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Chick of the biggest pigeon species in the world has just hatched at Chester Zoo

by | Aug 25, 2018 | Bird Deterrent Products

A tiny, blue chick from the biggest species of pigeon in the world has just hatched at Chester Zoo.

The Victoria crowned pigeon baby is already walking alongside its blue-and-purple mother in its enclosure.

Posting footage of the little chick on Facebook, Chester Zoo said: “Bright blue, rocking the best mowhawk and already strutting its funky stuff!”

Mark Vercoe, assistant curator of birds, said: “Along with the Nicobar pigeon and the tooth-billed pigeon, the Victoria crowned pigeon is a descendant of the dodo – a bird that has been famously lost from the planet because of the actions of humans.

“Hopefully this chick can help us to highlight how important it is that we act for wildlife now; we cannot possibly let these beautiful birds go the same way as their extinct cousins.”

Native to Indonesia and New Guinea, the chick already boasts a crown of lacy feathers on its head.

The species, which is listed as vulnerable to extinction, is supposedly named after Queen Victoria, who had a penchant for wearing elaborate, feathered headwear.

The baby pigeon will be similar to the size of a turkey when fully grown.

 

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)

How a row about a cat and a pigeon ended with a threat to burn someone’s house down and a court hearing

by | Aug 24, 2018 | Bird Deterrent Products

A 41-year-old garage owner threatened to burn his next door neighbour’s house down after he believed their cat had attacked one of his beloved racing pigeons, a court heard.

Behzad Shuwani used racist language against his neighbours in Gloucester during his tirade of abuse.

Judge Michael Harington heard from prosecutor, Robert Morgan-Jones, that there had been ‘historic tensions’ between Shuwani and his neighbours in Jersey Road before the incident on February 8 this year.

Shuwani was subject to a suspended jail term at the time of this incident, the prosecutor explained.

He had been sentenced in September last year for running what was described by the judge as a ‘cannabis factory’ at his car workshop on Jersey Road.

Shuwani pleaded guilty to racially aggravated public order and simple public order offences during the incident in February.

He also admitted that by committing those offences he was in breach of the earlier suspended sentence imposed for drug cultivation at his business.

Gloucester Crown Court heard that the victim, 70-year-old Abdulkadir Susiwala, was at his home when he heard noises outside at about 10.30am.

When he looked out of the first floor window of his property he could see Shuwani next door with a can of paint thinners shouting about Mr Susiwala’s cat attacking one of his racing pigeons.

The court heard Shuwani said: “I am going to burn all of you, and your house, and your cat!”

The police were called, and they could hear shouting in the background of the 999 call, the prosecutor said.

When they arrived Shuwani was ‘immediately aggressive’, and shouted towards racist language towards Mr Susiwala’s home.

Mr Morgan-Jones said the thinners were seized from the property and Shuwani had a lighter on his person when searched.

The court heard a victim statement from Mr Susiwala, who said he believed Shuwani would carry out his threats.

The family said they are worried about going outside their property, and are concerned about any further future problems with Shuwani, who arrived in the UK in 1997 from the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Representing Shuwani, Mark Sharman described it as ‘an unfortunate situation’.

“They do not get on. They do not see eye to eye,” the barrister said.

However he accepted “his words and behaviour were utterly inappropriate”.

Mr Sharman argued this was the first incident despite tensions over the last five years, and there had been no repeat.

“The defendant believed the complainant’s cat had attacked one of his pigeons,” Mr Sharman said.

“He owns approximately 100 racing pigeons. That is very important to him. That reaction though, was deeply inappropriate.”

“For obvious reasons the [racist] language he used was not acceptable,” Mr Sharman told the judge.

Mr Sharman argued it was a “spur of the moment reaction to something that had been bubbling under for some time”.

“I make it clear, I lay no blame at the door of the complainant,” Mr Sharman said, and urged the judge to consider a further suspended sentence.

The judge said: “I am persuaded it would be unjust to activate the suspended sentence you are subject to.

“The old offence was planned, and this was heat of the moment, and entirely different.”

Shuwani was given 15 months jail suspended for two years and ordered to attend 20 rehabilitation activity sessions and complete 120 hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the community.

A restraining order to protect Mr Susiwala and his family was imposed for five years.

 

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)

Waikato fanciers face off for bird bragging rights

by | Aug 23, 2018 | Pigeons in the News

In between the serious task of judging Waikato’s best pigeons, Kelly Bray found time to rewrite history.

“The Bible talks about Noah throwing out a dove, but a dove would have buggered off,” Bray reckons.

“It would have been a homing pigeon.”

Hours before the doors opened on the Waikato Poultry & Pigeon Club’s 116th annual show, Bray and fellow judges were busy attaching labels to the winning birds’ cages.

While judging prized poultry and pigeons is all about how the birds look and present, the show itself is a smorgasbord of sounds – and smells.

For anyone unaccustomed to being surrounded by hundreds of birds in one space, it can be quite an experience.

Bray travelled from Queenstown to help judge this year’s pigeon line-up at the Hamilton Gardens Pavilion.

Spend a few minutes talking to any of the show’s judges, however, and you soon realise the job is anything but a chore.

“I entered my first show as a 12 year old in 1971 and I’ve been hooked ever since. As a kid, I always loved birds, but there was something about pigeons that just drew me to them. Breeding pigeons is a very tactile experience. You’re always holding them.”

About 100 fanciers entered chickens, ducks and pigeons into this year’s show.

Poultry and pigeon breeding is also subject to trends.

A popular breed at the moment is the Silkie chicken, due to its friendly, placid nature and expert mothering skills, club president Fiona Taylor said.

Among the dazzling array of pigeon breeds on display, the majestic Jacobin threatened to steal the show.

The breed, which originates from Asia, is notable for the feathered hood over its head. It was a personal favourite of Queen Victoria.

Taylor keeps Jacobin pigeons and said the breed’s numbers were on the increase after nosediving about a decade ago.

“Shows like this are our shopfront and we do a lot of work promoting breeds and the hobby to the general public,” Taylor said.

“We’re no longer allowed to bring new birds into the country, so if a breed falls into the hands of too few, we risk losing them forever. All these birds are essentially heritage breeds and it’s up to us to encourage and inspire people to own and breed them.”

With the show’s judging complete, a male black-splashed Jacobin was deemed the best in his class.

Bray said the young bird’s feathered hood was especially impressive.

“The feathers are thick and uniform. The bird also has a presence and shows itself well. Often when you’re judging pigeons, you’re trading off faults between birds. This is a beautiful bird and clearly it’s quite happy to hold it all together.”

Taylor said the annual show was moved to the Hamilton Gardens in an effort to attract a wider range of visitors.

The show had also been shifted to July to coincide with the school holidays.

The show runs from 9am to noon on Sunday.

 

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)

Dr. Julius Neubronner’s fantastic flying cameras

by | Aug 22, 2018 | Pigeon Patrol's Services

The first aerial photograph was taken in 1858 by Frenchman Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, also known by his alias Nadar, from a tethered gas balloon suspended over Paris. While the images captured on this flight have since been lost to time, there are plenty of surviving examples of aerial photographs shot during the latter half of the 19th century. In addition to balloons, kites and rudimentary rockets were used to send cameras skyward. Even Alfred Nobel was drawn to the practice, with one of his last patent applications being for a method for rocket photography. It’s hard to grasp how challenging this was at the time. We need only load up Google Earth to see our house from space, or buy a hobbyist drone to capture our own aerial panoramas. Long before satellites and quadcopters, though, Dr. Julius Neubronner started strapping cameras to pigeons.

Julius Neubronner was an apothecary, which to his time was the equivalent of a pharmacist today. It was a family business, and homing pigeons were counted amongst its employees. Just as his father had done before him, Neubronner used pigeons to send and receive medicines and messages. As the story goes, sometime around 1903 Neubronner sent one of his pigeons out on assignment only for it not to return. The bird wasn’t taken ill and preyed upon, however, eventually turning up a month later in suspiciously good condition.

Neubronner grew curious about the movement and habits of his pigeons when they were away from home, and being an avid photographer, he saw how his hobby might be useful in answering some of his questions. Inspired in part by the Ticka Watch Camera and the quality of test photos he took on a speeding train and a sled ride, he began devising his own miniature camera that could be attached to pigeons via a harness. What he ended up with was a light wooden camera and pneumatic timer that engaged the shutter at set intervals. He filed the first patent for his invention in 1907 with the German patent office and its counterparts in France, Austria and the UK. The German bureau initially refused to grant it, believing what he described to be impossible. A camera was far too heavy for a bird to carry. This changed the following year when Neubronner provided the patent office with photographic proof from his flying friends.

Between 1908 and 1909, Neubronner’s pigeon camera was covered in various newspapers, including the New-York Daily Tribune, The Columbian, the Los Angeles Heraldand Northern Star (based in New South Wales, Australia). The inventor gained further notoriety in 1909 when he appeared at the International Photographic Exhibition in Dresden and International Aviation Exhibition in Frankfurt, as well as the Paris Air Show in 1910 and 1911. He won various awards at these events, but also seized a commercial opportunity. Visitors could watch the arrival of his flock, and from his horse-drawn dovecote and compact darkroom, he would develop the images his pigeon cameras had just taken and sell them as postcards.

Not only was it a strange spectacle, but a notable advancement in aerial photography. Previous methods were elaborate, requiring complicated equipment and setup. The pigeon camera was small, elegant and mobile. To Neubronner, it wasn’t just a hobby or a commercial novelty; he saw potential military applications in reconnaissance and surveillance as well. Despite some logistical issues, most notably getting pigeons to return to a dovecote that by necessity had to move around, Neubronner gained the interest of the Prussian War Ministry.

In order to demonstrate their worth, Neubronner photographed a waterworks in Tegal, Germany, using only his birds, and was due to negotiate a state purchase of his invention in the summer of 1914 after a trial run in Strasbourg for the military’s benefit. But just weeks prior, World War I broke out and he was forced to turn over his pigeons and cameras to the state before striking a deal. The birds were initially used for reconnaissance, apparently with some success, but were soon demoted to message carriers, which was seen as a more valuable post during the drawn-out conflict. Neubronner’s dovecote was present at the Battle of Verdun, and proved so useful that pigeon messengers were drafted in in bigger numbers at the Battle of the Somme.

After the war, however, the military told Neubronner it wasn’t inclined to pursue the invention on account of it having limited value. While still pretty ingenious, pigeon photographers weren’t without their shortcomings. You had no control over what the cameras captured, nor could you guarantee the birds would return, whether that be down to moving the dovecote location or a well-placed bullet. And though it was only a decade and change since the Wright brothers first took flight, during World War I aerial combat and surveillance through photography had evolved rapidly. Though sending pigeons behind enemy lines was better than sending people, we’d already found a better way.

Incidentally, camera-equipped pigeons were going to be added to Battlefield 1 through a DLC expansion, but never made it into the gameafter the spotting mechanic was deemed overpowered.

Neubronner apparently developed a dozen or more designs of his pigeon camera, including versions with multiple lenses and a panoramic model, which is on display at a few museums in Germany. His final iteration weighed just over 1.4 ounces (40 grams) and was good for 12 exposures, but after dedicating more than a decade of work to his pigeon cameras, they never became more than a celebrated oddity.

His legacy doesn’t end there, though. Around the time of Neubronner’s death in 1932, the German army revisited the idea, creating a pigeon camera that could take 200 pictures per flight. The French had a concurrent program that used not one, but two animals. Pigeons carried the cameras, and dogs ferried the birds behind enemy lines before releasing them on their mission.

A Swiss clockmaker, Christian Adrian Michel, also went about improving upon Neubronner’s designs in the early 1930s, specifically adapting his panoramic model to use 16mm film and creating a clockwork exposure timer. He patented his innovation in several European countries in 1937, but only roughly 100 cameras were produced after his plan to sell it to the Swiss Army fell through. There’s little evidence to suggest pigeon cameras were used a great deal in World War II, but the Soviets came across abandoned German trucks in 1942 containing pigeon cameras and dogs trained to ferry the birds in baskets.

You would think that by 1970, aerial surveillance techniques would have rendered the pigeon camera obsolete, but trust the CIA to revive the invention decades later. The agency developed a battery-powered version, though the operations it was involved in remain classified. It’s said they weren’t employed with great success, however, leading the CIA to abandon the lo-fi spying project.

Camera and aircraft technology had come on significantly at this point, and soon after in the 1980s, the first unmanned drones fitted with cameras were developed. And by this time, there were already orbiting satellites capable of sending back real-time imagery. Now, of course, all of this technology is available to the public, not to mention the YouTube videos of eagles flying around with GoPro backpacks. In a happier timeline, though, perhaps pigeons are still entrusted with the job, going about their daily hunt for sidewalk fries while also updating photography for Google Maps.

 

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)

There and back again

by | Aug 21, 2018 | Pigeons in the News

Over the last several years, Liz Beukema and her 15-year-old son Garrett have spent many early mornings together in their backyard, on the road in their family car and at ice cream shops throughout the St. Croix Valley. Those long hours have been spent bonding over their mutual love for pigeons, which the pair race and breed at their home southeast of New Richmond.

“My grandfather sent me pigeons for my birthday (when I turned 8), since I was really into Harry Potter and I wanted an owl to bring me my mail,” Garrett said. “I really enjoyed racing and everything that went with it. That got me into the breeding side of things.”

At the age of 9, Garrett was releasing pigeons at weddings, but he only got into breeding pigeons in 2012.

“Quite by accident, I was taking a class through Extension and met a lady from Frederic, Wis., and we got chatting … and she and her husband are racing pigeon breeders. It turns out they are one of the premiere breeders in the world and they are right in our backyard,” Liz said.

The Frederic couple invited Garrett up to their facility and gifted him seven pigeons to start up his breeding operations and racing team. Garrett joined a local pigeon racing club in 2012. He started racing pigeons in 2013, with Liz following her son into the racing world in 2014. According to Liz, pigeon racing is one of the oldest sports in the world and is big in Europe, which is where most of the racing pigeons come from.

“It has been pretty fun and interesting to find which of our birds produce the best offspring. It has taken a lot of time to do that since you can’t just judge how well a pair will do based on how their offspring do one year. You have to put that pair back together again the next year. If they produce good babies then again, you know that pair is good together, so we will continue to breed that pair,” Garrett said.

In total, the Beukemas have 200 pigeons, including show varieties, which Garrett shows for 4-H. They have a 70-bird young team and 51 birds on their old bird team. Garrett has shown both Racing Homer and several breeds of fancy show pigeons at the last six St. Croix County Fairs, while his little sister, Lillian, has shown her Valencian Figurita pigeons at the fair the last two years. Garrett has won Grand Champion pigeon for two years at the Wisconsin State Fair.

“We knew that Garrett was hooked on birds when we took him to Harry Potter World and, while our daughters were going nuts about everything around them, Garrett pointed out a recessive red, which is kind of rare, to me,” Liz said. “We knew he had it bad then.”

According to Liz, her whole family has the bird bug, given that her father is a peacock breeder in upstate New York and her brother breeds heritage breed chickens in Vermont.

“Pigeons are absolutely amazing animals and are one of the top 10 smartest animals in the world. When they lay eggs, they co-parent, which means the males and females each sit on the eggs to incubate them the same amount of time,” Liz said. “The males and females also take equal part in feeding the young. We say humans could learn a lot from pigeons. They even go and feed other babies if they are left alone and are crying. It is just really crazy to watch their behavior.”

According to the Beukemas, there are short distance and long distance racing pigeons, since races can be anywhere from 100 to 600 miles in length. There are two seasons of racing: young birds — which are birds that have hatched that year — which are generally flown in races of no more than 300 miles, and old birds — which are over 1 year in age. The old bird season goes from April to July, while the young bird season starts shortly after old bird season ends.

“Your birds that excel at 200 miles aren’t necessarily going to be the birds that are going to excel at 600 miles. People breed for different distances, with certain strains, body types and wing shapes that are good for long distances and some that are good for sprints, or short distances,” Liz said. “For those short races for the young birds, you don’t really need a distance bird for that. You want a sprinter that is going to mature quickly and perform in its first year.”

Finding their rhythm

With several years of racing and breeding under their belts, Liz and Garrett said they are finally hitting their stride in the sport, with Garrett currently owning the top three champion birds on the Wisconsin side of the river in the Heartland Federation.

There are three tiers of competition in pigeon racing for the Beukemas, including their local club, the Indianhead Combine, which includes all of the Wisconsin clubs; and the Heartland Federation, which combines the Minnesota and Wisconsin results. Race winners have the best average speed (measured in yards per minute) rather than the pigeon that makes it home quickest, given that the owners all live in different areas and the birds have different distances to cover to get home. The results are then calculated starting at sundown the second day.

“It is fun, it is a whole community of people and it is a great family sport,” Liz said. “The whole family is out here wanting to know if mom or Garrett won. Garrett and I spent so much time together in the car and the loft.

“Five or six years into it, we are still trying to implement everything new we are learning every day and making sure that it works into our system. So it does take some time for things to come to fruition and to see the success.”

The Beukemas started to see success after switching to an all natural system for their birds last year, which includes more natural supplements and probiotics between races and less medication. The change resulted in the pair having one of their best seasons to date in both the old and young bird categories.

“All of these years up to this point, we have been working to find a system that we liked and worked for us. And now we have found that system and we have been doing really well,” Garrett said.

In addition to owning the top three champion birds on the Wisconsin side of the river, Garrett is also winning quite handily in the average speed category, which includes races under 300 miles. The next closest speed average behind him is 38 minutes behind him, Liz said. He also has a handy lead in champion bird, which is not a position the pair have ever found themselves in before.

“We are not only trying to finish out the season well, but we are also trying to keep that bird and the team average up the rest of the season. We are planning which races we are going to choose and which birds we are going to send on the team every week,” Liz said. “We have never had to strategize like this before since we have never won this much before.”

A typical day for Garrett and his mother during the school year sees the two of them getting up at 5 a.m. or earlier to get the birds into crates so Liz can take them to work with her and let them fly home from there. On some days, Liz can driver farther out and release them to give them more of a challenge.

On the day of a race, the pigeons are released all at once half an hour after sunrise the next morning. The owners then wait for their birds to return the next morning.

“It is kind of like a marathon where you do a 12-mile run one day and then go and do a 20-mile run the next. We don’t ever drive 300 miles to train, but we go to Ellsworth a lot, which is 22 miles from here. It is 37 from Prescott and 12 from my office. We kind of work them through a training regiment,” Liz said. “And it has to be sunny for them to fly so we have to watch the weather to plan out the rest of the week.”

Garrett plans to continue racing and breeding pigeons until he heads to college. After he gets out of college, he plans to take the sport back up as soon as he can and sees himself racing and breeding pigeons with his own children in the future.

 

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)