by Ryan Ponto | Jul 11, 2017 | Bird Netting
The red-cockaded woodpecker is an endangered bird, and approximately nine call the 1,700-acre W.G. Jones State Forest near The Woodlands home.
The birds are mostly spread out across Southeastern states, and officials with the Texas A&M Forest Service do what they can to ensure the forest is in good condition for the birds to thrive, said Donna Work, Texas A&M Forest Service biologist.
“In this forest, sometimes they stay where you put them, and sometimes they don’t,” Work said. “They kind of mix around and find their place in the population.”
To maintain the environment for red-cockaded woodpeckers, forest officials keep up with mulching, spraying herbicide and burning the midlayer of plants in the forest, when necessary. This maintains an herbaceous ground covering for bugs, which are a large part of the bird’s diet. Removing the midlayer of flora also protects the birds from rat snakes and other predators, Work said.
To rebuild the population in Jones State Forest, some red-cockaded woodpeckers were translocated—or safely moved—from Louisiana in 2014, Work said.
“In our case, we really needed something to enhance our gene pool because we’re kind of isolated here and kind of stagnating,” she said.
Red-cockaded woodpeckers have declined in population due to habitat loss, Work said. Although birds were moved to the state forest, no hatchlings were born last year. However, three-fourths of the birds that were moved in 2014 have remained in the forest, she said.
Forest officials continue to monitor nest activity and check in on the family groups, which consist of one breeding female, one breeding male and one or two helper birds, said Work, adding there are approximately four family groups in the forest.
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 | Jul 10, 2017 | Bird Netting
The importance of good genetics in racing pigeons cannot be understated. The foundation stock of South Africa’s renowned pigeon racing loft, Kitchenbrand’s Loft, is a case in point.
Co-owned by Mark Kitchenbrand, the Kitchenbrand’s Loft’s Ace Pigeons are bred for performance and speed, and the loft’s incredible gene pool is sourced from the best genetic stock worldwide.
The genetic strength of top racing pigeons will secure results on race day. As such, ambitious fanciers are continuously on the hunt for top genetic pigeon stock, which results in them often purchasing offspring from the same foundation stock.
Therefore, the genetic composition of champion Olympiad pigeons in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, for example, may often intertwine, making them distant relations of each other.
Because they are also sellers, the offspring of foundation pigeon stock owned by top breeders such as Pieter Veenstra, Jan Hooymans, C&G Koopman (Dutch champions), Alfons Klaas, Hardy Krüger, and Gaby Vandenabeele (Belgian champions), are bred into the racing pigeon population by them and various other buyers.
Speed
Olympiad pigeons are categorised according to the following: best sprint-, middle-, or long-distance racers, and all-rounders. However, regardless of the distance, the pigeon that flies the shortest route home, at the highest speed, will always be the winner.
Kitchenbrand bought the now champion all-rounder, Birdy, for R800 000 at the South African Million Dollar Pigeon Race (SAMDPR) auction in 2007.
Birdy was awarded the SAMDPR 2008 Knock-Out Competition Champion, Grand Average Ace Pigeon, and Hot Spot Average Ace Pigeon titles , and has passed her extraordinary genetic strength on to her offspring.
Bred in SA since 2008, Birdy’s offspring are amongst the world’s most powerful hereditary transmitters, producing top results: Birdy’s first six direct offspring all bred multiple first prize winners. Four of her direct offspring were in the top 200 in the 2011 Sun City Million Dollar Race.
While Kitchenbrand thus has access to Birdy’s superior genetic line through her offspring, he recently acquired some of Stefaan Lambrecht’s sprint pigeons, currently the fastest pigeons in the world.
Birdy and Harry
Dutch pigeon racing champion, Jan Hooymans, bought Birdy in October 2015. Since then, famous Dutch Ace Racer, Harry, a blue cheque cock owned by Hooymans, has been mated to Birdy.
None of their direct offspring have been put on sale.
Harry is one of the best racers in the world, after winning two races against 22 340 and 37 728 pigeons, and scoring third place against 21 520 pigeons. Harry’s progeny won against 11 337 pigeons, and a grandson won against 44 293 pigeons.
Key genetic links
As a result of their outstanding genetics, Harry and Birdy’s progeny should be phenomenal racers. Both Harry and Birdy are related to renowned pigeon foundation stock: Harry was bred from the genetic foundations of C & G Koopman and Gaby Vandenabeele.
Birdy’s dam is closely related to the same Louis van Loon and Janssen brothers pigeons used in the formation of the C & G Koopman genetic pool. In SA, Birdy was mated to top bird, Zander, bred by
Dutch champion, Pieter Veenstra. Veenstra’s birds have a strong C & G Koopman foundation.
Birdy’s offspring with Zander thus have a golden link to the Janssen birds, as the base birds in the Veenstra loft also connect with this line.
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 | Jul 9, 2017 | Bird Netting
A Missouri man has a fish story that he will likely be telling for years.
Monroe MacKinney, 22, was fishing at his parents’ pond on My 31 when he caught a most unusual bass, reports the Daily Mail.
When he went to remove the hook, he noticed something peculiar inside the fish’s mouth.
“I went to lip him so I could remove my hook and that’s when I saw something in its mouth, MacKinney explained. “I didn’t know what it was and I almost dropped the fish back in the water. I was hesitant to remove the hook, but upon further inspection I realized it was a mole inside the fish’s mouth.”
The rodent was fully intact, looking like it just emerged from its hole. Except that it was dead.
“I had no idea how the bass got ahold of a mole,” the young fisherman continued. “I was speechless – I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I knew I had a once-in-a-lifetime catch, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to get a few pictures of it.”
Fish that feast on land animals is rare, but not without precedent.
For example, there are catfish in Australia who have been known to eat pigeons, reports an article in New Scientists. “Lesser salmon catfish,” as they are called, occasionally ambush pigeons at the water’s edge. But more often they eat animals when they drown.
In a survey of 18 lesser salmon catfish from Ashburton River in northern Australia, almost half had mice in their stomachs.
Two of the fish had three animals each in their stomachs, and some fish had up to 95 percent of their stomachs filled with small mammals.
The primary prey in these cases was spinifex hopping mice, which do not enter water voluntarily. “These mice often live in small colonies within a single burrow system,” says Erin Kelly of the Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research at Murdoch University, Perth, who led the research. Therefore, “collapse or flooding of one or multiple burrow systems along the Ashburton River could have inadvertently introduced them into the water.”
And though a few freshwater fish species are known to dine on land vertebrates — African tigerfish have been filmed plucking a swallow out of thin air, for example — it is rare for them to eat so many.
But the lesser salmon catfish aren’t the only fish who have been reported to eat non-aquatic animals.
Trout in Idaho have been found with rodents in their bellies. In a trout population survey done at the Silver Creek Preserve, biologists catch trout to get their weight and measurements, reports the website Cool Green Science.
During each survey, the researchers sample the contents of select trout stomachs to see what they have been eating. As they opened brown trout stomachs during a survey in 2013, they found montane voles, which are small rodents common along Silver Creek.
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 | Jul 8, 2017 | Bird Netting
She came out vehemently against a proposed pigeon cull in Vittoriosa but animal rights campaigner Moira Delia now welcomes the mayor’s change of heart and the drive to tackle this problem in a more humane way on a national level.
Interviewed on Times Talk, the television presenter laments the lack of enforcement of animal welfare legislation as she speaks of dog micro-chipping, horses in the sun and the use of chains as dog leashes.
Ms Delia also raises the concerns of animal lovers who would wish to keep their pets’ ashes after they die, after the closure of a small-scale crematorium that was operated illegally by a non-governmental organisation.
She also has her say on whether Animal Rights Parliamentary Secretary Clint Camilleri, a hunter, has a conflict in occupying that role.
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 | Jul 7, 2017 | Bird Netting
When a tiny lizard is moved away from his territory and placed in a new “mystery” location, can he find his way back? If so, how?
Yellow-bearded anoles are territorial species, with males staking out a tree as home turf. Researcher Manuel Leal, a behavior ecologist from University of Missouri who studies anoles in Puerto Rico, attached miniature tracking devices to 15 male anoles, walked them to a new site while disorienting them, and tracked them to find out if they could make their way back to their home-turf tree within 24 hours.
What happened is surprising and creates a new set of questions about the abilities of animals to navigate despite overwhelming odds that should leave them lost for good.
The experiment focused on yellow-bearded anoles, but this impressive ability isn’t exclusive to these tiny lizards.
Homing pigeons are also famous for this ability. And a new theory for how homing pigeons find their way home is that they use sound waves that emanate from the Earth itself.
Popular Science describes the theory put forward by U.S. Geological Society geologist John Hagstrum: “The idea is that pigeons use these low-frequency infrasound waves to generate acoustic maps of their surroundings, and that’s how they find home even when they’re released miles from where they dwell. The theory not only explains how pigeons make their way home almost every time, but why they sometimes get lost. (High winds, supersonic jets and various other phenomena can disrupt these infrasound waves, disorienting the birds and setting them on a false course for home.) So while it’s by no means conclusive, this new theory seems at first glance a very tidy way of explaining a mystery that has baffled avian biologists for generations.”
Might anoles also use such sound waves? Or could it be another sense that picks up the cues to lead them home again, even when they’re quite lost?
The research that will give us the answers to these little lizards’ navigation abilities might also help us unravel other mysteries about animal senses.
“Leal says there are many reasons why anoles are a great system for studying evolution,” explains the University of Missouri website. “There are hundreds of species, they have colonized a diversity of habitats, and they exhibit a wide range of complex behaviors.”
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)
