Pigeons – Rock Dove

by Pigeon Patrol | Apr 26, 2021 | Bird Law, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Predators

Commonly known as Pigeons, Rock Pigeons are often considered a nuisance by some city officials and some farm businesses.

In cities they congregate in large flocks and can create messes with their droppings.

On farms, eating grains and possible harm to livestock through bacteria and viruses are concerns about these birds.

Many pigeon deterents are available online to prevent nesting in areas they’re not wanted.

Introduced into North America from Europe in the 1600’s, these birds have been associated with humans for thousands of years.

Rock Doves are thought to have been the first domesticated bird, raised for meat as far back as the time of the ancient Egyptians.

Description

Pigeons have different colors due to breeding by humans. They are the descendants of the wild Rock Dove of Europe.

About 13 inches in length with a dark gray head, iridescent neck, with a light gray back and 2 dark wing bars.

Mating – Breeding Habits

Like Mourning Doves, pairs are monogamous, often breeding in consecutive seasons for as long as both birds of a pair live.

Most will attempt to raise several broods each year. Sometimes as many as four or five broods will be raised in a single year.

The breeding season of these birds can be all year provided climate conditions allow. There seems to be some slowing down during the winter months.

Nesting Habits

The nesting habits of Pigeons are a bit unique. The male chooses a site in view of the female, selecting one stick and bringing it back, lays it in front of his mate.

The female who stays at the nesting site accepts the sticks the male brings to her and places them underneath her.

The nest of these birds can be found along building ledges, rafters, beams, under bridges or inside barns.

The nest is saucer-like in shape and made of stems and leaves.

The female may sit on the nest a day or two before the first egg is laid. Generally 2 white eggs are laid.

Both the male and female will incubate but the female will spend the most time on the eggs since she will be on the nest from mid-afternoon to mid-morning.

Incubation last for about 18 days. When the eggs hatch the young are covered in yellow down.

Young pigeons in the nest are referred to as “squabs”

Initially, the squabs are fed what is referred to as crop milk. This is a regurgitated thick liquid food that comes from the parents crops.

At about 10 days the squabs are fed increasing amounts of the food types that adults eat and are no longer dependent on crop milk.

The young will double in size in a day and a half. Making them one of the fastest growing vertebrate in the world.

Within 2 weeks the flight feathers begin to emerge and by week 3 the squabs are covered in feathers.

The tail and full feathering is completed by the 28th day and their weight is that of an adult.

The young will now leave the nest and the male will teach them what they need to know to survive.

This is 10 – 15 days longer than most of our backyard birds.

The female will begin a new clutch and this cycle will repeat about every 30 days when weather cooperates.

Do Pigeons Reuse the Same Nest

It’s more accurate to say that the same nest site is used as the second and subsequent nest are built on top of the previous nest.

Nest that are several years old can measure out to be as much as 7 inches high and 19 inches wide.

Feeding Habits – What Pigeons Eat

Rock Pigeons feed on the ground. To prevent seed spoilage and to keep the birds healthy a ground feeder is recommended for all ground feeding birds.

The best types of food to offer these birds are properly mixed seeds specifically made for doves and pigeons.

For more information on seeds and photos of each, please see our Bird Seed Page.

Predators

The primary preadators of pigeons include: man, peregrin falcon, and cats. Nest predators include oppossums, raccoons, crows and owls. Hawks will capture perching birds.

Are Pigeons Smart Birds?

According to Professor Richard J. Herrnstein at the Harvard Psychological Laboratories they are. Pigeons were smart enough to learn all the letters of the english alphabet.

In another study, Pigeons were able to recognize themselves in a mirror. This makes them one of six species and the only non-mammal to be able to do so.

So yes, Pigeons are a pretty smart bird.

What is the Lifespan of Pigeons?

Pigeons may live 3 – 6 years in the wild with the average being 3 – 4 years. In captivity they have lived as long as 15 years depending on the care given to the bird.

Pigeons in History

During the world wars, Homing Pigeons were trained to return to a loft in the UK.

Troops then took the pigeons with them and used them to send messages when radio and written communication were being intercepted.

Pigeon Fun Facts

Pigeons have the ability to see about 26 miles.

When fully feather, adult pigeons have around 10,000 feathers.

There are approximately 400 million pigeons in the world.

Source

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.

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Pigeon power: Study suggests similarity between how pigeons learn the equivalent of words and the way children do

by Pigeon Patrol | Apr 26, 2021 | Bird Spikes, Doves, Pigeon Patrol's Services

The more scientists study pigeons, the more they learn how their brains–no bigger than the tip of an index finger–operate in ways not so different from our own.

In a new study from the University of Iowa, researchers found that pigeons can categorize and name both natural and humanmade objects–and not just a few objects. These birds categorized 128 photographs into 16 categories, and they did so simultaneously.

Ed Wasserman, UI professor of psychology and corresponding author of the study, says the finding suggests a similarity between how pigeons learn the equivalent of words and the way children do.

“Unlike prior attempts to teach words to primates, dogs, and parrots, we used neither elaborate shaping methods nor social cues,” Wasserman says of the study, published online in the journal Cognition. “And our pigeons were trained on all 16 categories simultaneously, a much closer analog of how children learn words and categories.”

For researchers like Wasserman, who has been studying animal intelligence for decades, this latest experiment is further proof that animals–whether primates, birds, or dogs–are smarter than once presumed and have more to teach scientists.

“It is certainly no simple task to investigate animal cognition; But, as our methods have improved, so too have our understanding and appreciation of animal intelligence,” he says. “Differences between humans and animals must indeed exist: many are already known. But, they may be outnumbered by similarities. Our research on categorization in pigeons suggests that those similarities may even extend to how children learn words.”

Wasserman says the pigeon experiment comes from a project published in 1988 and featured in The New York Times in which UI researchers discovered pigeons could distinguish among four categories of objects.

This time, the UI researchers used a computerized version of the “name game” in which three pigeons were shown 128 black-and-white photos of objects from 16 basic categories: baby, bottle, cake, car, cracker, dog, duck, fish, flower, hat, key, pen, phone, plan, shoe, tree. They then had to peck on one of two different symbols: the correct one for that photo and an incorrect one that was randomly chosen from one of the remaining 15 categories. The pigeons not only succeeded in learning the task, but they reliably transferred the learning to four new photos from each of the 16 categories.

Pigeons have long been known to be smarter than your average bird–or many other animals, for that matter. Among their many talents, pigeons have a “homing instinct” that helps them find their way home from hundreds of miles away, even when blindfolded. They have better eyesight than humans and have been trained by the U. S. Coast Guard to spot orange life jackets of people lost at sea. They carried messages for the U.S. Army during World Wars I and II, saving lives and providing vital strategic information.

UI researchers say their expanded experiment represents the first purely associative animal model that captures an essential ingredient of word learning–the many-to-many mapping between stimuli and responses.

“Ours is a computerized task that can be provided to any animal, it doesn’t have to be pigeons,” says UI psychologist Bob McMurray, another author of the study. “These methods can be used with any type of animal that can interact with a computer screen.”

McMurray says the research shows the mechanisms by which children learn words might not be unique to humans.

“Children are confronted with an immense task of learning thousands of words without a lot of background knowledge to go on,” he says. “For a long time, people thought that such learning is special to humans. What this research shows is that the mechanisms by which children solve this huge problem may be mechanisms that are shared with many species.”

Wasserman acknowledges the recent pigeon study is not a direct analogue of word learning in children and more work needs to be done. Nonetheless, the model used in the study could lead to a better understanding of the associative principles involved in children’s word learning.

“That’s the parallel that we’re pursuing,” he says, “but a single project–however innovative it may be–will not suffice to answer such a provocative question.”

Source

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Why Pigeons Are On Your Roof

by Pigeon Patrol | Feb 9, 2021 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Law, Bird Netting, Bird Spike, Bird Spikes, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons, UltraSonic Bird Control

Bird control technicians’ nightmare – what to do when we are asked to do the impossible? The straight answer is that there is really nothing we can do when pigeons land on your roof, but there is much more to know.

Many customers ask: “Why? Why my roof, what’s so special about my roof that they have to land there?” Believe it or not you are asking the right question: Why? Once you understand why, you will also understand why is it hard to provide a solution in this situation.

Almost always, the primary cause of such problem is the availability of food nearby, plenty of it on a regular basis. Probably someone is feeding the birds or there are lots of garbage in the area or open garbage bins/containers. They could also nest or roost in close proximity and simply they use your roof as a comfy perching spot having a nice vantage point over their feeding area.

What could we do? Install hundreds of feet of spikes on your roof? Put up scary owls? Maybe speakers on the roof peak? Unfortunately none of them are viable. It is simply not feasible to protect large, flat (horizontal or sloped) roof surfaces, such as the entire roof of a victorian house for example.

Lady feeding the pigeons in College Park – every day.

First, we need to find ways of eliminating food and water sources nearby. Then we must find their nesting/roosting areas – which will most likely be on another property, otherwise you would see them somewhere else on your house/building, (in which case it would be very easy to resolve the issue,– that provides sheltered structural configurations to establish a protected area where they can stay at night. Pigeons don’t see well at night and usually they go to their roosting spots before nightfall and stay there during the night.

If protecting these areas are not possible (because they are on someone else’s property) we can look at strategically installing Bird Spikes or exclusion Bird Netting or the combination of both, maybe Electric Tracks at critical areas to discourage them from landing on your roof.

You can see now that there aren’t any straightforward solutions in the case of house roof tops and that it is very time consuming to address the issue holistically. The best thing you can do is to call up a professional and get an opinion, you might have missed something that a pro will notice that could help resolve the issue.

source

Some other options for bird repellent would be the Ultrasonic Sound Repellent which makes noises that can only be heard by pigeons and scare them off with the sound or the laser beam which can be activated by movement or you can time when these lasers come on. These lasers are too strong for the pigeons vision to handle and they will fly elsewhere. You can purchase these here : https://www.pigeonpatrol.ca/product/laser/

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.

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Do Bird Spikes Work?

by Pigeon Patrol | Feb 9, 2021 | Bird Law, Bird Netting, Bird Spike, Bird Spikes, Columbidae, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes

If you’re looking for the answer to the question “do anti bird spikes reduce pest bird problems?”, then you undoubtedly already have a problem with bird control. Birds are either landing or nesting on your property.

So lets see if bird spikes really work!

You need to look at why the birds are landing and possibly building a nest. Is it because you feed wild birds and other unwelcome species, such as feral pigeons or starlings, are having the lion’s share? Birds go to places where food is most abundant and easy to take. If you want to control what birds you attract to your garden, especially smaller ones, but not pigeons and starlings, make sure you only place food in feeding containers that make it virtually impossible for the larger birds to feed from. If there’s no readily available food, these larger birds will move on to somewhere else.

Secondly, if you have a bird control problem with the smaller birds then anti-bird spikes may not be effective in preventing them from landing and nesting. If you think about it logically, the smaller birds have feet which are designed to grab hold of small branches and twigs – spikes can give them this ideal landing perch.

However, larger birds, such as seagulls and pigeons don’t have feet adapted for landing on fine spiky branches and twigs and therefore anti bird spikes can be a very effective deterrent. If there are a vast numbers of birds, their droppings have been known to build-up on and around the spikes which then forms an ideal platform for them to build nests. SOURCE

Conclusion:

Anti-bird spikes can reduce pest bird control problems if you’re trying to humanely deter larger birds from landing or nesting. On the other hand, the spikes may be the ideal conditions for smaller birds; so you need to take a multi-faceted approach to control unwanted birds from making your property their home or landing site.

Do bird spikes hurt the birds? Bird and pigeon spikes do not hurt birds, they act as a visual and physical barrier. Bird spikes are a humane bird deterrent as the bird doesn’t come into direct contact with the bird spikes.

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.

Pigeon / Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosting / Vancouver Pigeon Patrol / Bird Control / Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons/ What to do about pigeons/ most common types of sparrows , Damages Caused by Sparrows, How To Keep Raccoons Away, Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests?de-fence, Pigeon Nesting and Breeding Patterns and Behavior What Do I Do With a Bird Trapped in My Wall? Professional Bird Control Company Keep The Birds Away From Your Business Why Are Raccoons Considered Pests? BIRD SPIKES WORK

What Do I Do With a Bird Trapped in My Wall?

by Pigeon Patrol | Jan 14, 2021 | Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Bird Spikes, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Droppings, Pigeon Patrol's Services

It starts as a slight scratching. You suspect mice or rats at first until you hear the faint tweeting that means only one thing: A bird has become trapped behind your wall. Unfortunately, getting the bird out is a lot harder for you than it was for it to get in. Accept that it will probably mean cutting a hole in your wall. You also need to figure out where the bird got in and cover the hole with a metal screen to prevent it from happening again.

Lure It Out

Luring a bird out of a wall sounds logical. The bird got itself in, therefore it should be able to get itself out. This can work in some cases, but usually the bird becomes trapped between two walls and doesn’t have enough room to fly. If it sounds like the bird is moving up and down in the walls and you know where it entered, you can try luring it out. Place a bright light near the entrance to the wall since birds often fly toward light. Open any windows in the room and close it off to other areas of your house. Playing recorded birdsong near the entrance can help assure the bird that it is safe to come out; otherwise keep it very quiet in that room. Placing birdseed near the hole won’t work because birds have a poor sense of smell. If the bird is not out within a few hours, it probably can’t get out on its own.

Cut It Out

If you have the right tools and some construction experience, you can try to free the bird yourself by cutting a large hole in the wall above the bird. Cut shallowly into the drywall to avoid cutting into the electrical wires. Make the cut neat to make patching the wall easier. Once the piece of the wall is removed, the bird may fly out suddenly. Open any windows and doors to the outside to allow it to escape. If it doesn’t fly out, reach in with a gloved hand and carefully pick it up. Don’t release it until you are outside.

Call In an Expert

The safest, simplest method of dealing with a trapped bird is to call in a professional wildlife control expert. Look in the phone book under “pest control” or “animal removal services” to find one. Although they will charge a fee, they will get the animal out with the least amount of damage to your wall and home. In some cases, the cost of paying for animal control is less than paying a contractor to repair the damage done to your home.

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. source

Pigeon / Pigeon Patrol / Pigeons Roosting / Vancouver Pigeon Patrol / Bird Control / Surrey Pigeon Control / Pest / Vancouver Pigeon Blog / Birds Inside Home / Pigeons in the cities / Ice Pigeons/ What to do about pigeons/ most common types of sparrows , Damages Caused by Sparrows, How To Keep Raccoons Away, de-fence, Pigeon Nesting and Breeding Patterns and Behavior What Do I Do With a Bird Trapped in My Wall?

There's a bird nesting near my house. What should I do? | All About Birds All About Birds

Pigeon Nesting and Breeding Patterns and Behavior

by Pigeon Patrol | Dec 27, 2020 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Deterrent Products, Bird Netting, Bird Spikes, Pigeon Control, Pigeon Patrol's Services

Pigeon Nesting and Breeding Patterns and Behavior

Pigeon Nesting

Nest building is very simple and often consists of a few stiff twigs. The male will pick the site. They prefer small flat areas away from the ground. Look for nests along building ledges, bridge supports, air conditioning units, window sills, and the like. In crowded flocks, pigeons will even forgo nest building and lay eggs directly on a protected ledge. The young are fed pigeon milk, a liquid/solid substance secreted in the crop of the adult (both male and female) which is regurgitated. More eggs are laid before the first clutch leaves the nest. Breeding may occur at all seasons, but peak reproduction occurs in the spring and fall.

Pigeon Breeding

Pigeon are monogamous and a mating pair will typically have three or four broods a year. The female will usually lay two or sometimes three eggs at a time. The eggs are a solid bright white color. The eggs take roughly 18 days to hatch and then another 35 days before the fledglings leave the nest. Breeding may occur at all seasons, but peak reproduction occurs in the spring and fall. A population of pigeons usually consists of equal numbers of males and females.

Pigeon Cycles

Pigeons are not migratory. Their natural instinct is to stay near their birth site. This trait gives the pigeon a very determined personality when it comes to roosting at a particular site, much to the dismay of the inexperienced pest control technician. The daily cycle of a pigeon is to roost at night, feed in the morning, and loaf in the afternoon. The seasonal cycle begins with courtship in the early winter, then nest building in late winter and breeding in the spring. However, in warm climates, breeding will occur year round. Pigeons molt once a year in late summer.

Life Expectancy: Varies greatly from 3-5 years through to 15 years dependent on many factors, including natural predation and human interference. Predation: The wild pigeon is predated upon, almost exclusively, by the peregrine falcon, a bird that is also found living and breeding in coastal regions.

Behaviour

As gregarious animals, feral pigeons tend to nest in flocks. Once they settle, they tend to nest at the same place for the rest of their lives. Pigeons are extraordinarily intelligent. Even when removed from the nest, they will return back to it. The distance doesn’t play a role—pigeons have “built-in” compasses in their bodies which provide tremendous help with orientation. No matter how far away from their home they are released, they will still find their way back.

Feral pigeons breed rapidly. They lay two eggs, up to six times a year—depending on the food available. If a local population is decreased, pigeons from other areas flock to take advantage of the abundance of food. Thus, poison often causes population boom rather than decrease. source

What Attracts Pigeons

Basically there are two things that attract pigeons to your house or garden:

Food: Pigeons are not very pretentious when it comes to food. They could eat various scraps, leftovers, seeds, your dog/cats food, anything left behind. So don’t leave anything food-worthy in your garden.
Living space: the attic or the air space between last floor and roof is the perfect place for a pigeon to live. Close all entrances if you don’t want to have pigeon droppings and insects feeding with them.

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.

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Pigeons – Rock Dove

Description

Mating – Breeding Habits

Nesting Habits

Do Pigeons Reuse the Same Nest

Feeding Habits – What Pigeons Eat

Predators

Are Pigeons Smart Birds?

What is the Lifespan of Pigeons?

Pigeons in History

Pigeon Fun Facts

Pigeon power: Study suggests similarity between how pigeons learn the equivalent of words and the way children do

Why Pigeons Are On Your Roof

Do Bird Spikes Work?

Conclusion:

What Do I Do With a Bird Trapped in My Wall?

Lure It Out

Cut It Out

Call In an Expert

Pigeon Nesting and Breeding Patterns and Behavior

Pigeon Nesting and Breeding Patterns and Behavior

Pigeon Nesting

Pigeon Breeding

Pigeon Cycles

Behaviour

What Attracts Pigeons

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