Ways to tackle nuisance birds

Ways to tackle nuisance birds

Pigeon PatrolMISS Lee Kay Yan has rightly pointed out that the mynah and pigeon populations here have increased drastically and are now aggressively invading our coffee shops and hawker centres (“Bring in predators to solve bird problem”; Forum Online, yesterday).

In our urban setting, certain species of birds have become a public nuisance. The normal activities of the birds will conflict in some way with human activity.

Some birds feed on grain and fruit crops. The common mynahs eat insects and human food scraps. They are aggressive and often attack native birds. They also spread mites and have the potential to spread disease to people and domestic animals.

They are adept at stealing food off people’s plates. They can be discouraged by depriving them of food sources, chasing them from yards and disturbing them when they try to nest.

Rock pigeons are quite common in Waterloo Street and they feed on seeds and fruits. In urban areas, however, they have adapted to roosting on high-rise buildings and feeding on human food like bread and rice.

Their droppings soil public amenities and private properties. Roosting pigeons damage buildings and the roofing of houses.

They can transmit illnesses such as encephalitis and salmonella poisoning. They harbour the causal agent of histoplasmosis, a fungal disease that affects the human respiratory tract.

Pigeons can be a threat to human safety, particularly around airports where pigeon flocks have collided with aircraft, causing human fatalities.

It is important to understand how human activities in urbanised areas affect ecosystems, with urban habitats becoming relevant to biodiversity research.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) can collaborate to reduce the bird population and bring about a cleaner city environment by using ultrasonic and sonic audio systems like the Tube Sonic.

This product produces electronic sounds to scare birds with distress calls and predator sounds.

 

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)

Pigeon prevention procedures presented

Pigeon prevention procedures presented

Pigeon Patrol“We’ve had a few calls, we see it more and more every day. They will breed every 45 days, so it gets worse and w…”
–Richard Swallow

There is a growing pigeon problem in Saskatchewan, and Yorkton is no exception, with birds increasingly becoming a concern for local businesses and residents. The Yorkton Business Improve­ment District recently held an information meeting to discuss what options are available for controlling the pest bird.

Richard Swallow, owner of Riva Specialized Cleaning Services and Pigeon Control, was invited to speak on the services they offer to get pigeons out of a region. The business is focused on humane elimination of birds, using different devices to make a structure unappealing to birds. Riva is one of the few places in Saskatchewan who offers the service.

“It’s really understanding what the birds are doing and where they are in order to get away from that site. We implement the proper solutions.”

The birds are an invasive species, and Swallow says that the reasons to get rid of them are numerous, whether it’s safety issues caused by their waste, their destruction of property, or the respiratory diseases they can spread in an area, especially as they tend to enjoy being near HVAC units.

In Yorkton, one of the biggest problem areas is an abandoned building, where it is estimated at least 200 birds have taken up residence. Swallow says a building like this presents a challenge on two fronts.

One, the building itself from a safety perspective, given the dangers that are inherent in an old structure, as well as the difficulty of moving pigeons out of a place where they have settled and have been occupying for a long time.

“You have dedicated birds, you have generational birds that have been in the same area for years. Very different strategy to implement than when you’ve just got a sign with birds that are sitting and crapping on it every day. It’s different approach, different strategies and different implementation of the right tools to get a situation we can guarantee.”

Part of getting rid of dedicated birds involves trapping, though Swallow says if you want a live release the birds will have to be driven to Calgary at a minimum to prevent their return. He says that they also have a humane method of euthanizing the birds. While there are methods of sterilizing the birds available in other markets, those are not currently available in Canada, something Swallow hopes to see change soon.

Bruce Thurston, chair of YBID, emphasizes that at this point there is no funding proposed to do an expansive bird control project, the meeting intended to be a fact finding mission to see what can be done about birds.

“We’ve had a few calls, we see it more and more every day. They will breed every 45 days, so it gets worse and worse every year, so sooner or later something has to be done, whether on an individual basis or as a collective community.”

 

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)

Pigeons ‘dropping’ in on Delaware bridges in 1965 – Almanac Feb. 26, 2015

Pigeons ‘dropping’ in on Delaware bridges in 1965 – Almanac Feb. 26, 2015

Pigeon Patrol50 years ago: Pesky pigeons: “The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission agreed to consider eliminating a pigeon nuisance at its two bridges between Easton and Phillipsburg. The commission is studying proposals by pigeon control firms to chase the birds from the bridge area. Because of immense accumulations of pigeon droppings, the bridges have to be sandblasted and repainted every several years. The Northampton Street bridge was sandblasted to raw steel and repainted last year. The Bushkill Street bridge was last repainted in 1955. There is an accumulation of 4-5 inches of pigeon droppings on the 550-foot span.”

 

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)

Police, fire officials tell of strange 110, 119 hotline calls

Police, fire officials tell of strange 110, 119 hotline calls

Pigeon PatrolPolice and fire departments nationwide are complaining about nuisance calls made to the 110 and 119 emergency lines — ranking from requests to rescue cats, chickens, pigeons and cows to exorcising ghosts.

One fire department reported a request to collect a dead chicken in front of the caller’s home during the peak of the avian influenza outbreak. When the caller was asked to confirm whether the chicken was actually dead, the caller said it was not and then hung up. However, the same person called again to say that the chicken was being chased by a dog and was certainly going to die.

In another incident, a fire department received a 119 call that involved students partying in a gazebo after a stone table in the gazebo toppled over, trapping a student’s foot.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, the gazebo was empty. However, the crew was later told by other students who witnessed the incident that the call had not been a prank, but the youth whose foot had been caught beneath the table had been able to extract it after taking off his shoes and he and his friends fled the area.

Another call reported a cow lying by the side of the road, near death. The fire department sent a heavy truck to remove the cow, but found that the caller had cut the cow open and had only wanted help in transporting the carcass.

Calls on the 119 line asking firefighters to chase away pigeons roosting on utility cables to prevent them being electrocuted ended with the caller threatening to sue the department if it did not “save the pigeons.”

The 110 hotline has seen police receiving calls about a bag of trash falling onto the highway, a NT$1 coin not being returned by a public phone and boxes containing urns with human ashes left on the roadside.

One caller asked police to help exorcise the spirits of a man and woman who were “possessing” a person, but was told that police training did not include supernatural abilities.

Other calls have included complaints about a noisy pet duck and requests that bus drivers be told to turn down their air-conditioning.

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)

Pigeons in deep doo-doo in our beautiful burgh

Pigeons in deep doo-doo in our beautiful burgh

pigeon patrolAn underpass at Linlithgow railway station is the subject of a bitter battle between those looking to keep the ‘Burgh Beautiful’ – and a flock of pigeons!

Linlithgow and Linlithgow Bridge Town Management Group (LLTMG) has recently written to Network Rail requesting its assistance in remedying ownership queries about cables in the underpass.

The LLTMG group has recently spent £6,000 upgrading the underpass, installing new railings and anti-pigeon spikes, as well as cleaning down the walls.

But despite this the pigeon problem persists.

The main issue is bundles of cables which are not encased that run along the top of the underpass roof, leaving what is an ideal roosting location for the birds.

The Town Management Group identifies and undertakes projects that will improve Linlithgow.

After many complaints about the mess the piegeons were creating, it took steps to rectify the issue.

The underpass connects the north entrance of the railway station to the canal basin.

It is also a busy pedestrian footpath to the town centre and for commuters heading into the railway station.

In addition, it is a designated safe route to the local primary school.

Stewart Ness, BID Manager for Linlithgow, said: “We are hopeful that once ownership of the cables is acknowledged further action can be taken.”

 

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)