by Pigeon Patrol | Oct 15, 2015 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services
It is 9 a.m. on Feb. 1, a Sunday morning, and İzmir is still asleep, except for some people who want to enjoy the quietness of the city. I am on my way to the famous clock tower of İzmir and when I arrive at the square, the first thing that draws my attention is, of course, the clock tower. It is smaller than I expected, but it looks beautiful in the morning light. While looking at it, I suddenly hear the sounds of two women quarreling.
The square near the clock tower is a popular space in İzmir and, as so many other squares in the world – think about the Dam square in Amsterdam, San Marco in Venice or Trafalgar square in London – pigeons outnumber the number of visitors. Pigeons were eagerly waiting for people to come so they would get their daily dose of food. Around 8:30 and 9 a.m. people who sell pigeon food arrive and quickly prepare their little tables. There is a certain order at the square about who is allowed to sit where. The problem this morning was, a woman (let’s call her Ayşe) had taken another woman’s (Burcu’s) place. With loud arguments, Burcu tried to convince Ayşe of her wrongdoing. But whatever arguments Burcu used to convince the woman that it was her who had to go, Ayşe did not listen. “I was here first and this is going be my place for the day,” she tried reasoning with Burcu. It was Ayşe who won and Burcu, while still swearing at the woman, walked away to her new and unwanted post.
It was beautiful winter weather and the sun shone nice light on the tower. With just a couple of clouds in the background, this would allow me to take a beautiful picture. At 10 a.m. it began to get busier, but together with the increase of the number of visitors, the amount of clouds increased as well. Within one hour, the first drops came down and in no time it was raining cats and dogs. People tried to find a dry place at different locations, but when they realized that the rain would not stop soon quickly they also left the square.
I decided to go to the covered market in İzmir. On my way to it, there was this interesting, but at the same time ironic advertisement. So many people have lost connection with nature and there are some people who create new projects in which they use nature in a very clever way. By planting a small park and pond, they give people the feeling that they are living in nature. Seeing the advertisement, which promotes living in nature with that background and nothing more than some old, horrible buildings without any green struck me. Sometimes it is not what you see, but what you want to see and as a picture, I liked this scene very much.
Finally, being soaking wet, I arrived at the Kızlarağası Hanı. Although I never had seen the clock tower, I have visited this old Han many times. It is a rather small Han, not as big as the one in Şanlıurfa, but I love this covered market. A nice square inside where you can drink Boza or Salep (typical Turkish winter drinks. Boza is a cold, almost-custard thick, slightly fermented drink. Salep is a warm drink and is wonderful during cold weather) or tea, of course. Inside this Han they changed it into a shopping mall, but this is so nice, so cute. I love those kinds of shopping malls; they are client friendly, and not tiresome as 21st century shopping malls. In spite of all the technology they put into those shopping malls, it is impossible to spend more than one or two hours in those places. The worst one for me is Cevahir; after half an hour, I start to get nervous and one hour later it feels as if my head is exploding.
Then take those nice ancient covered markets. The Grand Bazaar of Istanbul is very busy; the covered market of Şanlıurfa is crowded, especially on Fridays, but it does not matter for me how busy it is; it is always fun to walk around in those places.
The variety of shops combined with handcrafts makes an interesting combination. I will write about it in another story, but here in İzmir, in this Han, you will experience the same kind of feeling. There are a couple of silver shops, antique shops, touristic stuff shops etc. Every time when I visit this Han, I find something that attracts my attention. This time, I found this little music instrument shop and bought nice little pink (!) ukulele for my daughter. A bit further into the Han, I saw nice little shops that sell old Ottoman books, manuscripts and postcards. The woman working there knows how to read the Ottoman language and with a lot of passion, she explained about some of the books that I randomly picked from the shelves. One of the books was a children’s story translated from the original English. Of course, there were a couple of Qurans and even some schoolbooks.
If you are worried about food; don’t be, there are enough choices for everyone. It is not typical Michelin star food, but sitting there and enjoying the activities around you turn this place into an unforgettable experience.
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 Pigeon Patrol | Oct 13, 2015 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons in the News
Visitors believe the speakers installed last December to broadcast bird noises have done little to move on the nuisance birds in the area.
Currently recordings are broadcast intermittently through speakers throughout the parklands.
It was hoped the noise would move the large white birds away from the high traffic areas, yet the ibis remain.
CEO Jeff Weigh said the Corporation is working towards finding new options to control the number of ibis that inhabit the well visited location.
“We are looking at humane ways to make space for visitors at South Bank,” he said.
“There are a list of things we are going to try including kite birds similar to what we have in the Epicurious garden at South Bank which act as birds of prey.
Brisbane City Council advises visitors to:
not feed ibis or leave scraps of food or rubbish lying around
keep garbage bin lids closed, particularly industrial waste bins
remove water sources and reduce waste disposal
not try to kill or cause injury to the birds
not remove nests or eggs
not disturb the birds when there are fledglings in the nest
Brisbane City Council – Australian white ibis
“The ibis are a local nesting bird that live in the area so we have to keep trying different ways of deterring them.”
Visitors to South Bank have told 612 ABC Brisbane confirmed that the recorded noises are not having any affect on the nearby ibis.
“It is a good idea, but it seems the birds are just too smart for us,” said Jessica from Brisbane.
“I think that fans could work with water or possibly tougher bird noises like that of a hawk.”
One local food vendor said the recordings being played have not stopped the ibis from taking food from visitors.
“We can still see the ibis and they still get up on the tables and take food from people but I do not think we can really get rid of the birds though,” she said.
“I tell customers to watch their food, and not get distracted as that is when they [the ibis] jump on the table and take food from people.”
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 Pigeon Patrol | Oct 10, 2015 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Bird Netting, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons in the News, UltraSonic Bird Control
Feed the birds, tuppence a bag” croons the Little Old Bird Woman on the steps of St Paul’s in Mary Poppins. But the winged critters aren’t so popular with everyone; Ken Livingstone tried to eradicate them from Trafalgar Square in 2001 by banning the sale of pigeon food and hiring a hawk to maintain the pecking order. If he’d succeeded in wiping them out completely, what would London be like today? We take a look at pigeons’ place in the London ecosystem.
The only creature to feast on pigeons in London is the peregrine falcon, a bird of prey that nests on the ledges of tall buildings (as this replicates their more natural environment of cliff faces), according to Matthew Evans, Professor of Ecology at Queen Mary University. The most famous pair of peregrine falcons in London nest in the chimney of the Tate Modern on Southbank, although others are known to roam the skies around Parliament and other spots.
Peregrines are adept at catching their prey when it is mid-flight (meals on wheels wings, if you will), and London pigeons are simply a more domesticated version of the rock dove, the falcons’ only source of food in other environments. Evans believes it’s unlikely that an absence of pigeons would cause them to turn to another food source, such as rodents. Instead, they are likely either to die out through lack of food, or leave London and set up home in another location where their favourite meal is readily available.
In turn, this would reduce the number of greater-binocularised humans who flock to Southbank every summer in an attempt to feed their eyes on the falcons. Presumably they would be displaced to another ecosystem more accommodating to their bird-spotting needs — the Welsh coast, perhaps — freeing up more of the London space for other humans to flourish.
Looking at the food chain in the other direction, the main source of food for pigeons is human rubbish: crisps, biscuits, the odd M&S sarnie. Whatever they can get their mangled claws on, really. According to Evans, the only reason that pigeons really exist in London is due to the sheer amount of food readily available for them. So, without pigeons, this clean-up service would cease to exist, meaning we’d probably be knee-deep in half-eaten kebabs before we knew it. But excess food would soon be picked up by rats and foxes (and gulls, closer to the river), meaning we’d probably see an increase in the populations of these species.
So no pigeons in London would mean no peregrine falcons, but more rats and foxes. Think of that next time you shoo a hobbling pigeon out of your path. It’s him, or a rat. And of course, fewer pigeons mean less pigeon droppings, so London buildings and statues could be free of the “lucky”* fluid, and less subject to erosion. We could also release our most sacred buildings from the protective sheath of pigeon spikes (full effectiveness demonstrated below).
*We got pooed on by a pigeon once. So distracted were we in trying to remove the muck from our new jacket that we tripped over a kerb and ended up face down in mud. Lucky our *rse.
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 Pigeon Patrol | Oct 7, 2015 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services, UltraSonic Bird Control
In the span of a few weeks, Erica Richards has been transformed from a vibrant 23-year-old woman who loved nature to a person battling for her life.
In early January, the Fredericton woman contracted a potentially fatal condition called cryptococcal meningitis, a fungal disease carried in the feces of pigeons.
The debilitating illness attacks the spine and brain, causing severe swelling. It left her confined to a hospital bed in a state of delirium for weeks.
But the most devastating side effect is that Ms. Richards is now blind.
“Be aware of this disease. It could kill a child in a heartbeat,” Ms. Richards said in an interview from her hospital bed.
“It could kill a senior in a heartbeat without you even having to worry about the symptoms. It comes on that fast. If you don’t realize the symptoms, it could kill you, too.”
Her emotional warning comes on the heels of city council’s approval earlier this month of a recommendation that it toughen its animal control bylaw to allow for fines for feeding pigeons. Once the amendment is drafted and declared law, it will give the city’s bylaw enforcement officers the power to ticket and fine offenders.
Ms. Richards said she decided to go public about her illness after learning about a recent newspaper story about a problem with pigeon poop in the city.
“Please don’t feed the pigeons,” she said. “Try to shoo them away if you see them. … It (the disease) is horrible. The pain that you get from this disease is crippling.
“The after-effects are with you for life and you just can’t stop thinking about it. I just want other people to know and try to stay away from pigeons.”
Oddly enough, Ms. Richards said she has no recollection of ever being anywhere near pigeons.
“I am still wondering to this day where I got it,” she said. “I could have stepped in it and brought it into the home. I just don’t know.”
Ms. Richards said the symptoms started with a migraine headache that wouldn’t go away. She was admitted to hospital on Feb. 10 after many days of intense head pain. Shortly after, she went into a coma-like state.
“When I woke up I thought I had a mask over my eyes, but I was wrong. I was blind. I was recently told that I will be blind for the rest of my life. This is a tough thing for a 23-year-old to go through. … My world crumbled around me.”
Ms. Richards said the odds of surviving the disease are 50-50.
“However, I managed to make it through,” she said, battling tears. “I don’t know how but I am still here, and I am glad because I get to warn everyone else of this.”
Cristin Muecke, the Health Department’s regional medical officer, confirmed the disease is often associated with pigeon droppings. She said the illness can’t be spread person to person and is more common with someone who has immune problems.
Ms. Richards, however, said she has never had a problem with her immune system and that’s what’s so puzzling about contracting the affliction.
“I do not want anyone else to suffer this agonizing disease and I ask anyone who is feeding pigeons to stop,” she said. “It’s not just a matter of keeping your neighbourhood clean … it’s a matter of keeping people healthy.”
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 Pigeon Patrol | Oct 4, 2015 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes
If you’ve been over to the House of St Barnabas members’ club in Soho you may have seen Patrick Murphy’s fabulous flock of pigeons, but if not, you’ve got the chance to catch them in a new art installation that’s launching today.
Murphy’s bright, eye-catching birds were originally as part of the Art Social ’14 festival and now they’re taking flight on to the lampposts of Soho for passers by to gawk at. Confused? Allows us to explain.
As we all know, pigeons have a bit of a bad rep and tend to be regarded as pests that we don’t want hanging around. According to Murphy, the installation aims to raise questions surrounding the struggle for acceptance, feelings of marginalisation and homelessness in urban environments. Oh and it looks cool, too.
So for the next three months, when you’re walking through Greek Street and Soho Square, look up and check out these feathery fellas without the fear of being pooed on in the process.
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 Pigeon Patrol | Oct 2, 2015 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Bird Netting, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes
A father who took his two young sons to McDonald’s was shocked to find a group of pigeons eating off the indoor tables as staff allegedly stood by and did nothing.
Josh Fry Snr, from Davoren Park north of Adelaide, visited the fast food outlet at Rundle Mall with his sons Josh, eight, and Charlie, six, on Saturday.
But when the family saw six pigeons they were turned off ordering food, so instead Mr Fry Snr, 28, took footage on his phone which he then posted to Facebook.
In the video the camera focuses in on five pigeons on a table eating from customers’ abandoned meals.
The camera then pans to show another pigeon on the ground and a line of customers waiting at the counter.
Mr Fry then focusses the video on the McDonald’s signage out the front of the restaurant.
‘I just posted a video because they wouldn’t have done anything,’ he said.
‘I did complain to McDonald’s but I still haven’t heard anything.’
A McDonald’s spokesman said: McDonald’s has high standards when it comes to cleanliness – our crew and managers clean dining areas at least every 20 minutes.
‘The restaurant has also implemented a number of deterrents, including the installation of an air-curtain.’
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)
