We’ve all heard the warning: don’t feed rice to birds or don’t throw rice at weddings because birds will eat it. Fact is, rice cooked or uncooked won’t hurt wild birds at all. The rumor is that uncooked rice hits the bird’s tummy and then swells causing its stomach to explode. It’s simply not true. It’s not hot enough in a bird’s stomach to actually “cook” the rice. So, the rice doesn’t swell and cause any sort of an explosion.
According to Snopes.com, the rumor was perpetuated in a 1996 Ann Landers column. But, no need to worry. Birds eat rice during migration all the time, and they do just fine. While the rumor that eating rice kills birds isn’t true, fact is it’s been so popular that the rumor has pretty much killed the tradition of throwing rice at weddings. It may be for the best. Rice probably isn’t the easiest thing for churches to have to clean. Many people have switched from throwing rice to throwing white millet at weddings. It’s environmentally friendly for the birds, and it’s soft on the happy couple.
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.
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/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosting / Vancouver Pigeon Control /Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / Pigeon Deterrent? Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest /Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons/ What to do about pigeons/ sparrows , Damage by Sparrows, How To Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests/ De-fence / Pigeon Nesting/ Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping/ woodpecker control/ Professional Bird Control Company/ Keep The Birds Away/ Birds/rats/ seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/ dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/ pidgeon control/flying rats/ pigeon Problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/ bird guard
Affectionately known by many as ‘rats with wings’, pigeons are one of the most unloved birds around. While some of us simply don’t like their presence because of their reputation for being dirty, others have a genuine phobia of them (peristerophobia).
Do pigeons really deserve their bad reputation however?
They carry more diseases than rats
Did you know that pigeons are the most unhygienic and messy of all the birds and they carry more harmful diseases to humans than rats do? One of the reasons for this is because they nest on their droppings which naturally, attracts mites. As a result, nearly all pigeons carry bird mite – a tiny insect which feeds off the bird and can cause humans to itch and scratch.
Bird fouling attracts insects
Pigeon fouling and nest materials also provide a home for many other insects including clothes moths, carpet beetle, fleas, flies and mealworm beetle which is why it can be such a nuisance to have them loitering around your home or business premises.
They can damage buildings
The uric acid present in pigeon faeces is highly corrosive and can cause extensive damage to metals and other materials it sits on for long periods of time. Furthermore, debris from flocks of pigeons often build up, backing up gutters and drains which can cause flooding and roof damage.
Nesting materials have also been known to cause faults in machinery, especially rooftop air conditioning units which are a prime nesting spot for these birds.
Pigeon droppings can cause accidents
Pigeon droppings can be slippery when wet, causing a slip hazard. This can be particularly problematic for the elderly and if you’re a business owner, you could be held accountable for any injuries sustained on your premises.
The bacteria, fungal agents and ectoparasites found in pigeon droppings can also cause a number of serious diseases including histoplasmosis, encephalitis, salmonella, meningitis, toxoplasmosis and many more.
Clean-up costs can be high
Whether a pigeon problem is affecting your home or business premises, the presence of bird droppings and nesting materials can be messy, unsightly and dangerous. If you don’t want to put people off entering your premises or don’t want to risk damage being caused to your home or building, it’s important for regular cleaning to take place.
This often requires hiring a professional because they have all the proper cleaning products and can access areas which are difficult to reach. If you have a serious pigeon problem, you may have to do this on a regular basis which can become incredibly costly.
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.
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/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosting / Vancouver Pigeon Control /Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / Pigeon Deterrent? Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest /Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons/ What to do about pigeons/ sparrows , Damage by Sparrows, How To Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests/ De-fence / Pigeon Nesting/ Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping/ woodpecker control/ Professional Bird Control Company/ Keep The Birds Away/ Birds/rats/ seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/ dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/ pidgeon control/flying rats/ pigeon Problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/ bird guard
Many thousands of pigeons lost their lives in WW2.
Carrier pigeons were widely used during WW1 since telephone and telegraph technology was too new to be reliable.
Though it occurred two decades later, carrier pigeons were once again relied upon to deliver important intel during WW2, despite the advances that had been made in communication technology.
They were relied upon due to their speed and intelligence, and the altitudes they could reach.
Carrier pigeons were able to carry messages back and forth over enemy lines, being credited with saving lives and aiding victory in many battles.
During WW2, hundreds of thousands of carrier pigeons were used by the American, British, French and German military and their bravery didn’t go unnoticed with pigeons being awarded the prestigious Dickin Medal.
The medal was introduced in December 1943 and is the decoration for valor awarded to animals.
32 WW2 pigeons were awarded the medal, including G.I. Joe, one of the United States most successful carrier pigeons.
Pigeons Used In Military operations
During WW2, pigeons used by the British military are credited with helping end Nazi rule in Europe.
Code named Columba, British pigeons were dropped in various locations throughout Europe with a cry for help from the British attached.
The message asked ordinary citizens to contribute to intelligence regarding life in occupation under the Nazi regime as well as military data.
More than 16,000 carrier pigeons were used in this mission and they uncovered many supporters and helped soldiers take out German regiments, as well as finding out important facts about camps and advancement plans.
Similar success stories come from all over the world, proving that carrier pigeons once again contributed to the ending of WW2 and carrying out rescue missions, saving lives and ensuring that vital intelligence ended up in the right hands.
Many of these pigeons have been stuffed and are on display around the world, shining a light on their service and educating the younger generations about the workings of WW2.
Perilous Journeys
As you can imagine, many carrier pigeons died in the line of duty.
Much like human soldiers or the many horses and dogs that were used in battle, not all of the pigeons were able to survive their mission.
Though, it’s important to note that many of them took bullets and were grievously injured, but still managed to deliver the message they carried into the right hands.
In addition to battle wounds, the Nazis often released falcons to kill the pigeons used by the American and British armies in an attempt to keep them from delivering the information they carried.
Salute to victory
While there are no exact numbers available, it’s thought that many thousands of carrier pigeons died during their service in WW2.
Many of them are commemorated and on display to this day, while others can only be remembered in other ways.
While carrier pigeons aren’t used to the same degree they once were, it’s important to preserve their place in history as part of the defeat of the Nazi party and the victory of those in opposition to the atrocities they committed.
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.
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/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosting / Vancouver Pigeon Control /Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / Pigeon Deterrent? Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest /Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons/ What to do about pigeons/ sparrows , Damage by Sparrows, How To Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests/ De-fence / Pigeon Nesting/ Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping/ woodpecker control/ Professional Bird Control Company/ Keep The Birds Away/ Birds/rats/ seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/ dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/ pidgeon control/flying rats/ pigeon Problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/ bird guard
2018 is becoming the year old memes come back to life.
When a 2011 meme called American Chopper re-emerged on Twitter in 2018, the BBC explored how a meme about two men arguing had lived a second life long after its first.
Now the feat has been repeated, as a 2011 image macro (a still picture with text imposed) asking if a butterfly is a pigeon has surged in popularity seven years later.
In the widely shared image, a character from a Japanese anime gestures towards a butterfly and asks: “Is this a pigeon?”
Is this an old meme?
The image can be traced back to Indizi dell’avvenuta catastrofe on Tumblr, who posted it as an example of amusing subtitles in anime.
It was used in 2011 as a reaction image – posted to show confusion or suggest another person’s opinion did not make sense.
Seven years after its original appearance online, the pigeon meme reappeared with text added to ask if “literally anything” was a “big mood” on Twitter.
A “big mood” is a Twitter term used to express approval or the fact a user agrees with or can identify with an item of tweeted content.
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.
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/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosting / Vancouver Pigeon Control /Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / Pigeon Deterrent? Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest /Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons/ What to do about pigeons/ sparrows , Damage by Sparrows, How To Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests/ De-fence / Pigeon Nesting/ Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping/ woodpecker control/ Professional Bird Control Company/ Keep The Birds Away/ Birds/rats/ seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/ dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/ pidgeon control/flying rats/ pigeon Problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/ bird guard
Customs officials in Kuwait have apprehended a pigeon carrying drugs in a miniature backpack, Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai reports.
A total of 178 pills were found in the fabric pocket attached to its back, the newspaper says.
The bird was caught near the customs building in Abdali, close to the border with Iraq.
An al-Rai journalist said the drugs were a form of ketamine, an anaesthetic also used as an illegal party drug.
Abdullah Fahmi told the BBC that customs officials already knew pigeons were being used to smuggle drugs, but this was the first time they had caught a bird in the act.
Law enforcement officials elsewhere have, however, identified previous cases where pigeons have been used to carry lightweight high-value narcotics.
In 2015, prison guards in Costa Rica caught a pigeon carrying cocaine and cannabis in a zipped pouch.
And in 2011, Colombian police discovered a pigeon that was unable to fly over a high prison wall because of the weight of a package of cocaine and marijuana strapped to it.
Pigeons have been used to carry messages since Roman times, using their powerful “homing” ability.
Racing pigeons can return to their lofts from distances of hundreds of kilometres.
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.
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/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosting / Vancouver Pigeon Control /Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / Pigeon Deterrent? Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest /Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons/ What to do about pigeons/ sparrows , Damage by Sparrows, How To Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests/ De-fence / Pigeon Nesting/ Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping/ woodpecker control/ Professional Bird Control Company/ Keep The Birds Away/ Birds/rats/ seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/ dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/ pidgeon control/flying rats/ pigeon Problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/ bird guard
A new study of pigeons shows that, like human gamblers, they love to gamble on the off chance they will win big rather than taking a smaller, but more certain payout.
Research by psychologists Thomas Zentall and Jessica Stagner of the University of Kentucky in Lexington found pigeons given a choice of a light that would deliver three pellets of food every time or one that gave them a big “win” of 10 pellets 20 percent of the time consistently chose the latter. When averaged out, these results meant the pigeons were preferring a payout of two pellets for each peck rather than three.
Zentall said similar results had been observed in monkeys, and the reason may be that the larger payout is a surprising change from their expectations, and we learn from these departures from the norm. The same motivation could explain why some humans gamble, ignoring their losses and focusing on the less regular, but more surprising big wins.
In humans many other factors are involved, such as the atmosphere of the gambling location, with colorful and noisy surroundings, and by the possibility of losing what you already have. By using pigeons Zentall and Stagner could study the phenomenon without at least some of these added complications.
The researchers trained eight pigeons to peck at keys that caused a vertical or horizontal light to be displayed on a screen in yellow, blue, red or green colors. In return they received food rewards. If they pecked at the key that presented a horizontal line (yellow or blue) three food pellets were dispensed each time, which therefore represented a non-gambling option. If they pecked on the key for the vertical line, it was one color (say green) 80 percent of the time, in which case no food was delivered. The remaining 20 percent of the time the line was the signal color (say red), in which case 10 pellets were dispensed. The vertical line therefore represented a gambling option. (Color combinations were changed for different birds to avoid any bias.)
After Zentall and Stagner had trained the birds to understand what the lines and colors meant they then carried out many trials to see which the birds preferred. The results were that the pigeons chose the riskier 10 pellets or nothing option in over 80 percent of the trials, even though on average they would receive 50 percent more food if they chose the other option.
In a later experiment they trained seven new pigeons, but this time both red and green colors triggered the release of 10 pellets 20 percent of the time and nothing the rest of the time. The yellow and blue colors still resulted in three pellets being released. In this case the pigeons chose the yellow/blue option for a sure payout of three pellets.
Zentall said the findings suggest the pigeons in the first trials put excess weight on the excitement on the windfall that resulted from a red light, and evening out the odds on red and green detracted from the excitement. He commented that in human gambling watching a winning pattern appear on a slot machine, for example, precedes winning the money, and suggested gamblers would not wager as often if there were no signals for their winning — so slot machine players could not see the wheels, and roulette players could not see the ball.
Zentall said if the pigeons were hungry they tended to gamble more than if they were already satisfied, despite having more to lose, and this has parallels in human gambling studies, which have shown that people who are dissatisfied with their lives and have less money tend to gamble more than those who are wealthier and more satisfied.
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.
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/Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosting / Vancouver Pigeon Control /Bird Spikes / Bird Control / Bird Deterrent / Pigeon Deterrent? Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest /Seagull deterrent / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons/ What to do about pigeons/ sparrows , Damage by Sparrows, How To Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests/ De-fence / Pigeon Nesting/ Bird Droppings / Pigeon Dropping/ woodpecker control/ Professional Bird Control Company/ Keep The Birds Away/ Birds/rats/ seagull/pigeon/woodpecker/ dove/sparrow/pidgeon control/pidgeon problem/ pidgeon control/flying rats/ pigeon Problems/ bird netting/bird gel/bird spray/bird nails/ bird guard
