by Ryan Ponto | Dec 20, 2016 | Bird Netting
Scottish Parliament hawks to remain to control pigeons Hawks at the Scottish parliament. Picture: PHIL WILKINSON 10:11Monday 02 January 2017 1 HAVE YOUR SAY SCOTTISH Parliament bosses look set to carry on flying hawks and falcons at Holyrood to scare away pigeons – even though they accept the number has come down as much as it is ever likely to. Birds of prey were brought in eight years ago as a deterrent after other measures such as bird wire, netting and anti-roosting spikes all failed. A year ago, the parliament said the £16,000 a year contract was due to be reviewed and the Evening News revealed Holyrood bosses were considering ending it. Monthly monitoring had shown there were between 11 and 18 pigeons regularly on the Holyrood campus and officials felt it may not be possible to reduce it any further. But no review has yet
taken place and now the parliament says the future of the contract with NBC Bird and Pest Solutions will only be looked at when the bigger high-level maintenance contract, of which it is a part, comes up for renewal in October 2017. And despite the previous suggestion that the use of birds of prey would probably come to an end, parliament officials now say it is likely to continue. But MSPs questioned why Holyrood should carry on paying out money if the hawks have now done their work. The pigeon problem plagued the Holyrood building right from the start with its many nooks and crannies proving attractive perches. Muck and feathers were blown through vents on to researchers’ desks and some birds even got into MSPs’ offices. Monthly monitoring reports for the past year, released under freedom of information, no longer give average totals for the number of pigeons counted at the Holyrood campus but do highlight hotspots, particularly the MSP block. Some of the politicians working there urged a review. Lothian Tory MSP Jeremy Balfour said: “If the contract runs out this year, it is a good time to review the whole situation. Just to renew it automatically would be a mistake. “It’s quite a lot of money and if we have reached the optimum number [of pigeons] and the situation cannot be made any better, it is not the best use of public money. I will write to the chief executive and seek clarification of the position and ask if we have now got as much as we can out of it.” And Lothian Green MSP Alison Johnstone also urged a review. She said: “It’s important we know how effective this spending is. We should not continue with a contract that costs £16,000 a year unless we are clear it is proving effective. “The evidence base must be available and I would welcome site of it to help parliament come to a decision as to whether or not this ongoing expenditure should be continued.” A parliament spokeswoman said there were no plans to end the NBC contract early. She added: “Like many buildings in Edinburgh, a small number of pigeons visit regularly. We are aware the problem can never be fully eradicated and it is likely we will continue with the current approach.”
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 | Dec 19, 2016 | Bird Deterrent Products
ABOUT 300 Colchester racing pigeons were involved in secret service work in Occupied Europe during the Second World War, a little-known fact faithfully reported in Hervey Benham’s book Essex at War which recorded what happened between 1939 and 1945.
This remarkable aspect of the war is described by Mr Benham as follows: “Let the pigeons’ part not be overlooked.
“Twenty-two Colchester pigeon fanciers played behind the scenes their part in the winning of the war.
“Prior to 1939 these men trained their birds for show purposes and for racing, but when in April 1943 a Special Section Carrier Pigeon Service was formed, efforts were wholeheartedly turned towards war.
“Mr Arthur A. Finch, of 12 Speedwell Road, Colchester, was appointed Pigeon Service Officer for the Colchester Section, and Colchester fanciers supplied approximately 300 birds for special secret service work in Occupied Europe.
“Several were used by the Maquis and gave the exact position of flying bomb sites.
“Several of the 300 birds never returned, many being wounded.”
The “Maquis” was the name given to members of the French Resistance against the Nazis. Pigeons would be smuggled into Occupied Europe in boxes dropped by parachute at pre-arranged locations.
These would be picked up by the Resistance who would then put messages in small containers fitted to the legs of pigeons which would then fly home to their loft in Britain, 22 of which were in Colchester.
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 | Dec 18, 2016 | Animal Deterrent Products
If one thing was vital to the the new kind of modern warfare in the First World War, it was communications.
The Industrial Revolution had brought wireless transmission of signals with it and the huge armies of World War 1 needed to be in contact constantly to be successful in the field.
In this special episode we introduce you to the birth hour of modern military communication and signals.
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 | Dec 17, 2016 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent
Summary: Having lost their expensive birds to theft, many say that police seldom pay attention to their ‘pigeon theft’ complaints. A rash of racing pigeon thefts across the city have left many breeders high and dry. But cases where the stolen birds were in large numbers, it is considered a serious crime. Many instances over the last few weeks had shown that there was very little help from police in rescuing the birds, breeders said. Even if the police manage to apprehend the thieves, the task of proving ownership of the birds is onerous.
Even if the police manage to apprehend the thieves, the task of proving ownership of the birds is onerous. — File photo | Photo Credit: R_Shivaji Rao more-in A rash of racing pigeon thefts across the city have left many breeders high and dry. Having lost their expensive birds to theft, many say that police seldom pay attention to their ‘pigeon theft’ complaints. For years now breeding of exotic birds has been lucrative business for professional breeders.
However, of late, protecting these birds from thieves has become a difficult task. Many instances over the last few weeks had shown that there was very little help from police in rescuing the birds, breeders said. According to them, police authorities have their hands full with law and order cases and seldom show any interest in recovering the stolen birds. R.T. Venkatesh, a resident of Marai Malai Nagar, has been a bird enthusiast and a breeder for several 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)
by Ryan Ponto | Dec 16, 2016 | Pigeon Patrol's Services
In the waning hours of 2016, Donald Trump issued a statement that sensitive and classified information should not be transmitted using computers. To back up his claim, he cited the expertise of his ten-year old son. “It’s very important, if you have something really important, write it out and have it delivered by courier, the old-fashioned way because I’ll tell you what, no computer is safe. I don’t care what they say, no computer is safe. I have a boy who’s 10 years old. He can do anything with a computer. You want something to really go without detection, write it out and have it sent by courier.” As Trump is due to be sworn in as the next President of the United States in January of 2017, it is important that scientists look toward a way of implementing his preferred standard. Thankfully, the Internet Engineering Task Force, the organization that sets the standards for the Internet has already released such a protocol, and they did it back in 1990. RFC 1149, or A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers, was the first draft of a protocol that addressed the reliability and speed of carrying data traffic via avian carriers, or homing pigeons. The protocol demonstrates that high delay, low throughput, and low altitude service can be accomplished with a point to point topology. Even though there is individual low throughput with individual carriers, multiple carriers can be used because they operate in a three-dimensional space, as opposed to the one-dimensional space used by current internet standards. Other benefits of RFC 1149 are that the packet carriers are self-regenerating (albeit at a very slow rate), and that they self-generate auditing trails, usually found on logs, cars, and the occasional unfortunate person underwing. Unfortunately, transmissions made via RFC 1149 are subject to dropped packets, and the transmissions are extremely vulnerable to storms. When used in tactical environments, the packets should also be encrypted to avoid data interception. Because nothing in the world of communication is ever static, the RFC was revisited and a new experimental protocol was issued. RFC 2549, or IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service, was issued in 1999 and served to amend RFC 1149. RFC 2549 introduces new service levels for Internet Protocol over Avian Carrier (IPoAC). The levels in decreasing order of speed and reliability are Concorde, First, Business, and Coach. Using this network allows the user to also gain frequent flyer miles as well as bonus miles if Concorde or First classes are chosen. An alternate carrier that has a greater bulk capacity was also introduced, but ostrich delivery is slower and requires bridges between domains. The protocol stresses the advantages of IPoAC, as they will avoid standard tunneling or bridging, enabling them to avoid long queues. However, when they deal with web traffic, spiders are often absorbed into the packet carrier and ejected in a more compact form. If data encapsulation is required or requested, standard saran wrap can be used. Alternately, encapsulation of the data carrier in a hawk has been known to occur, but the data is often mangled and irretrievable. The protocol has been tried in numerous real world applications. The first test occurred in 2001, when the Bergen Linux user group tested out the Carrier Pigeon Internet Protocol (CPIP) over a three mile test distance. There were 9 packets transmitted but only 4 packets received, resulting in a 55% packet loss. The ping was an atrocious 5222806.6 ms, however. Another test occurred in 2009, when CPIP was used with a data carrier named “Winston” raced against a Telkom SA ASDL line. The test was to send 4 GB of data over 60 km. The CPIP beat the ADSL transfer handily, completing transmission in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 57 seconds. The ASDL line had only completed 4% of the required data transmission at that point. While some may lambast President-Elect Donald Trump for not being computer savvy, his awareness of this little used Internet Protocol actually shows great awareness of the evolving conditions of technology. Here’s hoping that President Trump is able to find a way to fund RFC 1149 and 2549 so that American state secrets can remain even more secure in the
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)
