by Ryan Ponto | Jan 7, 2017 | UltraSonic Bird Control
This photograph illustrates one important reason for maintaining and hopefully extending the population of our native wood pigeon or kereru.
About to be swallowed is a red plum about the size of a $2 coin. Most observers, when comparing the size of the plum with a pigeon’s quite narrow red bill can’t really imagine how the bird’s bill could open wide enough to allow the plum to be swallowed.
However, a few seconds after the photograph was taken the plum was gone.
The bill is hinged in such a way that quite large fruit can be swallowed whole with ease. Five more plums were eaten before this bird flew away to a nearby gum tree for a rest.
Now a number of our native trees such as miro, karaka and tawa have large fruit and the native pigeon is the main disperser of the seed of these trees.
Without the pigeon, conservationists predict that there would be minimal regeneration of these important native forest trees.
The trouble is that kereru is under threat.
Predators such as stoats, cats and opossums take both eggs and young pigeons and unfortunately they are still being poached by short-sighted humans who believe that a feed of pigeon is more important than the efforts to conserve this valued species.
Fast moving cars also injure and kill a number of low flying pigeons and it’s good to see “watch out for kereru” road signs appearing in many districts.
Four pigeons visited this particular plum tree and during about a week the red plums were gone, and so were the pigeons.
Where did they go to?
Just down the road was a yellow plum tree with slightly larger plums and the change of colour didn’t seem to bother the pigeons.
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 | Jan 6, 2017 | Pigeons in the News
PIGEONS have become the talk of Caldicot town centre with local councillors aiming to crack down on the public feeding them.
Councillors Jim Higginson and Frank Rowberry are calling for firmer backing from Monmouthshire County Council to control the pigeon population.
In recent years the local authority’s environmental health department have installed posters around the town centre dissuading people.
Head of public protection David Jones said: “Monmouthshire’s Environmental Health team has liaised with the town council and local shop owners to raise awareness of the difficulties caused by the increased number of pigeons in Caldicot’s shopping centre and give advice on appropriate measures to control the problem.
“Posters have been placed on local notice boards asking visitors and residents not to feed the pigeons.
“Our environmental health officers will approach any persons who are seen feeding the pigeons on a regular basis and will advise them of their responsibilities under littering laws.”
But Cllr Frank Rowberry believes that more permanent measures need to be taken to combat a “serious health and safety risk”.
“We’ve called for culls and a by-law to be put in place by the county council but we just keep getting knocked back.
“There were concerns about a hawk attacking pigeons in front of people.
He added: “We haven’t got a problem with them doing it in the wild, why shouldn’t we here?”
An image of members of the public feeding birds in the town centre posted on a Facebook page last week attracted more than 100 comments and interactions.
The post on the Caldicot Community Page has since been closed by the page’s administration.
According to Cllr Higginson, the council are aware members of the public continue to feed the birds.
The county council chairman has also claimed that he was threatened outside one of the village’s eateries when the attempted to stop someone from feeding the pigeons.
He said: “It’s a nuisance, especially to youngsters in particularly who frequent the town centre who can get scared by the birds flying quite close to them.
“At the end of the day, feeding these pigeons is littering and in my opinion it is completely indefensible.”
A spokeswoman for London & Cambridge Properties (LCP), the property developer who own the majority of buildings in the town centre, said: “We are aware of the issue with pigeons, and we will be working with the town council and local authority to address the problem going forward.”
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 | Jan 5, 2017 | Pigeon Spikes
LAHORE – Police have launched investigations after some 150 racing pigeons were stolen from the rooftop of a roadside building located in Sundar police precincts.
Police said the stolen birds are estimated to be worth Rs 500,000. A criminal case (under section 457/380 of the Pakistan Penal Code) was registered with the Sundar police on complaint of the owner, Maqsood Ahmed. Investigators are probing into the incident with no arrest made yet.
The owner told the police that he had set up a pigeon box on the rooftop of a multi-storey building, Jaan Traders, on the Multan Road. Maqsood, who sells building material in the area, further said that unidentified thieves broke into his building late night on January 9. The thieves reached the rooftop, broke the lock of the pigeon box, and made off with more than 150 racing pigeons.
A police officer last night told The Nation that they were working on the case to recover the stolen pigeons and arrest the thieves.
DANCE PARTY RAIDED
City police yesterday raided a dance party in the Ghalib Market area and seven persons including three young women.
The arrests were made as police raided a guesthouse in the posh locality after midnight. A police official said the arrested men and women were heavily drunk. The police team also seized bottles of liquor from the guesthouse. The police registered a case against the accused and sent them to the lock up. Further investigations were underway.
AUTO LIFTERS ARRESTED
City police arrested three motorcycle lifters and seized seven stolen bikes from their possession. The suspects were named by police as Shan, Shafique, and Nadeem. A team of Sundar police conducted raids and arrested the suspects.
According to a police officer, they also seized cell phones and fire arms from their possession. The suspects were handed over to the investigation police for further interrogation.
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 | Jan 4, 2017 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
HOUSTON – Every day for the last 10 years, the owner of a gas station at the 59 Southwest Freeway at Weslayan puts out a bag of feed for birds on the sidewalk.
For lunch, breakfast and dinner, the birds eat for free outside the Chevron.
“I feel inner peace,” owner Ishwar Desai said.
He said he loves animals and especially birds.
“The birds (were here flying around) and they were looking for the food so I give them a little food,” Desai said. “It’s really interesting, so I started giving more.”
Not everyone feels Desai’s passion for the birds.
I asked David Smith, a man getting gas, on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your feelings towards birds?
“A four, and that’s being pretty generous,” Smith said.
At $19 a bag, the bird feed isn’t cheap, but fortunately, Desai has some support. He said some of his regular customers offer him money to keep paying for the feed.
“I feel inner peace. If I give them the food and then I see them eat the food, I really like it,” Desai said.
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 | Jan 3, 2017 | Bird Netting
Overcast with a chance of rain, only -3 Celsius outside and this is how 2017 arrives in our area.
Rock pigeons are freely clustered around a slice of offered white bread just across the street from CBC as I walk by. Two European starlings; European, because they were introduced around the 1890s in New York’s Central Park, fly from an open window area in one of the downtown renovation projects.
No doubt they have a warm temporary niche in one of the buildings at night and are leaving some gifts on the floor.
I have to kill some time while waiting for an appointment so I walk by several regulars on the street and make my way into the downtown mall that use to be Sudbury’s sole mecca. Winter promises to be cold for bird watching and nothing beats a warm head like the colourful touques of wool made in Nepal.
I decide to visit one of the more unique stores in the mall and check out his fine collection of hats and mitts. Entering the portal, I break a beam of hidden light and off goes a Christmas tune to announce an arrival. A very friendly and sincere greeting awaits from a gentleman sitting low behind a counter.
The New Year is a start of meeting new people and having new experiences. I casually ask the owner if Christmas was good to him and with a friendly response he says, “It was.” We get into a brief conversation about Buddha, Christ and other religions and how life can be good or bad, but to face these challenges, we can always think about others and how they may have had to cope with their individual and group challenges.
Quiet a conversation while looking for a hat! We ended our chance meeting on a friendly note with the caveat that a positive outlook certainly helps the day go by.
As I leave the mall, the outside walkway and snow triggers some reminiscent thoughts about the time the mall was called Bonimart, and a time when Eaton’s was here.
A bird we took for granted lived along the eaves of the upper parking lot and would use the Virginia creeper that used to attach itself to the walls of the adjacent buildings. House sparrows were introduced at the turn of the past century like the European starlings. They made their way across much of the country over the years and had been established in Greater Sudbury, numbering in the hundreds downtown.
Sudbury’s annual Christmas bird count says it all. In 1981, there were 1,361 house sparrows counted. In 1991, there were 162 counted. Ten years later in 2001, there were none found, and have not been seen since during the count.
Their disappearance is a mystery, but habitat changes, insect availability and a possible disease are not ruled out. The species can still be found in other larger cities like Toronto.
It might be expressed as part of the yin and yang of wildlife. Some species do well, become established and last a long time in a given area, while other species come across an obstacle that alters their lifestyle. Sudbury is no different in offering these changes as time moves on.
As for the hat, orange and white seems good this year.
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)
