by johnnymarin | Aug 19, 2018 | Pigeons in the News
Aldo Leopold famously said “to keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering” when talking about preserving threatened and endangered species. When a species is lost, though, should we try to re-create that cog or wheel?
In this week’s episode of Wildlife Matters, the Masked Biologist introduces us to de-extinction and an ambitious project to bring the passenger pigeon back from the dead.
As a biologist, I got a big kick out of Jurassic Park, a blockbuster movie that was released 25 years ago. The premise was basically bringing extinct species back to life using DNA extracted from blood that was drunk by mosquitoes that were subsequently trapped and preserved in tree sap. The pieces of information missing from damaged DNA strands was replaced with that of a living animal, in this case a frog, and was used to turn an unfertilized ostrich egg into a dinosaur egg.
So why am I talking about science fiction dinosaur movies? Because I had this episode in the works for some time, and I wasn’t sure how to kick it off, but in all honesty the more I read about it, the more I can’t help but draw parallels to Jurassic Park. I am talking about the emerging science of de-extinction. However, the real-life application does not involve setting up a live dinosaur exhibit at a theme park; de-evolution is being looked at as a potential solution to environmental issues and challenges here in the U.S. and abroad. In Siberia, there is currently an effort underway to use herbivores to restore a desired habitat condition, a project called “Pleistocene Park.” There is currently an effort underway to bring the woolly mammoth back from extinction, using our closet living species, the Asian elephant. Closer to home, there is a project to bring back the passenger pigeon.
The passenger pigeon is probably the best known example of an extinct American species lost because we thought it could not be destroyed. These birds once darkened the Wisconsin skies with spectacular migrations. They were shot in countless numbers and used for everything from feathers to hog food. The last passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. A monument was erected to this bird in Babcock, Wisconsin. At the monument’s dedication ceremony, naturalist Aldo Leopold spoke of the significance of the recognition of our error. “For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun,” Leopold said. “We grieve because no living man will see again the on-rushing phalanx of victorious birds, sweeping a path for spring across the March skies, chasing the defeated winter from all the woods and prairies of Wisconsin.”
Is it possible that Leopold was wrong, that we may yet again see these birds darken the skies? I’m trying to reserve judgement. I know just enough biology and genetics to grasp the most basic concepts here, especially when they supply colorful charts and illustrations. You can find plenty of details on their website, reviverestore.org. There is an extensive plan to bring this ambitious plan to fruition. basically, they want to re-create viable passenger pigeon DNA that they can inject into some eggs of band-tailed pigeons. Much like Jurassic park, de-extinctionists are obtaining DNA samples and in filling the gaps in the genome mapping using the DNA of a similar extant species, the band-tailed pigeon. They would hatch as band-tailed pigeons, but when they reached sexual maturity and bred, their eggs would be passenger pigeon eggs. The hatchlings would be raised in conditions that would allow them to breed more passenger pigeons, and let them learn to act like a passenger pigeon. Then when the population reaches 10,000 birds, they would start to release them in a couple of locations around the country and train them to migrate using trained carrier pigeons. A lot can go wrong with this process, but if everything goes right, de-extinctionists estimate we could have passenger pigeons released in test flocks between 2030 and 2040.
I have so much I want to say about this concept, but I’m afraid it will have to wait. This is just a first peek at the de-extinction of the passenger pigeon. I look forward to additional discussions on this subject in the near future.
Striving to make new things familiar and familiar things new, this is the Masked Biologist coming to you from the heart of Wisconsin’s great Northwoods.
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 johnnymarin | Aug 18, 2018 | Bird Deterrent Products
PITTSBURGH – The National Aviary in Pittsburgh just completed a $1.2 million renovation of the historic Tropical Rainforest habitat, and for about 70 endothermic vertebrates that make their home there, that’s just ducky.
While they were re-homed for the past three months during construction, the resident birds, including Victoria crowned pigeons, laughing thrushes, hyacinth macaws, bufflehead ducks and great argus pheasants, have been slowly introduced to their new digs.
A 15-foot waterfall with three pools dominates the space, surrounded by new non-slip flooring, lighting, custom perches and tropical plants and trees.
“It’s all about the birds,” said aviary Executive Director Cheryl Tracy, who unveiled the habitat Friday.
More than 3,100 panes of original glass – 19,600 square feet – were replaced with bird-friendly glass designed to prevent collisions both inside and out. The new dome also maximizes ultraviolet light transmittance to help the wildlife and plants thrive.
The old glass, said Tracy, was failing, resulting in energy loss and water leaks. Luckily the framing, constructed in 1952, was in good condition and able to be restored.
The habitat was designed to mimic a real rainforest, and to encourage nesting and other natural behaviors.
The critically endangered palm cockatoo makes its home in the habitat, as does Wookiee, a two-toed sloth, and Guam rails, which are extinct in the wild. The aviary is leading the effort to breed the birds and reintroduce them to the wild. In addition to the birds who previously lived in the rainforest habitat, about 13 new species will be added.
The project was funded by Colcom Foundation and the Allegheny Regional Asset District, which funds regional assets from one-half of the proceeds of the 1 percent Allegheny County Sales and Use Tax. Over the past 23 years, the district has provided $26 million to the aviary, which is the only independent indoor nonprofit zoo in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to birds.
The completion of the Tropical Rainforest coincides with the 25th anniversary of the aviary’s national designation and renaming as the National Aviary.
“(The renovation) was a labor of love for every single person at the aviary,” said Tracy.
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 johnnymarin | Aug 17, 2018 | Bird Deterrent Products
A remarkably resilient pigeon has defied the odds and survived being trapped down a Cambridgeshire home’s chimney.
The distressed bird was heard to be clawing and flapping for days after it fell and got stuck behind a gas fireplace.
After receiving little support from wildlife experts, the house’s owners turned to a local handyman for help.
The sooty pigeon was released apparently unharmed after a seven day ordeal and flew off to the nearest high tree.
Allison Jackson, in her 60s, and Joan Jackson, 91, of Fulbourn, heard the loud thud of the pigeon plummeting down their chimney earlier this month.
“We heard clawing and we thought it could be mice or a rat. We never had any idea it was a bird,” explained Allison.
“It wasn’t singing a song or anything like that. He was clawing the whole time.”
The two ladies speculated what sort of “monster” had dropped down their chimney and called for help.
“You’re imagination goes wild,” joked Allison.
Technicians from the gas board turned off the supply to the fireplace, but advice from wildlife experts was useless, claims Allison.
No-one seemed to know how to remove the fireplace and there were even recommendations to call the fire service.
“It was just clawing and there was also a banging noise. I suppose it was just trying to get out again,” she added.
She and her mother turned to local handyman David Peat to see if he could rescue the bird.
“They phoned me up and said there’s a noise going on in one of the chimneys,” David explained.
“We didn’t know what it was. It was just making a bad noise.”
A gas technician came to the property and confirmed that a bird was inside the chimney, but still its wait for release went on.
David added: “Days had gone by. I said ‘whatever is in there is going to be dead surely. It couldn’t last that long without food and water’.
“They said: ‘We haven’t heard anything in two days. We’ve given up hope’.
“I went round and rattled the fire from side to side and low and behold he started again.”
David estimated the bird was stuck inside a shoe box-sized space.
“Once he got down the bottom he couldn’t flap his wings inside to get out,” he said.
“How long does a pigeon last like that? It must have been terrible in this heat.”
Eventually David was able to get a electrician to help show him how to remove the fireplace and get the bird out.
“We said he wouldn’t be alive and boy did he put up a fight,” said Allison.
“They got him in the end and he flew up the highest tree.
“It’s such a great relief, thinking about that poor bird down there.”
David added: “There he was all perky. There wasn’t anything wrong with it. We took it round the corner and away it flew.
“The bird was black, it had sooty stuff on it but it looked unscathed.
“I said: ‘It’s going to the nearest lake for a drink and a wash’.”
According to guidance from the RSPCA about ‘living with pigeons’, wire frame structures can prevent the birds settling on chimney stacks.
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 johnnymarin | Aug 16, 2018 | Pigeons in the News
The roof of Sylvia Whittall’s home in Glenridding Drive, Barrow, has been the temporary home for a white racing pigeon since it landed on her eaves on Saturday.
The bird is believed to be one of a number tasked with racing across the English Channel from Belgium on Saturday in a bid to mark the centenary of the First World War.
During the war thousands of pigeons were used across all theatres of the conflict, often the only way vitally important messages could be relayed to and from the battlefield.
Our advice would be to leave it alone and eventually it will decide it is ready to continue on its flight and it will return home
When released the birds will make their way home to their individual lofts found across Cumbria.
However one of the birds, which Mrs Whittall has traced to an owner in Silloth, has stopped off in Barrow and has been gathering its energy after being forced to take a pit stop.
“It’s a beautiful bird but it was very tired and weary when it first arrived on Saturday,” Mrs Whittall said.
“It has improved since it arrived and we’ve been putting out some food for it.”
A spokesman for the Royal Pigeon Racing Association explained that if a bird becomes too tired during a race it will take a break until it recovers sufficiently to continue.
“It can be quite common, especially at this time of year when the weather is warmer and there’s a lot of grain in the fields, for some pigeons to become exhausted and stop for a while,” the spokesman said.
“This might be for a few hours or even a few days but as long as they have access to water, and grain, and they are able to fly down to it, then our advice would be to leave it alone and eventually it will decide it is ready to continue on its flight and it will return home.”
The pigeon on Mrs Whittall’s roof is registered with a WHU prefix, used by the Welsh Homing Pigeon Union, but further enquiries established its owner is based in Silloth.
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 johnnymarin | Aug 15, 2018 | Pigeons in the News
In a new study, a team led by University of Utah biologists has discovered that different versions of a single gene, called NDP (Norrie Disease Protein), have unexpected links between color patterns in pigeons, and vision defects in humans. These gene variations were likely bred into pigeons by humans from a different pigeon species and are now evolutionarily advantageous in wild populations of feral pigeons living in urban environments.
The U biologists analyzed the genomes of domestic rock pigeons (Columba livia) to determine the mutations that govern the four fundamental color patterns on pigeon wing feathers. They compared the default, ancestral “bar” pattern, named for the horizontal black stripes near the wing tips, against the slightly darker “checker” pattern, the darkest “T-check” pattern, and the lightest “barless” pattern.
They found that a DNA sequence near the NDP gene was very different between bar birds and both T-check and checker birds. In addition, some of the T-check and checker pigeons have more copies of a stretch of DNA near the gene, resulting in even more pigment in their feathers. In all cases, the gene sequence itself is unaltered. In contrast, the least pigmented barless birds had a mutation in the gene sequence itself, which could affect its function.
“That’s pretty wacky. It’s the same gene, but it’s modified in different ways to get completely different results,” said Mike Shapiro, professor of biology at the U and senior author of the paper.
This is the first time NDP has been associated with pigment variation. Pigeon breeders have reported that barless birds have had vision problems for decades. This study discovered that the exact same NDP mutation found in barless pigeons is also found in two human families with hereditary blindness, suggesting that this part of the NDP gene is important in eye development.
Previous research has shown that the darker checker and T-check birds have an advantage in urban environments; they have a longer breeding season and fledge many young out of the nest. The new U study found that the genetic changes associated with checker and T-check patterns probably resulted from humans breeding the domestic rock pigeon with the African speckled pigeon (Columba guinea), a wild pigeon species common in sub-Saharan Africa. A version of the NDP gene was introduced into domestic pigeons several hundred years ago, long after pigeon domestication. The implication is stunning.
“Humans may have transferred a trait to another this other species that they had domesticated, and that trait is now out in the wild, where it is now advantageous specifically in human-created habitats,” said Shapiro. “It’s nuts.”
The study was published online on July 17, 2018 in the journal, eLife.
Human-driven diversity
Since domesticating the rock pigeon over 5,000 years ago, humans have bred more than 350 pigeon varieties in different colors, patterns, shapes and sizes. The humble street birds aided Alexander the Great in battles and helped Charles Darwin explain natural and artificial selection in “On the Origin of Species.” Today, hobbyists drive most of the diversity within the species by competing for cash prizes and glory in breeding competitions all over the world.
The researchers worked with the Utah Pigeon Club, the longest continuously running pigeon club in the western U.S., and the National Pigeon Association to get the blood samples necessary to investigate the molecular mechanisms driving diverse pigmentation patterns. In the early 1900s, geneticists first recorded that four fundamental color patterns were likely determined by variations at a single region, or locus, on a chromosome. Hobbyist have likely known about the basic genetics for much longer.
“Pigeon breeders know what a bird might look like if you bring two different combinations together. Without knowing about the molecules involved, they know which physical traits are dominant, and which are recessive,” said Anna Vickrey, doctoral candidate at the U and lead author of the paper.
Vickrey and colleagues sequenced the genomes of the four varieties, testing candidate genes that might regulate different color patterns. They found that barless pigeons have a mutation in the NDP gene sequence itself that impedes pigment production. Then, they determined that the darker-feathered birds had more copies of a probable regulatory DNA sequence, which dials up expression of NDP in checker and t-check birds.
“To see both changes in how much of the pigment gene is expressed, and changes in gene sequence in one suite of physical characteristics is kind of unique. It’s definitely exciting,” said Vickrey.
“It turns out that how many copies of that DNA region you have determines how dark your wings are. So, this is a mechanism for evolution of traits like pigmentation by simply duplicating stretches of DNA. It’s not really evolving something from scratch, it’s taking what you’ve got and making more copies,” added Shapiro.
The human connection
Although unknown in the bird world, the NDP gene is well studied in humans. Dozens of mutations in the gene result in blindness, deafness, schizophrenia and motor and intellectual problems. Yet the mutation in barless pigeons only affects their pigmentation and eyesight. At least two families in Japan with the same mutation in NDP experience only hereditary blindness. It points to at least part of the gene being important to vision.
“We discovered this gene that hasn’t been implicated in pigmentation traits before. It has these really interesting links to eye disease, so that implicated a common link between pigmentation and eye development that’s worth following up,” said Shapiro.
The researchers are collaborating with the Moran Eye Center at the U to study the veins and arteries behind barless pigeon retinas for insight into the NDP mutation’s effect on eye development.
Additionally, checker and T-check pigeons seem to have other reproductive and physiological changes that let them thrive in urban habitats. The biologists are investigating whether linked traits raise the possibility that NDP is changing not just pigmentation patterning, but also other important fitness traits.
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)
