by Ryan Ponto | Jun 28, 2017 | Bird Netting
What should we talk about today? How about…
- Lakewood City Council’s Rental Inspection Program (RIP)?
- Homing pigeons?
- The size and impact of Joe Boyle’s carbon footprint?
Okay, you pick homing pigeons. Homing pigeons, it is. First, you might wonder how in the world could I write about homing pigeons? Let me explain.
One day I was hanging out at Topside Coffee Cabin (TCC) in Steilacoom (215 Wilkes St, Steilacoom, WA 98388. T: 253-244-7190. 6:00a – 3:00p).
Two of my new TCC friends, Mike and Una’ McLaughlin, were hanging out too, because that is what retired people get to do. We drink coffee and swap stories. Mike and Una’ introduced me to their friend, Jessie Garza. Jessie, a US citizen, is the third generation in his family to have lived in the Yakima Valley. His Hispanic grandparents moved to the Yakima Valley from Mexico during the 1930s. Interestingly, Jessie’s grandparents were two of the first seven Hispanics to settle in the valley. Jessie recently moved to Steilacoom.
When you meet Jessie you think to yourself, “Our world is a better place because Jessie Garza is with us.”
Jessie is interesting in three ways. One of those ways relates to the fact that Jessie Garza is an internationally recognized homing pigeon expert with over 46 years pigeon experience.
The only other guy I knew who possessed an abundance of knowledge about birds was my father-in-law who was a brilliant veterinarian poultry disease research scientist. While dating his daughter during the days of my reckless youth, I lovingly told my friends my future father-in-law was the biggest bird brain in Washington State.
Talking father-in-laws; Jessie’s father-in-law, John Heilman, gave Jessie two young 5-week old pigeons named Man and Woman on Jessie’s wedding day back in 1971. I am confident Jessie never made the mistake of calling his father-in-law a big bird brain.
The wedding pigeon gift makes it easy for Jessie to remember his wedding anniversary. Let’s do the right thing, shall we? Don’t tell Jessie’s wife his pigeon gift-day is the only way he is able to remember their wedding anniversary.
When young pigeons are about 6 – 7 days old, each bird gets an I.D. band on their left ankle.
Eventually, Jessie’s wife built their new dream home in Zillah, Washington on a 2-acre parcel. Jessie built his dream pigeon loft.
When the birds were about 5 weeks old, Jessie started to HOME the pigeons, which is a process used to teach the pigeons to acclimate to their new home. The pigeon home is called a pigeon loft or pigeon roost. The pigeons learn how to enter and exit their home through special pigeon doorways. They learn where home is so they do not get lost.
At around 8 weeks, Jessie started ROUTING training. The pigeons fly around the loft. The birds take off on exploration trips for maybe a half an hour and then return home.
Once the ROUTING is complete, the birds are ready to train for long distance. Jessie would take his birds out about 5 miles to where the birds would have a direct line back to the loft. The first training toss normally would include 25 – 50 birds.
If Jesse beat the pigeons home, another training toss was needed. When the birds beat Jessie home, he doubled the distance from 5 to 10 miles and then from 10 to 20 miles. The longest training toss was 55 miles. Once the birds are comfortable with 55 miles, they are ready for an 110 – 120-mile race.
Jessie’s first race was from Shaniko, Oregon to Toppenish, Washington for 115 miles on April 21, 1973.
Down through the years there were many races following that first race. Jessie and his pigeons won a garage full of plaques and trophies along with some cash prizes. Just like horse racing, there is a million dollar pigeon race in Africa.
As the years passed, Jessie’s entire family became involved with homing pigeons. which included Jessie’s wife, Kathy, three children and six grandchildren, right down to a 4-year-old grandson who learned many things while handling pigeons, such as how to be loving, caring, and gentle.
Jessie has flown 300 or more pigeons over the years. That is a lot of pigeons. This does not count all the birds Jessie has bred* and sold or given to others. Jessie’s birds are now all over the world in places such as Mexico, Alaska, and Australia. Jessie just received a Facebook message which said, “Jessie, I just want to let you know you are becoming famous in Mexico. Your pigeons are winning like crazy.
When competing in a homing pigeon race, all the birds registered to compete are driven to the toss location by a hired driver. The driver is instructed to check the weather before making a final decision to release the birds. All the birds are fed, watered and then released at the same time. The birds will circle the toss location two or three times and then after getting their bearings, the pigeons will race back to their roost. A high tech electronic computer band helps determine the finish time for each pigeon.
If there is heavy wind or rain, the release is canceled to avoid putting the birds in danger. Heavy rain can push the birds to the ground which can cause them to lose their way or to be targeted by hawks. For Jessie, typically, 99% of the birds return to their loft roosts safely.
The birds are able to race until they reach 6 – 7 years old. After retiring, the pigeons can live to age 21.
I have a question for you. Do you know the name of the most famous homing pigeon of all time? The bird’s name was G.I. Joe, a pigeon hero from World War II. G.I. Joe carried paper messages back on their ankle. The name was later transferred to the G.I. Joe doll. The pigeon had the G.I. Joe name first.
My next Jessie Garza article will describe how Jessie helped kids with his pigeon plan including preventing a teenage suicide.
My third Jessie Garza article will describe how Jessie’s career activities for making our world a better place are still relevant today.
Jessie is new to Steilacoom and we are lucky to have him. Welcome to Steilacoom, Jessie Garza.
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 | Jun 27, 2017 | Bird Netting
SHOCKING footage shows a ruthless raven eating a pigeon ALIVE before ripping out its beating heart from the tragic creature’s chest.
The viral clip was filmed in broad daylight at a subway station on the mean streets of New York.
The cameraman gives a running commentary throughout the savage killing and at one point says: “Only in New York City. It’s either eat or get eaten.”
During much of the horrifying video, the pigeon is clearly still alive and can be seen flapping its wings while its guts are splashed all over the concrete ground.
The thuggish raven continually picks different protein-rich organs out of the prey’s split-open stomach.
The fearsome feathered beast eventually ends the pigeon’s life by ripping its heart from its chest and smashing it on the cold hard platform.
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 | Jun 26, 2017 | Bird Netting
Authorities say birds are dirtying the towers while a few devotees say it’s a deathtrap for them
Rajarajeshwari Nagar temple, located off Mysuru Road, has come up with an idea to prevent pigeons dirtying the recently built temple towers: wrapping them in a synthetic mesh. While the temple authorities heave a sigh of relief, some fear the move could turn deathtrap for birds.
Venkateshwara, a temple official said, “We have spent many lakhs to build and paint the gopurams and the temple premises. We cannot afford to get it soiled again and certainly we cannot spend a few more lakhs.” Close to 10 towers, including the imposing one at the entrance, are covered with a mesh to prevent pigeons from perching on the structures. One of the priests told Mirror, “Every week, we would depute people to clean up the mess. We have made a separate pond and a cage-like structure for birds. But pigeons have not yet got accustomed to the new set-up again. They are so used to sit on the towers that it has become a serious problem for us.” Temple authorities say they are open to suggestions to make the premises safer for birds.
One of the officials said, “If there is any other solution, let people approach us. We are equallly helpless. It was difficult for devotees to even walk through the sanctum sanctorum because of bird droppings. We also feel for pigeons. We have kept grains and water at the separate enclosure to woo them, but they haven’t gone there yet.”
Kamala Devi, a devotee said, “I spotted at least four pigeons lying dead in the towers. A few birds were struggling to get inside, and some were scrambling to come out. Some squirrels too were trapped inside.”
Jayanna, who lives close to the temple, said: “On its part, the temple has kept aside a piece of land just for birds. Authorities must have spent many lakhs to erect these nets.”
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 | Jun 25, 2017 | Bird Netting
Nowhere is the biological paradigm “survival of the fittest” better illustrated than it is in New York City. Passengers at Kings Highway Station saw the law of nature in action on Monday when they witnessed a massive black crow feasting on the guts of a flailing, gore-covered pigeon. The macabre scene was captured in a viral video that tracked the crow’s efforts to scatter its victim’s entrails across the subway platform. The crow succeeded, with aplomb; it congratulated itself by pecking out the pigeon’s still-beating heart — the bloody cherry on top of a sumptuous meal.
“New York City, it’s either eat or get eaten,” the video’s narrator, who mistakes the crow for a raven, says. “He just ate his homie! Damn.”
While it’s easy to label the crow a demonic cannibal-murderer, crow expert Kaeli Swift, a University of Washington Ph.D. candidate studying corvid thanatology — crow death — tells Inverse not to be so hasty. While the situation certainly casts the crow in a homicidal light, she points out, we don’t actually know what the pigeon’s deal was before the crow got to it. She suggests the crow might in fact be innocent, because the pigeon was already dead.
“I would be more surprised if the crow killed the pigeon,” Swift says in an e-mail. “My guess is it had a run in with a train or particularly unpleasant person.” Cornell University veterinary pathologist Dr. Beth Buckles, DVM, supporting Swift’s theory, adds that “If it had been alive there would have been a blood spurt.”The pigeon’s panicked twitching, she points out, was probably due to residual nerve activity.
Our sympathy for the pigeon shouldn’t distract us from the fact that they, too, can be nasty. “In my experience, adult pigeons can hold their own against crows and I’ve even seen them chase crows away from food,” says Swift.
Murder charges aside, it’s the crow’s cannibalistic behavior that really has New Yorkers freaked out. But Swift is nonplussed. “Nothing about this behavior strikes me as particularly unusual,” she says, in spite of one particularly gruesome scene where the pigeon’s intestines stretch out before it, like a blood-slimed leash. “Although eating carrion or active predation make up only a minority of an American crow’s diet, they take what they can get.”
Crows are considered omnivores, which means they’ll pretty much eat anything: small mammals, reptiles, eggs, seeds, fruit, and yes, other birds. They are also known to scavenge — a technical term that biologists use to describe animalsthat eat dead animal flesh, not garbage. If a fresh meal presents itself to a crow, especially in the middle of New York’s food desert, that crow is unlikely to let it go to waste. “Taking advantage of weak animals is also not unusual, and why they have such a vitriolic relationship with sheep farmers,” Swift points out, referring to reports of crows descending upon farms to devour baby sheep.
“Not a particularly pleasant way to go but wild animals aren’t here to appeal to our moral sensibilities,” says Swift. “They’re just here, doing their badass thing whether we find it awesome or awful.”
On second watch, the crow’s behavior doesn’t appear any less brutal, but the relish with which it feasts on the mutilated pigeon corpse may stir up familiar sensations. As it triumphantly plucks out its prize — the pigeon’s ruby heart (it might actually just be a gizzard)— and thoughtfully considers it, you might recall how it feels to contemplate a fine slice of tuna sashimi, or a ripe heirloom tomato, before surrendering it to your lips. That feeling is what binds humans, crows, and all of our animal brethren; the one true law of nature — hunger.
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 | Jun 24, 2017 | Bird Netting
Gift of Life Foundation president Paul Vincenti has vented his frustration over the fact that the authorities and public caused an outcry over the pigeon cull which was going to take place in Vittoriosa while acting indifferently before threats to human life.
Posting a video on the social media, real estate guru Paul Vincenti said that society suddenly cares more for a pigeon than a human life. He was referring to embryo freezing, a practice which the foundation is against.
“Why do we react with such determination when it comes to protecting what some people see as a pest, a flying rodent? Why does the government react so positively and in favour of animal rights, but when we speak about the embryo and IVF, you and I become something less than a pigeon?” Vincenti was referring to the recent pigeon culling which was to take place in Vittoriosa. The Local Council followed in the footsteps of other localities which were ‘infested’ by pigeons and took the decision to shoot the pigeons. The culling caused outrage, as it had when a similar exercise was going to take place in Sliema. Animal rights activists also voiced their concern and the government quickly reacted to convince the Local Council to cancel the cull.
The government’s will to interfere in the issue and save the pigeons was welcomed by many, but it seemed to frustrate pro-life campaigners such as Vincenti, who deemed it fit to compare it with the embryo freezing issue.
“All of a sudden we are a disposable commodity which could be considered becoming spare parts,” he adds in his ten-minute video.
He said he is convinced that the majority of the Maltese people value life in conception, and they are against the idea of creating excess embryos. “The last thing we want is to create excess embryos which always die when they are being thawed to be placed in the womb of the mother, basically abortion by a different name.”
Then he moves on to compare the embryo left in freezers issue with slaves. “It is history repeating itself. It happened with the slaves owned by plantation owners.” The comparison is then extended to the Second World War atrocities like AuschwitzBirkenau. “The people thrown into concentration camps were treated as non-persons. Are we going to repeat the same problem?”
“Why do we emotionally connect with a pigeon, but completely undermine our own dignity as human beings and shoot ourselves in the foot?”
The current law on embryo freezing and IVF prohibits embryo freezing except in instances where the fertilised eggs cannot be transferred because of exceptional circumstances.
“Good luck if you are a pigeon in Malta. It seems there are those willing to defend you. Can we hope that defence of human life receives the same enthusiasm? Can we be mature and progressive enough to realise that history repeats itself?”
He concludes by addressing the Members of Parliament. “If all the MPs from the three parties elected to Parliament declared they are pro-life, then they cannot use that power to say they have changed their mind.”
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)
