by Pigeon Patrol | Jun 21, 2023 | MBCA, pet bird, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators
Pigeons are a very common species of bird in India. Pigeons can breed upto 8 times a year, therefore they are found everywhere. The word ‘pigeon’ comes from the Latin word called ‘pipio’, meaning ‘young chirping bird’. These young chirping birds love to create a mess and leave stinky droppings everywhere and anywhere.
Pigeons can sometimes be hard to deal with as they always wander in groups. They can mess your balcony or your vehicle. They can make consistent distracting noises which can give you a headache. They barge in your house and do not know how to leave. Pigeon droppings and nests can stink up a place. They can clog pipes, water-spouts etc. Read on to get rid of pigeons and their belongings.
How to get rid of pigeons:
In India, pigeons are protected under Section 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) (no wonder they are fearless). Even if this was not the case one must always go for non-violent options. So here is a list of the ways in which you can get rid of pigeons and their poop
Sound distraction:
You can hang wind-chimes at places prone to pigeons. They do not like it and as the chime moves and makes sound with the wind it kind of keeps the pigeons away and gives you a pigeon-free and melodious surrounding.
Reflecting surfaces:
Use shiny materials like aluminum foil or mirror to confuse the pigeons and keep them at bay. It plates tricks with their senses and keeps them off the place.
Professional bird nets or covering:
Pigeon nets for balconies are advised but try buying nets with smaller gap holes to avoid any invasions of pigeons.
Pigeon repellents:
You can use organic, home-made pigeon repellents. It can be effective in keeping pigeons away from the balcony or windows. (Providing you with a comparatively clean floor.)
Cover things up:
Pigeons can create a lot of mess out of open trash bins. Keep your trash covered if it is kept in an accessible place for pigeons to avoid any spill and mess.
Pigeons are not pets:
Pigeons are not pets and don’t treat them like one. Discourage people from feeding these nasty, parasite-carrying pigeons to stop them from coming back. Do not make them habitual of a place they can get food from as it will also become a place they use for frequent stinky white droppings.
Introduce fear:
It is said that pigeons are sort of taken aback by owls and snakes. You cannot get a real one but you can get a plastic owl or a rubber snake for your balcony or workspace, keep them in a corner most visited by the pigeons. It is a short-term trick to get rid of the pigeons.
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Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor or 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 Roosing / 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
by Pigeon Patrol | Jun 14, 2023 | history of pigeons, MBCA, pet bird, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators
A team of researchers from the University of London and Monash University has found that pigeon pecking order is driven by weight and that a given pecking order can be artificially changed. In their paper published in the journal Biology Letters, the group describes their study of the pecking order of domesticated pigeons and what they learned about them.
The term pecking order has come to be used as a way to describe the hierarchy that exists within a group of animals, including humans. Typically, those at the top of the hierarchy have better access to food or a mate, while those at the bottom must scramble to get by. In this new effort, the researchers looked at pecking order in pigeons at the Royal Veterinary College of the University of London. The pigeons housed there are used for homing purposes—nine are female and eight are male. They are all six years old and differ slightly in size. Over the course of the three-year study, the birds were given access to food and water and no other birds were included as part of the group. The group was closely watched for a period of time at three points during their annual cycle. Also, at 19 months into the study, the researchers affixed small weights to the smallest of the pigeons.
In studying the birds, the researchers found that they had a clear hierarchy, with the larger birds at the top and the smaller birds at the bottom. Those at the top of the hierarchy were first in line when food and water were given, while those lower down had to settle for less food by the time their turn came. The researchers found that the larger birds were more aggressive, which is why they got their way when feeding. Things changed dramatically, however, when the researchers added the weights to the smallest birds. With the increase in weight, the birds grew more aggressive and very quickly moved up the hierarchy, eventually arriving at the top. And they remained at the top of the hierarchy until the researchers removed the weights. At their suddenly reduced weight, the birds lost their aggressiveness and slid down to the bottom of the hierarchy once again.
The researchers note that their study shows that aggressive traits in an animal can be modified simply by changing a physical attribute such as weight. They suggest their findings indicate that people feeding bread crumbs to birds at a park may be making them more aggressive.
Source
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor or 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 Roosing / 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
by Pigeon Patrol | May 30, 2023 | history of pigeons, MBCA, pet bird, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators
A young woman in Fredericton is singing on the street to call attention to the disease that made her blind.
Erica Richards lost her sight last year after developing Cryptococcus meningitis.
Cryptococcus meningitis is a potentially fatal swelling of the membranes surrounding the brain. The disease is caused by fungus that lives in the guts of pigeons and other birds, such as chickens.
People can breathe it in if they’re exposed to pigeon droppings.
The 24-year-old was living in a house that had a pile of pigeon feces in the attic, and she also had a compromised immune system from chemotherapy .
“A reverse migraine — I needed light, I needed sound. I needed neck massages. Couldn’t lay down, couldn’t sit up. Couldn’t eat. I was vomiting. And then I started having double vision, quadruple vision, then seizures. And then I ended up in hospital,” she said as she described her symptoms.
Richards sings to supplement her $135 a month disability payment.
Kevin Forward is an infectious disease specialist who teaches at Dalhousie Medical School in Halifax.
“I think it’s pretty common sense. Move to avoid being in a situation where there are a lot of pigeon droppings, particularly if you’re disturbing them, cleaning them up, sweeping them,” Forward said.
“Those kind of situations should certainly be avoided. But if you’re in the park that has some pigeons around, I think the risk is infinitely small.”
Pigeons are part of the urban landscape, but they are known to carry a long list of disease-causing organisms — such as Chlamydia and salmonella.
That, along with complaints about them damaging roofs, led Fredericton to add pigeons to the city’s animal control bylaw last year.
Property owners are now prohibited from spreading feed or anything else that would attract pigeons.
Richards wants to make sure people know the risk of coming into contact with pigeon feces.
“To draw attention, to raise awareness so people will ask questions, so they will know what the symptoms are,” Richards said. “So that way, they can be warned ahead of time, before what happened to me happens to them.”
Next month, she’ll be going to a school sponsored by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to finish high school and to get matched with a seeing-eye dog.
She hopes to go on to study law.
Source
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor or 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 Roosing / 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
by Pigeon Patrol | May 30, 2023 | history of pigeons, MBCA, pet bird, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators
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.”
Source
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor or 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 Roosing / 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
by Pigeon Patrol | May 9, 2023 | history of pigeons, MBCA, pet bird, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services
“Everybody has a hobby, right? Some have cats, some have dogs. I have pigeons.”
Kulwant Dulay says he’s lived in the District of North Vancouver for 25 years and, for most of them, he’s kept homing pigeons on his property in a coop in the backyard, without ruffling any feathers.
But that changed three years ago when he bought a new house in Lynn Valley. Within a few weeks, his next door neighbour began complaining about the birds.
“In my other house in North Vancouver, everyone loved pigeons. They were flying around no problem. My second, third week I moved in, she started complaining,” he said.
On Monday evening, North Vancouver District council formally approved a new bylaw that would make it illegal to own pigeons, repealing a 1971 law allowing them.
The discussion was brief, but council discussed the motion in detail the week before.
There, staff told them they could only find one person in the district who had pigeons and only one person who had recently filed a complaint. It was proposed the new law wouldn’t come into effect until May 2020 to allow a transition period.
The vote both weeks passed 4-2. Councillor Betty Forbes recused herself.
“I have been involved in a situation like this,” she told council before one of the discussions.
That wasn’t exactly accurate. Because, while it was never said in that meeting, Forbes was the next door neighbour who complained.
“I’ve spent lots of money fixing my backyard. I try and keep it as prim and proper as I can. I invest in it every year. And now I get to sit on the back deck and entertain and look at a pigeon coop.”
In May 2017, the district held a public hearing for a proposed bylaw allowing backyard chicken coops. Betty Forbes, then just a member of the public, made her first appearance in front of council.
She wanted to talk about “a situation” that had arisen.
“A new neighbour moved in,” said Forbes. The coop was “ramshackle” and “an eyesore.” And, she warned, it would harm the value of her property.
“I know it sounds pretty cold,” she told council, “but there is an impact to having coops in backyards to properties next door to that. I’ve spoken with a couple of real estate agents, and they’ve told me it will definitely have an effect.”
Council passed the chicken coop bylaw.
Over the next year, Forbes sent a number of letters and phone calls to district staff about Dulay’s pigeons. She also sent a letter to then-mayor Richard Walton, saying that Dulay “allows his pigeons to fly and perch on neighbours properties without any control or supervision.”
In the summer of 2018, staff investigated and took away six of Dulay’s pigeons. A total of 15 remain, trained to fly back and forth from their large coop in Dulay’s backyard, a few feet from the fence surrounding his and Forbes’ homes.
Dulay says he applied for a permit from the district but never got one. He also claims he’s worked to be a good neighbour after Forbes’ complaint, but Forbes hasn’t spoken to him since.
“My neighbourhood is nice … only one person complains,” he said.
Meanwhile, Forbes started attending council more often, ran for office herself and was elected on Oct. 20 last year.
That’s the point where her situation with Dulay and his pigeons goes from a feud between neighbours to the political arena — and puts Forbes’ communications with district staff and councillors under the microscope.
Conflict of interest rules
In July 2019, Coun. Lisa Muri brought forward a motion that asked staff to explore changing the district’s decade-old pigeon bylaw, beginning the process that ended on Monday evening.
“This is a very old archaic bylaw,” she said.
“Why do we need to allow homing pigeons to be released? I am not allowed to release my dogs. They have to be leashed … so, I would ask why would we allow pigeons?”
Forbes also recused herself from that discussion, as mandated under the conflict of interest section in B.C.’s Community Charter.
It states that a councillor with a “direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a matter” must not “attempt in any way, whether before, during or after such a meeting, to influence the voting on any question,” and that they must not “attempt to influence in any way a decision, recommendation or other action to be made or taken … by an officer or an employee of the municipality.”
FOI documents show communication
According to Freedom of Information documents provided to CBC News, after Forbes was elected — but before she was officially sworn in — she sent an email to the city’s chief planning and permitting officer, complaining about the situation and asking for action.
“The discussion and explanations for how this situation has been handled in the last 1 1/2 years were not reasonable nor acceptable,” she wrote.
And from April to June, Muri and Forbes had three email discussions where the subject line read “Pigeons,” “Repeal of the pigeon bylaw” and “Keeping of Pigeons Bylaw.”
CBC News asked Forbes questions about her letter to staff after the election, and her emails with Coun. Muri, but she did not respond. CBC News also asked Muri about the bylaw and her emails to Forbes, and she declined comment.
Mathew Bond was one of two councillors who voted against the initial motion last week. He says the bylaw isn’t an appropriate use of the district’s time.
“We’re in the middle of a regional housing crisis and I’m not sure how the pigeon bylaw got to the top of the agenda,” he said.
“Generally, if there’s one complaint, that’s what our bylaws are for and that’s why we have bylaw enforcement.”
Dulay is still hopeful he’ll be able to keep his pigeons. And wonders why things went so wrong between him and the councillor.
“She has two dogs, I never complain,” he said.
“Even though they’re always barking.”
Source
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor or 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 Roosing / 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
by Pigeon Patrol | May 9, 2023 | history of pigeons, MBCA, pet bird, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators, Pigeon Spikes
For a month the researchers had traversed slender mountain ridges, crossed and re-crossed rivers that roared through canyons cloaked in tropical forest, and endured bloodthirsty mosquitoes and leeches, all in search of something that probably didn’t exist. They had just hours left for searching before they had to leave Fergusson Island, off the east coast of Papua New Guinea. Expedition co-leader Jordan Boersma reckoned their chance of success was less than 1 percent.
Winded from a climb, he plopped down on a lush hillside to catch his breath and began looking through images on the camera traps he’d just collected, not expecting to find anything. “Suddenly I was confronted with this image of what at that time felt like a mythical creature,” says Boersma, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “It was, without exaggeration, the most surreal moment of my life.”
The camera’s display was tiny, but there was no mistaking the creature it showed: the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon, a species that hasn’t been documented by scientists since it was first described in 1882.
“To find something that’s been gone for that long, that you’re thinking is almost extinct, and then to figure out that it’s not extinct, it feels like finding a unicorn or a Bigfoot,” says John C. Mittermeier, director of the lost birds program at American Bird Conservancy and a co-leader of the eight-member expedition. “It’s extraordinarily unusual.”
The stunning late-September rediscovery could not have happened without guidance from local hunters with intimate knowledge of the island’s forests, the researchers say, demonstrating the invaluable role of Indigenous communities in ongoing efforts to relocate species lost to Western science. With its existence confirmed, the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon is almost certainly the most endangered bird in New Guinea, which underscores the urgent need to protect its habitat on Fergusson, a rugged, 555-square-mile island that, while largely undeveloped, faces pressure from logging companies.
“This is a huge discovery,” says Bulisa Iova, an expedition member and acting chief curator of the National Museum and Art Gallery in Papua New Guinea. “I have studied birds for many years, and to be part of this team to discover this lost species is a highlight for me.”
The expedition was part of The Search for Lost Birds, a collaboration between BirdLife International, Re:wild, and American Bird Conservancy, which funded the trip. The initiative aims to rediscover more than 150 avian species that haven’t been declared extinct but also have not been seen for at least a decade.
A chicken-size, ground-dwelling pigeon, the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon was among around 20 “lost” birds that have not been documented for more than a century. It’s one of four pheasant-pigeon species found around New Guinea, and lives only on Fergusson Island. (Some authorities consider the four varieties to be subspecies.)
Boersma previously searched for the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon in 2019 with Jason Gregg, a conservation biologist and Audubon magazine contributor, and local biologist Doka Nason. While the trio did not find the bird on that trip, they did turn up five bird species not previously known to live on Fergusson, which suggested there were significant gaps in what ornithologists knew about the island’s birdlife. And when they spoke with hunters, they heard reports of a bird whose description could only belong to the pheasant-pigeon.
The researchers returned to Fergusson with a larger team in early September, determined to establish trust and work closely with the island’s Indigenous inhabitants to find the species. Day after day they hiked the steep terrain, stopping to interview locals and sleeping in villages or camping in the forest. Hunters in the first few communities were unfamiliar with the large bird the researchers described. But when the team reached the remote western slope of Mt. Kilkerran, they began to meet villagers who recognized the species and referred to it by the name Auwo.
Finally, in the village of Duda Ununa, a hunter named Augustin Gregory told the researchers where he had seen the bird. He described a call that matched those of New Guinea’s other pheasant-pigeon species, which don’t live on Fergusson. And he showed the team an area, on a ridge 3,200 feet above sea level and covered in thick vegetation, where their motion-triggered camera traps were likely to snap the elusive bird. Nason, who grew up in Papua New Guinea near Fergusson, and who Boersma describes as “the most impressive field biologist I’ve worked with anywhere,” selected a spot and set up the camera.
With its vantage limited by dense understory, the site wasn’t a typical one for a camera trap, the scientists say, but the images proved it was the right one. “Unmistakable,” Gregg, an expedition co-leader, says of first seeing the photos. “Tons of mixed emotions. Everything from solemn relief of burden to fist-pumping and screaming.”
Only days later, with time to scroll through everything the traps had captured, did the team realize that another camera had recorded video of a pheasant-pigeon. Given that the images were taken several kilometers apart, they almost certainly show two individuals.
Now that scientists know the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon still exists, the focus becomes keeping the critically endangered species from going extinct. As with other once-lost birds, its population is likely very small and seriously imperiled. Logging by international corporations appears to be a growing threat, and introduced predators such as feral cats could take a toll on the pheasant-pigeon as they have on other endemic island birds, according to Gregg. Sustaining the long-lost species will require learning more about its behavior and population status and launching conservation projects to protect its habitat, all with Fergusson Island residents in a leading role.
“Knowing what we know about bird extinction and conservation on islands around the world, we can expect that the combination of logging and introduced species, especially introduced mammals, is going to have an impact,” Gregg says. “This land and the fate of any conservation work that happens on this land is completely up to the communities that live there and own the land.”
Beyond Fergusson Island’s luxuriant forests, the rediscovery of the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon raises hopes that future expeditions will turn up other species lost to science but known all along to local experts. “The way this was always going to work is that we just really lean into local knowledge and put our faith in our local partners,” Boersma says. “That’s what delivered this incredible moment for us.”
Source
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor or 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 Roosing / 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
