by Ryan Ponto | Aug 2, 2017 | Bird Netting
Have you ever wondered why woodpeckers don’t get headaches? It is quite remarkable when you think about it. This bird, on a regular basis, subjects its brain to 1000 g of deceleration every time it pecks (g represents the acceleration due to gravity acting on all bodies on the surface of the Earth), and it does so in bursts of 10 – 20 pecks at a time, many times a day! Fighter pilots need specially designed g-suits to not lose vital biological functions at only a handful of g’s.
Studying the woodpecker, then, enables an important question: How can the biophysics of pecking help humans avoid head injuries? This is important because head injuries are a common occurrence. Humans hit themselves in the head a great deal, and so any engineering solution that can additionally prevent severe injury would be beneficial compared to the state of the art. More and more, engineers are turning to nature to seek “bio-inspired” solutions (a field called “biomimicry”). The reason is simple: no need to reinvent the wheel; after all, evolution has selected the best adaptations to behavior. Whatever edge the original pecker birds had to find their food, evolution has rewarded them with ingenious adaptations that now allow furious pecking without injury!
In a paper published in PLOS One by a team led by Dr. Lizhen Wang of Beihang University in China, new insights into the “safety features” of the woodpecker have been identified. In a comprehensive study of the biophysics, involving X-ray analysis of the skull, strength testing of bones, and detailed computer simulations of the stresses on the skull resulting from pecking, the researchers concluded, unsurprisingly, that the woodpecker is incredibly well adapted to pecking. What was surprising was the co-existence of clever adaptations that, hopefully, will weave themselves into original engineering solutions for head protection.
The most incredible adaptation is the hyoid bone. In humans, the hyoid bone is a tiny relict bone in the neck. It is used to anchor muscles that enable tongue movement and swallowing. For forensic scientists it is useful because its fracture is a telltale sign of deadly forced strangulation.
The researchers were able to confirm this spongy material using high resolution X-ray computed tomography, which is a fancy way of saying “non-destructively slicing the skull with X-rays to see inside.” Using their newfound knowledge of the how the skull is built. They designed, using a computer, a model of the skull. In this computer model they assigned a strength value for each bone (that they had measured mechanically by breaking them in a gauged instrument in a previous set of experiments), linked them all together on the computer, and simulated a peck. Using state-of-the-art engineering mathematics (called “finite-element analysis”), they were able to investigate (and predict) the amount of stress that the beak experiences during a peck, and how that stress travels through of the bones of the skull. It is this study that revealed just how ingenious the hyoid bone is in channeling a great deal of pecking stress through it, sparing more sensitive parts of the skull.In the woodpecker, the hyoid bone is much more developed and truly amazing. It begins as an attachment to the nostrils in the upper beak. It splits into two between the eyes, wraps around the head, and rejoins in the neck and ends as the muscle attachment to the tongue of the animal. During pecking, the tongue is thrust forward as far as it can go while still inside the beak. This thrust pulls the bone taught around the head, acting as a seatbelt to the cranium, spine, and the brain, and thus minimizing brain movement inside the cranium during deceleration. This, coupled with the spongy cranium material to cushion the impact essentially wipes out risks of injury.
The woodpecker is uniquely designed to experience high g brain decelerations. Humans brains are not, but are impact-tightening helmets in the horizon? Studies like those of Dr. Zhang and her team are sure to inspire the next generation of safety engineers.
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 | Aug 1, 2017 | Bird Netting
Lee Sorenson of Post Falls enjoys reading Ammi Midstokke’s adventures in the S-R Outdoors pages.
It reminds him of “the years of commutes, winters, and Mother Nature’s jokes” in the Spirit Lake and Blanchard Valley areas. Lee emails: “I feel her reality.” Lee is reminded in particular of a woodpecker that loved the corner of his then 15-year-old son’s room.
It was 1998. The family had just moved into a two-story house. Lee and family did everything to discourage Woody Woodpecker from drilling. The son would chase it off in the early mornings. But it would return pecking before the boy drifted back to sleep. Lee dabbed hot sauce in Woody’s favorite spot. No dice. Then, he hung a fake owl from the eaves. Nothing. Finally, he tried hanging shiny CDs nearby and nailing tin over the woodpecker’s fave spot.
But Woody hammered on. The old hands at the hardware store said a box of 22s was the only solution. They were right. The family felt badly afterward.
Now, Lee lives in the “megalopolis” – his word, not Huckleberries’ – of Post Falls. The only annoying bird in his life is a robin that likes his strawberries. Which is OK. As long as it doesn’t knock first.
Bad, bad owner
David Townsend of Coeur d’Alene spotted a dog tied to a tree next to his car when he exited Costco Sunday evening. She had water and was in the shade. But she was distressed. David petted her for 20 minutes until the owner showed up. He had feared that the dog might have been abandoned because she was an older one. Dave had begun a countdown in his mind when the owner arrived as the store shut. He had planned to take the dog home and call animal control. Instead, he told the woman that it was illegal to leave a dog unattended in Coeur d’Alene. The woman was defensive. She said it was better to leave the dog outside with water than in a hot car. Yes, Dave responded, but it would have been better still to leave the dog at home. Dave, who still mourns the loss of his beloved 14-year-old pup last fall, sums up the feeling many would have: “I have little patience with people who don’t appreciate a good dog.”
Huckleberries
Poet’s Corner: Palouse winds blow heavy/and they blow very far;/now somebody’s wheat field/is all over my car – “The Bard of Sherman Avenue: Poems by Tom Wobker” (“Windstorm”) … So a Huckleberry Friend is eating lunch in a family restaurant in Priest Lake when a beautiful young woman enters wearing only a thong bikini. Everyone had a bird’s-eye view of her back side, including children from 3 to 7 years old. Our Huckleberry Friend is no prude. But she said after the fleshy display: “You’re in a family restaurant, put something on.” Bingo … The Uber Phantom gave a ride to a married couple who told him of an interesting way that they keep the lines of communication open. Once a month, the husband asks his wife to tell him something about her that he doesn’t know. It seems to be working for them. Says Uber Phantom: “I love the idea” … Poll: My Huckleberries blog readers are fussy. Fifty-five percent of them won’t eat roadkill. Moi? Only if I don’t know that it is.
Parting Shot
Coeur d’Alene Councilman Dan Gookin was having none of Chairman Brent Regan’s lame explanation why yet another moderate Republican had quit the Kootenai County GOP Central Committee. After tendering her resignation from the Central Committee, main-streamer Christa Hazel blasted Regan’s organization as extreme ideologically and conspiratorial in a Coeur d’Alene Press column Saturday. Regan responded with his own column in the Press Tuesday. And Gookin cut Regan off online: “”How can you say that the committee is diverse when many people – good longstanding Republicans – have left in utter disgust? Ms. Hazel is only the latest refugee in a lengthy queue of respected party members who’ve had enough of this circus.” Kootenai County Republicans folded their big tent years ago.
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 | Jul 31, 2017 | Bird Netting
THEY say curiosity killed the cat, but it was greed that nearly killed this hungry baby woodpecker.
The nestling in a tree at Wolvercote lakes plunged 30ft from his nest after reaching too far to get a meal from his doting parent.
Still too young to fly, he then had to valiantly climb all the way back up.
Luckily, the whole saga was caught on camera by amateur photographer Ian Curtis.
Mr Curtis, who lives in Wolvercote with his wife and their two children, had been watching the young woodpecker family growing throughout May.
He said: “Predictably, the chicks were very demanding, and whichever was at the entrance would stretch out their necks when they saw the parents flying towards them.”
Then, one day it happened: one youngster got a little overexcited.
Mr Curtis, who works at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, said: “He overreached and was suddenly spread-eagled against the bark, hanging on.”
The next second the fledgling was doing a chaotic parachuting pirouette into the undergrowth 30ft below.
Mr Curtis said: “I was then faced with one of those photographer’s nightmares: do I step in and help or let nature take its course and click away?”
He went closer to see if he could help and spotted Woody had crashed-landed in a dense mass of brambles which he could not have penetrated even if he wanted to.
He said: “Almost immediately I could see Woody emerging from the brambles and scrabbling up a tree trunk at the start of a determined return journey.”
Instinctively not wanting to draw attention to his vulnerability, Woody stayed silent while following the chirping coming from his sibling back in the nest.
Slowly but surely, clambering forwards, sideways, upwards and occasionally backwards, Woody made good progress.
It was only when he got to the top he realised he had climbed the wrong tree.
Undeterred, he hopped across to the right one to make his final ascent.
When he made it home, he clambered onto the top of the trunk and sat down for a rest.
Seconds later a parent flew in with another beak-full, but rather than give it to the exhausted Woody, fed it to his less greedy and more patient sibling still in the nest.
Well, good things come to those who wait.
Mr Curtis said: “At the time, it had seemed an amazing, stroke-of-luck, encounter with the sheer determination, single-mindedness and survival instinct of one small struggling woodpecker chick.
“And he certainly hadn’t needed any help.”
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 | Jul 30, 2017 | Bird Netting
PARRY SOUND — Have you ever noticed a hole or two in the trunk of a tree? These holes, also known as cavities, are incredibly important. Over 50 species of birds and mammals in Ontario depend on cavities in trees for countless purposes. These holes are used for feeding, nesting, roosting, storing food, denning, escaping predators, providing shelter, raising young, and hibernating.
Although cavities occur naturally, many are also created by hardworking birds like woodpeckers, chickadees, and the red-breasted nuthatch. A common cavity created by a woodpecker is a feeding cavity. These cavities are 5-20 cm deep and often have a rectangular or irregular shape with rough edges. If you see at least two oval-shaped cavities in a large hollow tree, it may be a roost cavity for pileated woodpeckers. There are at least two holes so that the bird can escape if a predator comes. Cavities for nesting tend to have circular entrances as well but this time the woodpecker has hollowed out a chamber inside the tree. Rarely are two nest holes less than 1 m apart. Nest cavities can also form when a branch dies and leaves a more irregular hole.
Many excavating birds do not use the same nest cavity twice. This allows many other birds and mammals including the saw whet owl, kestrel, eastern bluebird, deer mouse, marten, and fisher to move in. Other wildlife can also use natural cavities called escape cavities as shelter or protection from predators. These are not suitable for roosting or denning because of their size or where they are found. Escape cavities could include natural openings at ground level or hollow trees with large seams.
Cavities are often found on less vigorous or declining trees. In managed forests, the least healthy trees are usually removed first so that the forest can improve and thrive. So how are local foresters ensuring that these important habitat features remain in our crown forests? Westwind Forest Stewardship Inc., that manages forested Crown land in the Muskoka-Parry Sound region, ensures that at least a prescribed minimum number of cavity trees are being maintained. Certified tree markers are selecting good cavity trees to stay. By putting a blue spray paint “W” or dot on a tree, they let operators know that this tree cannot be harvested.
All cavity trees, however, are not created equal. Trees with nest or roost cavities are more valuable for wildlife than feeding or escape cavities. More valuable cavity trees are prioritized when selecting wildlife trees to keep in a stand. Sometimes, like in the case of roost cavities, there is even a harvest-free reserve put around the tree to further protect it.
So why don’t dentists like foresters? Because we keep too many cavities.
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 | Jul 29, 2017 | Bird Netting
If anyone is under the impression that only mammals possess the drive to fight for their young and create strong family bonds, this video will clearly prove them wrong. The footage shows just what an incredible risk a bird mother is willing to take to protect her future family, even though the danger is nothing less than lethal.
The woodpecker mother is seen fighting mercilessly with a large snake emerging from her nestin a trunk of a tree. Even though the snake attacks her time after time, the bird comes back repeatedly to make the animal get away from her eggs. The conflict goes so far that the snake ends up with a bunch of the woodpecker’s feathers in their mouth after getting hold of her. But the bird does not tire – and seems like abandoning the eggs to the predator is not even an option.
This unbelievable scene is a great proof of how vitally important their young are to bird mothers – so much so that the woodpecker confronts the predator with determination despite the obvious fact that doing it, she is also very much risking her own life.
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)
