Many animals will sound an alarm to alert other members of their group of impending danger. Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology on November 9 have shown that crested pigeons do this in a surprisingly non-vocal way. One of their main flight feathers produces a critical high-pitched sound as the birds fly away. As they flap faster to escape a predator, that alarm signal automatically increases in tempo.
Importantly, the researchers also show that other crested pigeons flee when they hear that sound. The findings confirm that the sound is a bona fide signal, not just a side effect of flight.
“Crested pigeons signal danger with noisy wings, not voices,” says Trevor Murray of The Australian National University. “It shows that birds really can use their feathers as ‘musical instruments’ to communicate with others.”
Charles Darwin proposed the idea of non-vocal “instruments” in birds about 150 years ago, but it has been a difficult idea to test. Scientists had long known that crested pigeons make loud sounds when they fly. For that reason, they are sometimes called “whistle-winged pigeons.” The Australian National University lab led by Robert Magrath earlier found that other pigeons pay attention to those sounds.
To confirm that the whistling feathers were indeed an alarm signal, in this new study, the researchers shot high-speed video and conducted feather-removal experiments. These studies show that the birds’ unusually narrow eighth primary wing feather produces a distinct note with each downstroke. The sound also changes as birds flap faster, such that those fleeing danger produce wing sounds with a higher tempo.
In fact, the birds’ wings produce alternating high and low notes in flight. The researchers’ experiments showed that the eighth primary wing feather is responsible for the high notes. The low notes come from the ninth primary feather. But, playback experiments showed, only the high notes are critical for sounding an alarm.
When the researchers played flight sounds to other pigeons, individuals were much more likely to flee upon hearing the flight of a bird with an intact eighth primary feather. When they played the sound of a pigeon with that eighth feather removed, they often just looked around instead of taking off.
“We show that the crested pigeon produces an acoustic alarm signal with its wings and that it is an intrinsically reliable signal of danger,” Murray says. “The alarm signal is intrinsically reliable because pigeons flap faster to escape predators, and this fast flapping automatically produces the high-tempo alarm signal.”
Crested pigeons are not the only birds known to produce unusually loud sounds with their wings, the researchers note. Pigeons in general fly noisily. Hummingbirds and manikins are also well known for their wing sounds. They hope that future studies will explore the evolution of wing sounds in other bird species.
“Birds have such prominent voices, we have largely ignored their surprisingly complex instrumental sounds,” Magrath says.
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For 53 years, large flocks of pigeons have called the Sid Buckwold Bridge home.
And for 53 years, they’ve also used it as a washroom.
The City of Saskatoon is embarking on a dirty mission to rid the bridge of 348 metric tonnes of pigeon poop over the next several months.
Angela Gardiner, the city’s general manager of transportation and construction, told Saskatchewan Afternoon that the collective weight of the droppings is equivalent to 232 mid-sized vehicles being parked on the bridge at all times.
She said the pigeons have been holing up inside utility cavities in the bridge and those provide a cozier home than other crossings in Saskatoon.
“Once we actually got in there over the last couple of years … the extent of the pigeon droppings was quite a bit more than we had anticipated,” Gardiner said.
She emphasized there hasn’t been any structural damage to the Sid Buckwold Bridge from the pigeon poop, but if it were left to stay, it could start wearing it out.
The pigeon droppings contain uric acid, which has the potential to eat away at the concrete used to build the crossing.
“There is a potential with any dead load like this that it could impact the structural integrity,” she said.
Specialized crews have been hired by the city to remove the droppings at the same time as rehabilitation work is done on the overall structure of the bridge.
In addition to the bridge cleanup, workers will install barriers to make it harder for birds to nest on the structure in the future.
However, the pigeons that have been displaced from the bridge will keep coming back — so Gardiner said the city plans to euthanize all 1,500 of them “humanely.”
“Part of the problem with pigeons is they’re homing birds, so if you just relocate them elsewhere, they’ll come back very quickly,” Gardiner said.
“If we fenced it off or prevented them from getting back there, they’ll just find a nearby location. I don’t think anyone wants 1,500 pigeons on their property.”
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.
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Two patients have died at a hospital after contracting a fungal infection linked to pigeon droppings.
The individuals are thought have caught the airborne disease at the Queen Elizabeth University hospital in Glasgow after inhaling the fungus cryptococcus, typically found in soil and pigeon droppings.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC), which runs the hospital, has launched an investigation into the outbreak. It said the likely source of the pigeon droppings was a non-public room, thought to contain machinery, which has now been cleaned.
NHSGGC said “control measures” had been introduced, which is understood to mean equipment to filter the air in some parts of the hospital, and that some patients, including children, who may be vulnerable to the disease have received medication, which was proving effective.
The health board said that the second patient who died was elderly and the death was due to an unrelated matter. It said it could not share further details of the case because of patient confidentiality.
Teresa Inkster, NHSGGC lead consultant for infection control, said: “Cryptococcus lives in the environment throughout the world. It rarely causes infection in humans. People can become infected with it after breathing in the microscopic fungi, although most people who are exposed to it never get sick from it.”
She said there had been no further cases since control measures were put in place. “We are continuing to monitor the air quality and these results are being analysed. It remains our priority to ensure a safe environment for patients and staff,” she added.
Portable air filters have been installed to help reassure “vulnerable patients”, NHSGGC said, adding that the organism is “harmless to the vast majority of people and rarely causes disease in humans”. A group of hospital patients are being moved within the hospital “due to their clinical diagnosis and ongoing treatment”.
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.
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Contact us at 1 877-4-NO-BIRD,(604) 585-9279 or visit our website at www.pigeonpatrol.ca
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Prior to this past weekend I had never heard of pigeon bowling. Who has? Even upon learning about it, I thought it was a joke. But then I saw the footage, from the Harrow Fair in Essex, Ont., shared across social and news media over the last few days.
And there it was. Fair-goers, including children, intently watching as competitors roll live birds into balls and toss them along the ground. The birds flutter and flap to a stop, their place marked by a judge.
It could be comical if not so dumbfounding, so disturbing. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Not surprisingly, the footage and news stories went viral. The shock was immediate and the online vitriol continues today.
How could such an obviously ridiculous — obviously wrong — event be taking place, not in some foreign place we can chalk up to different cultural standards, but right in our own backyard?
I am not a pigeon expert, and those who claim to be, in this case, state this particular type of bird rolls naturally, that they are bred for this and are treated well. I’m sure most of these folks aren’t actually animal abusers. They’ve likely been watching and participating in this event their whole lives. And now, to have their wholesome event infiltrated, their traditions exposed for all to see, it must be jarring.
But it’s certainly necessary. Because the time has come for country fairs to change.
Another classic fair event, the pig scramble, has also come under well-deserved scrutiny in recent years. The event, which typically sees children frantically chasing and capturing terrified piglets, was cancelled at one PEI fair in 2017. The famous Sonoma County Fair in California also cancelled its recently, due to animal welfare concerns. Instead, pig chasing has been replaced with a slippery watermelon obstacle course.
As a culture, we are waking up to the fact that using animals in these ways is wrong.
And just as keeping captive whales and dolphins was recently banned in Canada and animal circuses are being barred by more and more municipalities across the country, it’s time for unethical fair events, including pigeon bowling and pig wrestling, to also go the way of the dodo.
The issue is not even whether or not these types of events are cruel. The issue is, whether it’s a massive whale at Marineland, or a small pigeon at the Harrow Fair, there simply is no ethical argument to justify exploiting animals for our silly entertainment.
Not anymore. We just know too much now. We know animals can experience stress and fear. We know animals are individuals with their own natural needs and desires.
This may be a tough pill to swallow, for the farming-4H-country crowd, but ultimately, this change is good. Values and traditions and knowledge can evolve for the better. You can, too.
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.
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The Toronto Wildlife Centre (TWC) found a pigeon with singed feathers and “scorched shut” eyes following an explosion under a downtown Toronto bridge late last month.
On Nov. 26, emergency crews responded to Bathurst Street and Fort York Boulevard just after 11 p.m., following reports of an explosion underneath the bridge.
Videos circulated on social media with loud noises and heavy plumes of smoke billowing from the bridge.
No human injuries were reported, but TWC says a pigeon was unable to escape from the flames unharmed.
“Several days after the explosion, Ariel spotted this helpless pigeon walking along the pavement,” TWC said in a Facebook post shared Friday. “His precious feathers were all singed and his typically bright orange eyes were scorched shut, leaving him practically blind.”
Ariel, whose last name was not shared in the post, called TWC’s wildlife hotline, where the bird was quickly admitted.
Upon medical inspection, one of TWC’s wildlife rehabilitation managers saw the pigeon had burns all over his body, and wings. There were even some marks inside the bird’s mouth, the centre said.
“With a gentle touch, she cleaned his wounds and gave him antibiotics to prevent infection and medicine to ease his pain,” the post reads.
A warm compress helped the bird to open his eyes again, but TWC says he will still need some treatment to heal fully.
“We are so grateful for those in the community who show pigeons the compassion they deserve,” the organization said. “This little patient will continue to receive the care he needs until he’s ready to fly again.”
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
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“You’ve been flying for six years and you’ve thought ‘I’ve spent half my life asking where these things go’.”
Where do the pigeons go?
Mr Vanderveen said there were many theories within the pigeon racing fraternity, especially as to why some birds went missing.
“The magnetic pull of the Earth, solar flares, 5G towers, mobile phones — when you compact it all together it could be a bit of everything,” he said.
The Federal Government’s Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) researches and monitors the effects of mobile phone towers.
Assistant director of the agency’s assessment and advice section, Ken Karipidis, has assessed the effects of radio waves on animals.
He said while birds use natural electromagnetic fields, or radio waves, to help with navigation, there was no research that showed the impact of radio or mobile phone towers on a bird’s orientation.
“Mobile phone towers and other wireless telecommunications sources, including 5G, emit low-level radiofrequency electromagnetic fields which are also called radio waves,” Dr Karipidis said.
“It’s well established that some animals, including birds such as pigeons, rely on natural electromagnetic fields as one of a number of parameters believed to be used for orientation and navigational cues.
“However, there is no established evidence that radio waves from telecommunications sources disrupt the orientation cues of animals which make use of a variety of mechanisms for orientation.”
But the president of the Queensland Racing Pigeon Federation, Wayne Reese, said he believed there may be a link.
“There has been a bit of upsurge in the number of birds that get lost, or get lost for a period of time,” he said.
“It could be phone towers and it pretty much coincides with that.
“It seems to have corresponded with around the time mobile phones started. We had a pick-up in the amount of losses.
“We don’t really know why [pigeons] know their way home so it could be something like [phone tower signals] that interferes with them.”
Man-made factors, natural predators to blame
Golo Maurer, from Birdlife Australia’s Key Biodiversity Areas project, said he was unaware of any evidence that signals from mobile phone towers disrupted a bird’s navigational sense.
Dr Maurer has done extensive studies into wild bird migration and believes variations in the Earth’s magnetic field could be sending pigeons off course.
But he believed urban development, resulting in habitat loss, was a more likely factor.
“Our landscape is more and more built-up … probably in the same timeframe that people have been worrying about pigeons not returning. We’ve lost 60 per cent of some native birds in some areas,” Dr Maurer said.
“It’s hard to think they’re not going to be entirely unaffected by the destruction of nature that has also affected their wild counterparts.”
The peregrine falcon has increased in numbers and could be preying on the pigeons.(ABC News: Ginny Stein)
Dr Maurer said urban development reduced the opportunities for pigeons to rest or feed en route, while window strikes, which kill millions of birds worldwide every year, could be another possibility.
He suggested the prevalence of natural predators had also increased, in particular the peregrine falcon, since the use of Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) was banned.
Mr Vanderveen agreed.
“When you look at all the data that’s out there, the peregrine falcon is high on the list,” he said.
“They’re targeting pigeons. They’re not silly, they know the seasons that they come through.”
Fliers hopeful of return to racing
Pigeon racing is one of many sports to have its wings clipped due to the coronavirus pandemic, but news that Queensland’s social distancing rules are starting to relax has caused a flutter of excitement.
Travel restrictions made it especially hard for fliers to get their avian athletes race-fit, with training limited to the loft.
But Mr Vanderveen is grateful he can travel up to 50 kilometres from today.
“That’s part of the process … that’ll give them the fitness to fly back home,” he said.
“You do that a few times and that’ll give them the fitness to do a 100 kilometre race.”
Queensland’s racing season is traditionally launched in early May but will be pushed back until groups can gather.
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
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