by johnnymarin | Dec 25, 2017 | Pigeons in the News
Paul Charlton aka Pigeon Man is due to be sentenced this morning for breaking an order barring him from feeding birds.
Charlton, of no fixed address, is a well-known figure in Bath, often seen under the arches off Stall Street with pigeons perching on him.
However, he was prosecuted in January for the antics despite being subject to a community protection notice ordering him to stop.
It landed him with a criminal behaviour order – which he has since broken on six occasions.
He was first charged with defying the order only seven days after it was made, on January 30, and four more times in February and once in March.
The 42-year-old admitted the offences when he appeared at Bath Magistrates’ Court on September 25.
His hearing was adjourned so a pre-sentence report could be prepared by the probation service.
Charlton is due back in courtroom 1 for sentencing this morning (Wednesday, October 18).
Follow our blog for everything that happens in this case and updates on this morning’s other hearings.
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 johnnymarin | Dec 24, 2017 | Animal Deterrent Products
Living in communion with nature has never been a tall order for Shyam Kumar, who chooses to wake up to the sounds of chirping birds, rather than the variable alarm on his mobile. He loves to sit in the company of doves and other birds amid flowering plants rather than spend time in air-conditioned room. He prefers to speak to rabbits, instead of speaking to friends over phone.
A native of Vizianagaram, Shyam Kumar has been passionate about nature and goes out of the way to befriend and protect plants and birds. Whenever he travels to other places, he does not shop for clothes, accessories, footwear, watches or other such things; he looks for new ‘friends’ that he can bring home to add to his pleasure.
No wonder, Shyam Kumar’s house bustles with love birds, doves, pigeons, rabbits and other animals. He has been maintaining a sanctuary of sorts. He takes care of the birds and animals as if they are his own children: finches cocktails, African love birds, runt birds, fan tails, jawas, regular doves, pigeons and rabbits. They all have specialized cages and are fed grains and nuts, including cashew and almond.
Every day his routine begins with observing the birds, their activity and health. His passion for gathering different species of birds keeps him busy always. Shyam Kumar can get at least Rs. 5,000-6,000 per month as rent from the portion of his house that he presently uses to accommodate his ‘friends’, but he has no thought of letting it out.
In fact, he spends around Rs.5,000 towards medicines, nuts and grains for these birds and animals. He feels happy to feed these colourful birds with his own hand. His every wakeful moment is shared with his pets. He says he speaks to the birds in their language. He even gifts pairs of love birds to his friends, near and dear on their birthdays and other special occasions. Some of the birds dwelling in his home have been brought from West Bengal, Araku, Assam and other parts of the country. We can find a variety of rare species at his home.
“All our time just passes with these birds and plants. Sometimes we even cancel our tours to take care of these pets and plants. All my friends feel very happy whenever I gift rare species to them,” he says. Their chirps are very pleasant to him, never annoying. The terrace of his house is filled with flower pots, with the fragrance of roses, lilies and other flowers wafting across.
Even vegetables like lady’s finger, ribbed gourd and others are appealing to behold in his carefully tended garden. “We take measures to protect doves and rabbits from cats and dogs. The major threat for these birds is from cats and dogs only. It feels good to sit beside these cages. I am passionate to protect these rare lives,” he says.
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 johnnymarin | Dec 23, 2017 | Bird Deterrent Products
This summer’s wildfire season left both humans and their pets struggling in thick smoke – but the late haze that wafted through Squamish in September might have rerouted some professional pigeons from the Lower Mainland.
On Sept. 4, Harry Midgley noticed a small pigeon roaming his Cheekye front yard. The light grey bird had a brown and purple band on its neck and a small dark grey head.
The bird immediately took a liking to both Midgley and his motorcycle – it was happy to perch on his knee, foot or in his hands. A band around the bird’s legs with numbers and letters led Midgley to the website for the CPFA – the Canadian Pigeon Fanciers Association, which he contacted to try and track the owner.
In the meantime, Midgley brought out an old birdcage to protect the bird from predators, provided some seed and water and consulted a local Squamish Facebook group for advice on what to do with Homie – the name he gave the bird.
South of Midgley near Brackendale, Squamish resident Jessica Adams, and her children were being charmed by their own feathered visitor. They’d noticed that like clockwork, a grey-and-white pigeon with red banded feet would visit their yard.
“It was really hungry and thirsty on the first day, but it perked up,” said Adams. “I figured maybe it needed to refuel and go back to wherever it came from.”
For five days in a row, the bird visited at the same time each day, before flying off to spend the night somewhere else.
Adams’ four-year-old son dubbed the curious bird “Jailbird” because of the cuffs on its legs, while her daughter borrowed a water bowl and some turf from their pet rabbits to make it more comfortable.
Like Midgley, Adams took to Facebook to try and find the owner of the bird. A little shier than Homie, she had to take zoomed-in photos to try and read the numbers on the band.
Some people might call pigeons “rats with wings” but Adams said the little bird was a hit.
“My kids love the bird,” she said, joking that she might now keep pigeons instead of chickens. “It just hangs around the water bowl and eats— pretty cool little bird. This one is very sweet.”
Midgley and Adams assumed that the thick smoke stranded the birds in their backyards – whether breathing it in had tired out the small creatures, or perhaps the visibility had interrupted their navigating ability.
The local who runs the local NANA (Neighbourhood Animals Needing Assistance) group for the Sea to Sky said reports of lost pigeons in Squamish are fairly rare, especially compared to missing cats and dogs.
The social media page – which helps reunite lost pets with owners – has been in operation since 2016, but there have only been two submissions for lost pigeons.
Head to the city and the common rock pigeon, or Columa livia, isn’t hard to find. They’ll hang out anywhere that they might find a snack.
The birds are a little rarer in Squamish, but a small flock is known to hang out on warm days near the Howe Sound Brewery. The larger band-tailed pigeon is also seen in Squamish but is a species of “special concern” according to the B.C. government.
Keeping pigeons as pets, although a very old tradition, is becoming rarer and rarer in the province.
According to Dave Naylor, who lives in Langley, there’s only one person in Brackendale who still keeps the birds. Plenty of breeders and racers operate in the Lower Mainland, in the Interior, and on Vancouver Island, but no one keeps racing birds anymore in Squamish or Whistler.
“The smoke would have slowed them down a bit, probably had an impact on breathing as they were flying,” said Naylor.
He said pigeons from the city sometimes fly as far as Medicine Hat, and occasionally they go north through Whistler and back to the city. Adams and Midgley didn’t have any success IDing their birds, but Naylor said if they were racing pigeons, they likely came from the Fraser Valley.
Naylor doesn’t race the birds himself anymore, but his Langley born-and-raised pigeons travel across North America to compete in sporting events like the California Classic, the Holiday Cup, and the Triple Crown.
They can fly up to 300 miles in long races and are tracked by an electronic chip on their leg. Prizes awarded to winning birds can reach US$90,000. Naylor said pigeon racing is more popular than horse racing in California.
In Vancouver, it’s getting harder for the pigeons to find their way home.
Naylor said the re-introduction of the peregrine falcon has made the sport more difficult, and there’s also speculation that cell towers interfere with the birds’ navigation. Tougher municipal bylaws in cities, including Vancouver, have also made keeping the birds more difficult.
“The sport is diminishing, but it’s still fairly active on the island and in the Interior, but there are fewer and fewer clubs in the valley,” said Naylor.
Still, fancy pigeons and racers get lost often enough that the Canadian Pigeon Fanciers Association website has detailed instructions for what to do with a lost bird.
“The bird can be temporarily kept in a cardboard box with light and air holes cut into all sides while you are awaiting its owner,” instructs the organization, adding that bread should be avoided but seed and clean water will help the bird recover if it appears tired.
So if you see a lost pigeon with banded feet, stay cool. Most friendly fliers are just taking a break and looking for friendly humans to help out with some food and water.
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 johnnymarin | Dec 22, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
The view of the lake from the Krishnadevaraya statue on Tank Bund is just spectacular. As traffic zips past on the busy road, the statue of Buddha shimmers in the evening sun; the concrete structures, Birla Mandir on the left and the fluttering national flag on the right create a picturesque effect. The air is charged with buoyancy as a group of four friends from Ram Nagar High School in Zamistanpur take turns to model for a photo session. “It will be uploaded for friends on Facebook,” cheers Vishnu from the group.
Connecting road
Although this road connecting Hyderabad and Secunderabad is one of the favourite destinations for Hyderabadis, most of the time it evokes mixed feelings. Thanks to the stench coming from the algae-laden green water dumped with debris and garbage, it is common to see people in the vicinity covering their noses. Fitness enthusiasts, friends and selfie-seekers walk on the pavement clicking pictures with Buddha in the background; green lawns on the opposite side attracts families with children and also youngsters in love. One can often spot couples chatting and laughing away while relaxing on the steps of these statues. Masala murmura sellers, ice cream carts, soda bandis do brisk business here. Venkataiah, who waits for customers with his cart rues the business has drastically reduced. “Ippudu giraaki ledu,” he states with a disappointed tone but adds Sundays and holidays sees many visitors. “The evening rains also stop people from coming here,” observes another hawker.
Public apathy
The walk continues with Nandu and Vijay, students of MediCiti Nursing College. The duo reside in Yakutpura and have accompanied their friends from village to a trip to Tank Bund. The nursing students voice their concern at the water’s condition. “We come here for time pass. The scenery is good but our heart breaks when we see the water. It is not good for the environment and it can also lead to diseases.”Nearby is an extended area above the Maisamma temple, which is home to pigeons. Groups of pigeons take flight as people feed them grains and corn. Shanta, who sells these grains sits nearby under a shade with her baby. “People come for different reasons to feed these pigeons,” she points out. “Some believe it is a virtuous act and others want to take pictures with fluttering pigeons in the background,” she observes. Her husband Shiva is a braveheart and saves people when they try to commit suicide in Tank Bund. She shows a hoarding nearby with his photograph and the number of people he has saved till now.
As we speak, an auto stops by and a woman walks in to take the quota to feed the pigeons. This has been the daily routine of Sangeeta Rani, an employee of a firm. “I enjoy coming here everyday; I feel at peace when I feed these birds,” she smiles. The steps at this walkway lead to lower Tank Bund but the walls drown in the smell of urine. The overwhelming smell is repulsive and can make your Tank Bund trip a total disaster.
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 johnnymarin | Dec 21, 2017 | Bird Deterrent Products
We are all familiar with the cautionary tale of the Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius — once the most abundant species in North America, and possibly the entire world. Numbering well into the billions at the peak of its existence, flocks of Passenger Pigeons flying overhead were likened to deafening hurricanes. It seemed unthinkable that this superabundant bird could go extinct.
Yet, it did. Unchecked hunting and the widespread clearance of hardwood trees, which provided the bulk of its diet, drove a steep decline in numbers in the late 19th Century. By the time we realised what was happening, it was too late to reverse the decline, and Martha, the last known Passenger Pigeon, died in captivity in 1914. This sorry tale serves to remind us that although many birds are classified as Least Concern by BirdLife on behalf of the IUCN Red List, if we ignore the warning signs, no species is immune from the threat of extinction.
In the mid-1990s, the observed decline of the Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureolain Hokkaido, Japan alerted conservationists that another super-abundant species might be in trouble. Now we know it has suffered a huge decline, possibly as much as 95 percent of its population, in the span of just two to three decades. Prior to 2004 the Yellow-breasted Bunting was not regarded as of conservation concern, but since 2013 it has been listed as Endangered, and this year the discussion on BirdLife’s Globally Threatened Birds Forum concerned a potential further uplisting to Critically Endangered.
The main reason for its decline is also comparable to that of the Passenger Pigeon: the species migrates in huge flocks, which are hunted in massive numbers. Again paralleling the Passenger Pigeon, the Yellow-breasted Bunting’s plight has been worsened by improvements in communication and transportation. The species gathers in large numbers at night to roost, making the birds easy to trap in high numbers.
The species is known as the “rice bird” in China, where it is hunted for food — a practice that has been illegal since 1997, but continues on the black market to this day. Such unsustainable and mostly illegal hunting on migratory passerines in Asia has pushed not only the Yellow-breasted Bunting to the edge of extinction; according to preliminary monitoring projects performed in Amur Region (Russia) and Hong Kong SAR (China), all migratory bunting species in eastern Asia are declining.
In order to address and confront this little-known crisis, BirdLife International co-organised an international workshop on conservation of the Yellow-breasted Bunting with the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (BirdLife in China (Hong Kong)) and the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China in November 2016. The purpose of the workshop was to collect information and opinion for drafting an International Conservation Action Plan on the Yellow-breasted Bunting, and to form an international conservation network on this and other migratory passerines.
More than 50 experts from almost all major range countries attended the workshop. The main recommendations from the workshop were that the Yellow-breasted Bunting should be officially protected in all range countries, that its migration patterns should be managed using colour banding and geolocators, and that its breeding, migration and wintering sites need to be identified, surveyed, protected, and managed. It is also imperative to study the effect of agrochemicals on migratory passerines that use farmlands, and promote wildlife-friendly farming practices. International cooperation on the research and conservation of this species and other migratory passerines is necessary if we are to stabilise the numbers of Asia’s vanishing migrants.
The International Conservation Action Plan of the Yellow-breasted Bunting is expected to be published by 2019, as good consultation with different countries and stakeholders, including some regional and national workshops, are needed. However, important actions are already underway. In the breeding season of 2016, BirdLife International and Birds Russia conducted a preliminary study on the Yellow-breasted Bunting in Sakhalin, Russia. The result was alarming: it has seemingly disappeared completely from southern Sakhalin, and could only found at a few localities in northern and central parts of the island.
The next year, a joint team from BirdLife International, Wild Bird Society of Japan (BirdLife Partner) and Birds Russia visited northern Sakhalin and colour-banded eighteen Yellow-breasted Buntings so we could study its migration. Geolocators will be used in the breeding season of 2018 if the banded birds have proven they are returning to the same breeding sites.
This year, China has made a very positive move in saving the Yellow-breasted Bunting and other migratory passerine by enforcing a revised Wildlife Conservation Law. It outlaws the eating of protected species, which includes the Yellow-breasted Bunting. The key to success is higher awareness among the general public so they will refuse to buy the birds and report any illegal activities seen.
BirdLife International and the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society have produced a poster to support implementation of the new conservation law. BirdLife Partners will also support an education programme on prevention of hunting and wildlife consumption in all other range countries as the fight continues to ensure that the Yellow-breasted Bunting doesn’t become another cautionary tale for future generations.
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)
