by Pigeon Patrol | Aug 7, 2014 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
US – University of California Davis researchers have identified the cause of death in wild band-tailed pigeons connected to newly discovered parasite.
Researchers at UC Davis and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife have identified trichomonosis as a key factor in winter die-offs and population decline of bandtailed pidgeons, a native migratory game bird. (Dianne Ricky/courtesy photo)
A new pathogen has been discovered by scientists investigating major die-offs of pigeons native to North America, according to studies led by the University of California, Davis, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Scientists were able to implicate this new parasite, along with the ancient parasite, Trichomonas gallinae, in the recent deaths of thousands of Pacific Coast band-tailed pigeons. The die-offs occurred during multiple epidemics in California’s Central Coast and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges. Scientists named the new pathogen, Trichomonas stableri.
Avian trichomonosis is an emerging and potentially fatal disease that creates severe lesions that can block the esophagus, ultimately preventing the bird from eating or drinking, or the trachea, leading to suffocation. The disease may date back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth, as lesions indicative of trichomonosis were found recently in T-Rex skeletons. The disease may also have contributed to the decline of the passenger pigeon, whose extinction occurred exactly 100 years ago.
Epidemics of the disease can result in the death of thousands of birds in a short amount of time. An outbreak in Carmel Valley killed an estimated 43,000 birds in 2007.
“The same parasite species that killed band-tailed pigeons during the outbreaks were also killing the birds when there weren’t outbreaks,” said lead author Yvette Girard, a postdoctoral scholar with the Wildlife Health Center in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine at the time of the studies. “This indicates there may be other factors at play in the die-offs.”
“We are now investigating what triggers these die-offs, which may be caused by the congregation of infected and vulnerable birds during certain environmental conditions, or even spill-over from another nearby species,” said principal investigator Christine Johnson, a professor with the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center.
Between winter 2011 and spring 2012, there were eight mortality events – defined as more than five dead birds found in the same geographic area during the same time frame. The study said trichomonosis was confirmed in 96 per cent of dead, sick or dying birds examined at seven of the mortality events. This disease was also found in 36 per cent of band-tailed pigeons at wildlife rehabilitation centres, 11 per cent of hunter-killed band-tailed pigeons and four per cent of the birds caught live and released.
“What makes this disease more troublesome for band-tailed pigeons is their low reproductive rate – about one chick per year – and also that these events are occurring in the wintertime,” said co-author Krysta Rogers, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “That means almost all the birds we’re losing during events are adult birds. They’re being killed before they have the ability to reproduce in the spring.”
Mortality events in band-tailed pigeons have been reported in California at least since 1945 but have increased during the last decade, with outbreaks reported in six of the last 10 years.
“Going into the study, we expected to find a single, highly virulent species of Trichomonas in birds sampled at outbreaks,” Girard said. “Having two species killing birds at these large-scale mortality events is surprising.”
Necropsies of the birds were conducted at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at UC Davis and the Wildlife Investigations Laboratory at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Both studies were funded by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
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.
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Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Pigeon Patrol | Aug 7, 2014 | Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
Members of the public are being urged to tidy away loose netting after a charity warned it poses a danger to wildlife.
The RSPCA says discarded fishing nets, unkempt bird-deterrent nets and goal nets could injure birds and other wildlife during the summer months.
RSPCA wildlife scientific officer Llewelyn Lowen said: “Netting that is not maintained, repaired and tended to regularly enough poses a serious threat to wildlife.
“The same also stands for sports nets that are not tidied away when they are not in use. Netting is of a nature that when it is blown away it can quickly entangle animals, particularly wildlife, causing them distress and injury.”
The RSPCA receives around 2,000 reports of birds and other wildlife being trapped by netting each year.
Llewelyn said: “Netting such as goal nets pose a real hazard to our wildlife and sadly we get too many calls to injured wild animals that are trapped in them.
“There is a really simple way to prevent this from happening and that is for nets to be removed after use and safely stored away.
“We would ask people who use deterrent netting on buildings to ensure that it is maintained and that netting in goals or elsewhere is rolled away properly when not in use.
“Members of the public can also help by safely disposing of litter such as netting that they find littering both rural and urban areas.
“Garden netting or chicken wire should never be used as building deterrent netting and owners could consider enclosures using weld-mesh around pens and enclosures as this is harder for foxes to get into and is less likely to entangle them or other wild animals such as hedgehogs.”
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 | Aug 6, 2014 | Animal Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
In the dinosaur kingdom, the raptor reigns as a pop-culture bogeyman. While not as big as the T. Rex, the feathered creature had a mean set of teeth and claws. But there was at least one refuge from its tyranny: the air.
Now, however, scientists have discovered a new fossil that lays waste to that pleasant fiction. This new raptorial dinosaur named Changyuraptor yangi not only flew — it had four wings. And those wings were studded with the longest feathers any dinosaur has ever worn, said lead researcher Luis Chiappe of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he told The Washington Post. “It is a stunning specimen and it was stunning to see the size of the feathers. This is the dinosaur with the longest known feathers — by far. There is nothing like this by a very good distance. The feathers were one-fourth the size of the animal.” Chiappe paused for a moment. “It’s just wonderful,” he said.
In the pantheon of hulking dinos, this one wasn’t on the larger side. Published in the scientific journal Nature Communications on Tuesday, the article by Chiappe and colleagues reported it was only about four feet long and weighed about nine pounds — approximately three times the weight of your everyday seagull. But what it lacked in size, it made up for in importance, researchers said.
Classed as a “microraptorine,” its fossils “are essential for testing hypotheses explaining the origin and early evolution of avian flight,” the paper stated. “The lengthy feathered tail of the new fossil provides insight into the flight performance of microraptorines and how they may have maintained aerial competency at larger body sizes.”
Be nice if the WaPo would’ve told us this is from the Early Cretaceous (100-146M years ago). But anyway, that’s cool.
ntodd
by Pigeon Patrol | Aug 6, 2014 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons in the News
DALLAS (AP) — United Airlines is defending the poisoning of birds at Houston’s biggest airport, saying it was done for health and safety reasons. But the airline said Wednesday that it didn’t tell its contractor how to control the airport’s bird population, and will ask the firm to consider other methods the next time.
The contractor laid out corn kernels laced with a bird-killing nerve agent at Bush Intercontinental Airport. People who work around the airport reported seeing grackles and pigeons fall to the ground and spin around as they died.
The bait manufacturer, Avitrol Corp., says a lethal dosage causes birds to show distress — including alarm cries and trembling — that frightens away other birds. It usually causes death within an hour, the company says.
Airports commonly take steps to shoo away birds, which can be sucked into jet engines and cause a loss of power. In 2009, US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger safely ditched his Airbus A320 into the Hudson River after hitting a flock of Canada geese during the climb from New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
United spokeswoman Mary Clark said in a statement that the airline works with the airport on abatement programs “to reduce the health and safety risks posed by birds on airport property” and to “provide a clean and safe environment for our customers and employees.”
Clark said United hired a contractor, Texas Bird Services, which is experienced at removing birds from airports. She said the company complied with all regulations while laying bait at terminals and a maintenance hangar at Bush airport.
United will work with the contractor to consider alternate methods, Clark said. Texas Bird Services, which lists American Airlines and Delta Air Lines as references on its website, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bush airport spokeswoman Katena Carvajales said the company’s work was reviewed Tuesday by officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and found to be within guidelines. She said controlling wildlife is important for safety and sanitation.
John Hadidian, a senior scientist at the Humane Society of the United States, said it would have been better for the airport to use netting, take away food sources, or use loud noises to deter the birds.
The biggest threat to aircraft is often larger birds such as geese. A group of U.S. agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration recommends steps such as limiting bird-friendly features like ponds and the use of technology to harass birds. The FAA is evaluating portable radar systems for tracking birds.
An FAA database lists more than 80 cases of planes colliding with wildlife — from sparrows and pigeons to cattle egrets — at Bush airport last year. Two planes were damaged — a United Boeing 737 was left with minor damage and a private business jet suffered substantial damage.
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 | Aug 6, 2014 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons in the News
A day after more than 50 pigeons were found dead in Nehru Rose Garden under mysterious circumstances, the post mortem report said ‘electrocution’ is the reason behind the deaths.
Municipal Corporation got post mortem done from Government Veterinary Dispensary, Haibowal. The report was out on Saturday which said that ‘even healthy birds have died showing symptoms of electrocution.’
Talking to Newsline, A S Sekhon, health wing incharge of MC, said, “Postmortem has confirmed that reason behind death was electrocution. “It has been found through the colour of the birds after death and absence of injuries.
“The report adds that entire internal functioning stopped suddenly which is not at all a possibility unless something happens like electrocution. Also majority of birds that died were healthy.” He added that MC was able to recover around 25 dead birds and post mortem was performed on three of them.
Also since, there was no wire or pole near the spot, thunderstorm is being suspected as reason of electrocution. On Thursday night, the city witnessed hailstorm and thunderstorm.
Morning walkers at Nehru Rose Garden were in for a horrendous surprise on Friday morning when carcass of numerous pigeons were scattered all around the place.
City’s rose garden presents an utter dismal picture as it once had a full fledged zoo which stored monkeys, deer, ducks and rabbits for children to visit. Now it houses nothing except pigeons after similar incident happened on 2012 when rabbits were found dead on April 28 and reportedly the cage was left open due an employee’s negligence.
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)
US – University of California Davis researchers have identified the cause of death in wild band-tailed pigeons connected to newly discovered parasite.