by Pigeon Patrol | Sep 25, 2024 | Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Bird Spike, Bird Spikes, Pigeons, Pigeons in the News
In a messy but unsuccessful war against pigeons on city buildings, Denver has tried highfrequency sirens, electrified toe strips and an anti-perching product called Hot Foot. But now city officials think they finally have found a weapon that works: hallucinogenic chemicals.
For the past year, the city has been feeding pigeons corn laced with a substance called Avitrol, which sends birds into convulsions, sometimes fatal, that scare away the rest of the flock.
With so many pigeons on bad trips, city workers say it’s the first time in memory that people can walk without fear of plops from the ledges, windowsills and outcroppings of the ornate City and County Building and Greek Theater.
Hand-drawn funny cute illustration – Curious pigeons.
The acidity in pigeon droppings had become such a potent problem that the city is spending $100,000 this summer to power-wash bird scat from buildings around Civic Center.
“It got to the point where you felt like you needed ski goggles to look up at the City and County Building,” said John Hall, manager of public office buildings for Denver. “Pigeons are urban vermin.”
Though the same Avitrol chemical also is being used against pigeons at Coors Field, St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral and Rose Medical Center, not everyone is convinced it’s the No. 1 solution to the No. 2 problem.
Just a few blocks across Civic Center, state maintenance workers worry that Denver Mayor Wellington Webb merely is scattering pigeons from his building to do their business on the state Capitol.
And animal-rights activists are aghast.
“It takes 40 pigeons pooping all day in one place to equal what a dog leaves on my lawn in one drop,” said Catherine Hurlbutt, 87, who has rescued and nurtured hundreds of injured birds at her south Denver home. “You’re not supposed to say a bad word about dogs, but people think it’s OK to poison pigeons.”
When New York City residents started using Avitrol on pigeons, Grace Slick, the famed Jefferson Airplane singer of the ’60s drug anthem “White Rabbit,” protested to Mayor Rudy Giuliani in a letter.
“I have considerable experience on the subject of mind-altering drugs, and I can tell you that Avitrol is not your run-of-the-mill hallucinogen,” Slick wrote. “It causes violent shaking, trembling, thirst, nausea, convulsions, disorientation and a slow death. Wow, talk about a bad trip!”
Last year, the New York State Assembly passed a bill allowing cities to ban Avitrol, but Gov. George Pataki, heeding a request from Giuliani, vetoed the bill.
All the flap is over a 1-pound bird that was native to Europe but brought to North America in the 1600s.
Supporters call them rock doves, which mate for life and feed milk to their young, and note that their homing ancestors helped in World War II by transporting spy messages. Detractors liken them to rats and cockroaches that carry diseases and dive-bomb passers-by with fecal glop.
Denver has struggled for decades to keep Downtown pigeons under control. When workers put spikes on building ledges to keep pigeons from roosting, the birds simply built nests atop them and enjoyed air-cooled nests in the summer. When workers tried a chemical spread called Hot Foot, birds built new nests and enjoyed warmer roosts for the winter.
When world leaders visited Denver for the Summit of the Eight in 1997, city workers installed electrified wires atop ledges favored by pigeons at Civic Center’s outdoor Greek Theater. The wires suffered from frequent short-circuits.
High-frequency radio speakers were supposed to drive the pigeons batty, but the birds ended up perching atop them anyway.
City officials said their war against pigeons seemed lost – until Denver hired the Pigeon Man.
The latest owner of a 47-year-old family business called Bird Control, Doug Stewart said Avitrol is one of his most effective tools against pigeons. When he started working for Denver a year ago, the City and County Building was home to hundreds of pigeons.
But with a $250-a-month city contract, Stewart started sprinkling Avitrol-laced corn on the roof of city hall. Recently, Stewart scrambled across the roof of the four-story building with his monthly dosage of bait in his backpack.
While the rooftop view of the Rocky Mountains to the west and the state Capitol to the east was magnificent, Stewart was most proud of something he didn’t see.
There were few birds, or fresh droppings, anywhere.
So he laid down a few small piles of Avitrol-laced corn, which costs him $50 a pound, and talked about a job that has taken him across the rooftops of the city, from Lakeside Mall to the steeple at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral – and some truly disgusting abandoned apartment buildings in-between.
“I get asked all the time: Am I killing pigeons?” Stewart said. “There’s no way in the world I want any dead pigeons. I want to keep them fat, happy and on the move. It’s good for my business.” According to the government-approved warning label, Avitrol is a “poison with flock-alarming properties, used for the control of feral pigeons in, on, or in the area of structures, feeding, nesting, loafing and roosting sites, in such a way that a part of the flock may react and frighten the rest away. Birds that react and alarm a flock usually die.”
Scientific studies show the chemical temporarily alters brain waves and throws the bird into spasms and convulsions. When an Ontario, Canada, environmental official banned the use of non-humane vertebrate pesticides in 1975, a team of University of Ottawa researchers concluded that Avitrol “appears to be humane based on scientific evidence.”
“Upon eating the active ingredient of Avitrol in a corncob base, the birds begin to flap wings, vocalize and convulse,” said the study led by pathologist Henry Roswell.
“Other birds seeing this activity in their colleagues become alarmed and fly away to another area.” Critics of the use of bird repellants such as Avitrol claim that their use merely shifts birds from one area to another.
“Avitrol is not intended to kill birds. However, some do die, although the numbers are minimal in comparison to the hundreds that make up the flock,” Roswell said.
Death-rate estimates range from 1 percent to 20 percent of pigeons consuming Avitrol.
Meanwhile, workers at the Colorado Capitol wonder whether the city is dropping its pigeon problem on the state. In the past year, state workers have installed five special anti-pigeon Plexiglas barriers – at a cost of $300 each – on ledges above the Capitol’s west steps. When told Denver has been using a chemical that may be moving city birds to the state Capitol, state central services director Rick Malinowski said, “Thanks a lot! We may have to retaliate.”
City workers fear the consequences. At the city’s Greek Theater, maintenance worker Ray Martinez set down his coffee cup one morning on an outdoor step before walking inside an office.
When he returned to his coffee cup a few minutes later, he saw something that jolted him awake.
“I was ready to take a sip and I looked down and thought, “Hey, what’s going on here? I take my coffee black!’
” Martinez said. “I was so mad I threw my cup at that bird.”
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 Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Canada’s top wholesaler for bird deterrent products for twelve consecutive years.
Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at https://www.pigeonpatrol.ca/
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by Pigeon Patrol | Sep 19, 2024 | Bird Spike, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
The people of Toronto are fed up with pigeons. The birds crowd around subway stations, overload balconies with poop, and build their flammable nests in hazardous places. The city has tried trapping and relocating them, scaring them away with falcons, and even debated imposing a feeding ban. Nothing has worked.
The latest tactic? Giving the birds food laced with birth control.
Toronto is far from the only city dealing with pigeon problems. Adaptable and prolific, Rock Pigeons are extremely common—and often despised. City health and sanitation departments caution that pigeon droppings can damage buildings and historic landmarks, and their nests can cause fires on train tracks. This has prompted culling, trapping, or poisoning programs, but pigeon numbers keep bouncing back, pushing some civic leaders to seek more creative solutions.
Now Toronto is placing its bet on a form of avian birth control called nicarbazin. Nearly a year ago, the animal control department deployed four feeders around the city that automatically dispense nicarbazin-infused wheat pellets at a set time each day. The pilot program aims to reduce the metropolitan pigeon population by 50 percent annually—and results are set for release later this summer.
Nicarbazin was originally developed in the 1950s to treat a poultry disease called coccidiosis. But the drug came with a curious side effect: It made hens lay infertile eggs. The compound pokes holes in the membrane around the yolk, and so the embryo can’t develop, says Christi Yoder, a former wildlife biologist who helped conduct early research on the contraceptive capabilities of nicarbazin in the early 2000s. The drug was first tested in the laboratory with chickens and domestic Mallards, and then later in the field on nuisance Canada Geese, both scenarios where nicarbazin performed quite well, Yoder says.
For pigeons, however, the results have been mixed. The drug has had some success, especially with smaller pigeon populations confined to areas like industrial lots or small towns. But the right conditions need to align for nicarbazin to do its job. Pigeons can be conditioned to return to the same places at the same time each day, but ensuring that the birds eat the necessary dose isn’t always guaranteed, especially when other food is available. And if a bird stops consuming the drug for a few days, its fertility will return to normal. “You gotta be taking this stuff consistently for it to work,” says Erick Wolf, CEO of Innolytics, LLC, which sells nicarbazin under the brand name OvoControl, including for Toronto’s pilot.
If a bird stops consuming the drug for a few days, its fertility will return to normal.
That fickleness makes nicarbazin especially challenging to use effectively in cities. A 2022 study in Barcelona found that, while the drug reduced some pigeon colonies by about 55 percent over 3 years, other colonies appeared unaffected. This is likely because of humans. In areas where people feed pigeons, the birds may not always eat the birth-control bait, says Carlos González-Crespo, the lead author of the paper who is currently a researcher at University of California Davis. A separate study on nicarbazin in Barcelona also found that the drug had little effect on the overall population of pigeons across the city, likely because of these confounding human factors.
Giving pigeons birth control also seems to merely stabilize populations rather than decrease them, says Nadia Xenakis, a biologist at BC SPCA who led a year-long study in 2019 on a pilot program in Vancouver. That’s because contraception impacts fertility but not survival. A pigeon’s typical lifespan is two to seven years, so bringing down the numbers solely using nicarbazin can be a waiting game, she says. And for the duration, feeders must be monitored to make sure that pigeons are eating enough for a proper dose and cleaned regularly so they don’t attract rats and other pests. (Nicarbazin poses little risk to those animals, Wolf says, because of its specific effect on bird eggs and its daily dosage requirement.)
Flock of Pigeons crowded on the floor outdoor landscape close up.
All of which raises the question: With its many uncertainties, is birth control the most effective way to reduce urban pigeon populations? The answer, experts agree, is no; stopping people from feeding the birds would likely have a bigger impact. “Many studies for urban pigeons are like, if you’re just reducing the food available to them, their populations will reduce by 50 percent before you even try contraceptives,” says Page Klug, a U.S. Department of Agriculture biologist who led a recent review paper on avian contraceptives.
The problem is that human behavior is difficult to manage. González-Crespo recalls how challenging it was to stop city residents from feeding pigeons for his study, since they thought that they were doing a good deed. In reality, feeding the birds can harm them, he says, by leading to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.
Indeed, it was opposition to a feeding ban that ultimately led Toronto to try the approach the press has dubbed “planned pigeonhood.” Although the program’s impact won’t be clear until the summer, the city recently added a fifth birth control dispenser in a new location. Officials are also encouraging residents to seal off food sources and potential nesting nooks. Pigeon problems can’t be solved with contraceptives alone, González-Crespo says. “You cannot expect wonders from doing just one thing.”
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 Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Canada’s top wholesaler for bird deterrent products for twelve consecutive years.
Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at https://www.pigeonpatrol.ca/
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by Pigeon Patrol | Sep 19, 2024 | Pigeons, Pigeons in the News, Raccoons
The New York Pigeon is a photography book that reveals the unexpected beauty of the omnipresent pigeon as if Vogue magazine devoted its pages to birds, rather than fashion models. In spite of pigeons’ ubiquity in New York and other cities, we never really see them closely and know very little about their function in the urban ecosystem. This book brings to light the intriguing history, behavior and splendor of a bird that we frequently overlook.
The result of eight years of passionate inquiry is a photographic study of the birds’ power and allure (as seen on the cover of New York magazine and the New York Times). The dramatic, hyper-real individual studio portraits capture the personalities, expressiveness, glorious feather iridescence and deeply hued eyes. High-speed strobe photography illustrates pigeons’ graceful flight and dramatic wing movements (as featured in Audubon magazine).
While The New York Pigeon is primarily a photography book, it also tells the five-thousand-year story of the feral pigeon. Why are pigeons so successful in cities and not in the countryside? Why do they have such diverse plumage? How have pigeons adapted to survive on almost any food? Why are pigeons able to fly up to 500 miles per day but rarely do?
How did Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner teach pigeons to do complicated tasks, from tracking missile targets to recognizing individual human faces? Why can pigeons see in the ultraviolet light spectrum and half of their brain is used for visual perception?
The New York Pigeon lovingly describes and illuminates the beauty of nature that is alive in our midst. With this book, the beautiful, savvy, graceful, kind pigeon will be invisible no more.
Andrew Garn is a native New Yorker who grew up surrounded by pigeons, he has been photographing, rehabilitating and observing Columba Livia for eight years. Since 2008, when he exhibited photographs, video installations and sculptures of pigeons at A.M. Richard Fine Art in Brooklyn, NY, he has continued to photograph them. Documenting the entire spectrum of development, including full-grown pigeons, newborns, babies and “squeakers”, he has grown to love these birds.
Mr. Garn is a fine art and editorial photographer whose work has been widely exhibited and appeared in the pages of numerous magazines including the New York Times Magazine, Fortune, Forbes, Interview, Vogue, Vibe, Time, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, French Photo, Elle Décor, New York and Bloomberg LP. He is also the recipient of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Graham Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the J.M. Kaplan Fund, among others.
Singapore, Singapore – April 2, 2024. Pigeons standing on wire in Chinatown, Singapore
His previous books include Exit to Tomorrow: The History of the Future (Rizzoli, 2007), Subway Style: Architecture and Design of the NYC Subway (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, and the MTA 2005), winner of New York Society Book Award, The Houseboat Book (Rizzoli/Universe 2003), and Bethlehem Steel (Princeton Architectural Press 2000).
Emily S. Rueb is an editor for the New York Times metropolitan section. She writes regularly on avian subjects and was the creator of Bird Week and the “Hawk Cam” which chronicled the lives of a red-tailed hawk family in Washington Square Park.
Rita McMahon is the founding director of New York City’s only wildlife rehabilitation facility the Wild Bird Fund. The non- profit facility, operated by
volunteers and vet science trainees helps over 4,500 injured birds per year.
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 Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Canada’s top wholesaler for bird deterrent products for twelve consecutive years.
Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at https://www.pigeonpatrol.ca/
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by Pigeon Patrol | Mar 11, 2024 | Bird Spike, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Predators, Pigeons, Pigeons in the News, Raccoons
Wildlife rehabilitation calls for city to ban toxins that poison Saskatoon pigeons “Basically if you can imagine a bird having seizures,” said Jan Shadick, Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation executive director, describing a pigeon’s painful death after eating poisoned corn. “It’s an unfortunate way to die and it’s an unfortunate use of pigeon control methods within the city.”
The most common poison used is Avitrol. Shadick said she wants to see the city ban its use, or at least require the area it’s scattered around to be labelled, like when spraying pesticides. She said her wildlife rehabilitation sees hundreds of poisoned pigeons — and some other birds — a year, but they’re also seeing it punch up the food chain. “Dogs and cats have been demonstrated to have eaten these poison pigeons and died from it,” she said. “A crow would eat it, a raven would eat it, numerous birds would eat it and it was open to anybody who wanted a free lunch. A squirrel could get a hold of it,” explained owner Jason Hiltz. Instead, he said the company uses deterrents like nets and pigeon spikes.
Two years ago, the City of Saskatoon banned the use of poisoned corn according to Shadick, but only on city property. Shadick said it hasn’t made a difference. She said while most poisons to kill birds can only be bought by licensed professionals, some companies sell almost identical products to anyone online. “The money that people are currently spending on putting out poisoned corn could be spent putting out birth control corn,” she said, explaining using birth control is a more humane version of pigeon population control.
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 Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Canada’s top wholesaler for bird deterrent products for twelve consecutive years.
Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at https://www.pigeonpatrol.ca/
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by Pigeon Patrol | Mar 11, 2024 | Bird Netting, Columbidae, Doves, Pigeons in the News, Raccoons, Sparrows
As for the pigeon, Randle said it was let go, without its luggage this time. Lost pigeon flew the coop, finding her way from France to Calgary Homing pigeons are a remarkable species with internal compasses that are able to memorize landmarks to retrace a path home. But one particular bird ended up so far off its course, it would have been a miracle for her to find her way back.
After being found frozen to a front porch, she was taken in by Calgarian Alex Gray who didn’t know what else to do and posted on social media, eventually tracking down Jeanie Palmer, a woman who raises and rescues pigeons. “There were a lot of people who wanted the bird but couldn’t prove it was theirs, so I reached out to Jeanie and I said: ‘Alright, we don’t have traction and she doesn’t seem happy by herself, so by all means, come and get her,’” Gray said. Once Palmer got her home she did some digging and, being a member of the Canadian Pigeon Fancier’s Association, she reached out to her fellow fanciers who helped her identify the tag. “The band number has an ‘NL’ on it, it’s not Canadian and it’s not American, so where is this bird from?” Palmer said.
She’s from the Netherlands and belonged to Henk Bax, a man who races pigeons. “He said, this bird went missing from a race in Vervins, France on April 25, 2021. She was 200 kilometres from the coop and a year-and-a-half later she winds up on the sidewalk in Calgary, Alberta,” Palmer said. The Dutch owner gave his blessing to keep the pigeon.
“How would you fly from France all the way here? How would she make that? I don’t think she could have made it that far, kudos to her if she did,” Palmer said. “There’s a reason we named her Amelia Earhart, maybe she did fly here,” Palmer said. “My jaw dropped,” Gray said. “I couldn’t believe it and I wondered how the heck this bird got here. Was it smuggled or did it land on a carrier ship and sailed off to the great unknown? Did it survive in some plane landing gear for a very long haul?” Both could hardly believe it.
“This could be a book. The bird who flew across the world, or the pigeon who got lost. You could make up any adventures you wanted her to be on. The fact I have her is crazy to me, pretty lucky,” Palmer said. She’s retiring from racing and will officially become a Canadian. It isn’t legal to ship a bird from Canada to the Netherlands. “She’s going to join my coop and be a spoiled lazy pigeon. Hopefully she will pick one of my handsome boys and have a happy little family of her own,” Palmer said.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products ten years in a row. Contact us at 1 877-4-NO-BIRD,(604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
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 Bird Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Canada’s top wholesaler for bird deterrent products for twelve consecutive years.
Contact us at 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD, (604) 585-9279 or visit our website at https://www.pigeonpatrol.ca/
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by Pigeon Patrol | Mar 11, 2024 | Bird Netting, Bird Spikes, Columbidae, Pigeons, Pigeons in the News, Sparrows
Prison guards at the Pacific Institution in Abbotsford intercepted a pigeon with a small backpack containing crystal meth Prison guards in B.C.’s Fraser Valley have to be vigilant against drones trying to drop contraband to waiting inmates or someone trying to throw drugs over the walls, but a recent discovery has also caused some concern.
“A pigeon was located at Pacific Institution, inside the walls, and it appeared to have a small package, sort of like a backpack attached to it,” John Randle, president of the Pacific Region for Union of Canadian Correctional Officers told Global News. He said the package contained crystal meth. The incident reportedly happened on Dec. 29 at the maximum, medium and minimum federal penitentiary located in Abbotsford. Randle said the pigeon was found near one of the recreation yards at the institution.
“It was spotted by correctional officers, I believe, and security intelligence officers when the officers were doing their standard patrols around and throughout the unit and institution, that’s when they initially spotted the bird with the package on it,” he said. “And then, of course, I believe there was some creative work – because the bird moved around quite a bit – in order to track it and capture it. But it was just outside one of the unit yards when it was first spotted.” Peruvian police catch “narco pigeon” trying to smuggle marijuana into prison
Randle said they have had issues with contraband in the past, with drones or something being thrown over the wall, but in his 13-year career, he has never heard of birds being used to smuggle something into a prison. “It’s almost like the inmates and the criminals are going back in time and using older technology,” he said.
In November, Mission Institution was locked down for days due to a belief that a drone may have dropped a firearm onto the prison grounds. The lockdown was lifted when no gun was found but officers did locate a drone. Lost pigeon flew the coop, finding her way from France to Calgary Randle said keeping drugs out of the prisons has become a huge part of correctional officers’ jobs every day, not just in B.C. but across Canada. “Especially with drones and throw-overs, the drug problem is growing on a daily basis,” he said. “This pigeon thing adds a new element to that for sure and we’ll be on the lookout for it but definitely drones have been the big thing for us.” He added that right now it is unclear to investigators if someone inside the prison was training the bird or if it was someone outside the institution. Randle said they have increased staff and patrols in order to watch for any potential drops. He said they also have anti-drone technology that works like a radar.
The Correctional Service of Canada and the RCMP have launched a joint investigation into what happened.
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