog, duck, fish, flower, hat, key, pen, phone, plan, shoe or tree. Each pigeon was presented with a photo and the ability to peck one of two symbols. One represented the correct category and the other was randomly chosen from the 15 remaining categories. A correct peck earned a reward. Not only did the pigeons learn how to categorize the images, but they were also able to place four new photos in the right group. The results were published in the journal Cognition.
“Unlike prior attempts to teach words to primates, dogs, and parrots, we used neither elaborate shaping methods nor social cues,” says one of the study’s authors, Ed Wasserman. “And our pigeons were trained on all 16 categories simultaneously, a much closer analog of how children learn words and categories.”
The method is very similar to ways that researchers study language learning in toddlers. Of course, many studies have shown that calling someone a “bird brain” isn’t so insulting: Birds are quite good at differentiating complex objects, using tools, working together in a group and even identifying the beat in a song. But bird intelligence can only go so far. Apparently, pigeons’ human-toddler smarts doesn’t keep the unwary ones from the grasping jaws of southwestern France’s pigeon-catching catfish.
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.
NORWAY — The pigeons are back in the Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street.
