by Pigeon Patrol | Mar 31, 2015 | Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeons in the News
PEDESTRIANS have resorted to walking under a Worcester bridge with an umbrella to protect them from pigeon attacks and droppings says a councillor.
Residents have resorted to walking under the bridge, on Bromyard Road, with an umbrella to protect them from attacks and droppings. However, Network Rail say they do plan to install some ‘pigeon spikes’ to prevent them roosting there which they hope will curb the nuisance.
It is believed the pigeons are attacking people as they feel the need to protect their young.
St John’s county councillor, Richard Udall, has received many complaints about the hostile birds, and has written to the chief executive of Network Rail to tackle the problem. Netting was suggested by cllr Udall but Network Rail now say spikes may solve the problem.
Cllr Udall said: “I have been receiving complaints for a few years, both Environmental Health and Worcestershire Highways have made formal requests to ask Network Rail to erect netting to prevent the birds from nesting.
“Receiving a coating of pigeon droppings and feathers can clearly be a danger to health.
“However, they have no powers to force them to do so, and Network Rail just appear to ignore the requests. They clearly have taken no action and the problem is getting worse.
“They need to act now to prevent the birds returning next spring.” It is hoped, with the spotlight now on the issue, public pressure will force them to act.
Cllr Udall said: “I believe that public pressure will force them into action, the problem is not going to go away without their intervention.
“Residents who walk to work, school or the local shops must walk under the bridge, any alternative route would be too far or just too inconvenient.
“People are fed up with the problem and we need the owners of the bridge to take some responsibility to help”.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Pigeon Patrol | Mar 31, 2015 | Animal Deterrent Products, Pigeons in the News
A persistent bird feeder given an Anti-Social Behaviour Order to restrict his habit was feeding pigeons around 40kg of bird seed a day, a court heard.
John Wilkinson, Morecambe’s Pigeonman, can now only feed birds half a kilo of bird seed three days a week under the varied terms of his ASBO.
Prosecuting body Lancaster City Council was granted a variation of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order against Mr Wilkinson, of Cavendish Road in Morecambe.
The variation extends an existing ASBO for a further year to December 2015 and varies the conditions by further restricting the amount and also the times he can feed pigeons.
Proceedings were brought against Mr Wilkinson due to the annoyance and distress he has brought to residents for a number of years by feeding flocks of up to 300 pigeons outside his home and in other parts of the district. The flock wait for their regular feeds by perching on rooftops of neighbouring houses, where their fouling causes blocked and leaking gutters and their noise disturbs sleep.
Mr Wilkinson was feeding approximately 40kg of bird seed to the pigeons each day.
Coun Karen Leytham, Cabinet member with responsibility for environmental health, said: “The order does not prevent Mr Wilkinson from feeding pigeons but tries to curb the worst excesses by restricting the amount he can feed and also the times and location.”
The conditions of the ASBO prohibit Mr Wilkinson from feeding pigeons within 100m of his home on Cavendish Road. Outside that radius he can feed up to half a kilo of bird seed between 9.30am and 10.30am on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Pigeon Patrol | Mar 31, 2015 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons in the News
FAIRBANKS — One of the places where pigeons congregate downtown is the parking garage on Lacey Street.
Twice per year, a parking garage employee must put on a Tyvek suit, wear a respirator and scrape about 75 gallons of pigeon dung from the concrete floors.
The droppings are loaded into thick bags and disposed of in the hazardous materials area at the landfill.
“Pigeon crap weighs a ton,” said Marcus Dodge, executive director of the Fairbanks Parking Authority. “It’s not a lot of fun to clean up.”
Dodge has noticed in recent years the downtown pigeon population seems to be growing. Others agree. Businesses are experimenting with ways to deter the bird.
The pigeons are a nuisance, Dodge said, and their poop is damaging property.
The droppings contain ammonia and uric acids that are eating away at the sealant on the parking garage’s concrete floor.
The pigeon guano also contains communicable diseases, though the risk of catching a disease from pigeon poop is low.
One pigeon can produce up to 25 pounds of guano per year, according to a government report “Curbing the Pigeon Conundrum,” detailing the pigeon problem in New York City.
A hatch on a Swedish church tower inadvertently left open since the 1980s resulted in two tons of pigeon droppings collecting in the tower, according to news reports.
Pigeon droppings are blamed for speeding the decay of a bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people and injuring many more.
In Fairbanks, roofers last summer discovered six inches of pigeon dung on the roof of the Courthouse Square, a maintenance worker said.
Cathie Harms, spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said pigeons were brought to Fairbanks by hunters and dog trainers. They are not a native bird.
“Pigeons are pretty darn flexible,” Harms said. “They will eat a variety of food. They are prolific breeders. They will roost anywhere they can get a degree of shelter.”
Charlie Cole, who has kept an office in downtown Fairbanks since 1957, said he has noticed the pigeon problem is getting worse.
Cole didn’t pay much attention to the bird until recent years, he said.
They are nesting near his building, and Cole has been talking with his neighbors about collaborating to fend off the bird.
“They leave droppings around warm air outlets where they congregate,” said Cole, a former Alaska Attorney General. “I think it’s a nuisance.”
A couple of months ago, a maintenance worker for the Springhill Suites Marriot decided to try a recording of predator birds to deter pigeons from gathering on the eaves of the hotel.
The recording could be heard a couple of blocks away and annoyed some of the hotel’s neighbors.
“The machine is off,” said Penny Cotten, vice president of marketing and communications for the company that manages the hotel. “There is no point. It doesn’t work. People don’t like it.”
Architect David Whitmore, who owns a building on Third Avenue, said 15 to 20 pigeon nests were discovered in the gap where the corner of his building meets three neighboring buildings.
“It’s poopsville,” said Whitmore, who is thinking of putting a net over the gap so the pigeons move on.
Whitmore is indifferent to the pigeon problem.
“It’s always good to have tolerance with animals,” he said. “We’re in this community together.”
Robert Franklin, a maintenance foreman for JL Properties Inc., which manages the Courthouse Square and the Northward apartment building, has a different point of view. He describes pigeons as flying rats.
Pigeons make extra work for guys like Franklin.
“They’re a hazard to the equipment. They’re a hazard to people,” he said. “They get into stuff they are not supposed to.”
Franklin uses spike strips and owl decoys to repel pigeons with mixed success, he said.
He moves the owl decoys once the pigeons get used to them.
Harms said the best way to deter pigeons is to eliminate their source of food.
“We are aware that some people are feeding pigeons,” she said. “If there wasn’t as much food, there wouldn’t be as many pigeons.”
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
by Pigeon Patrol | Mar 19, 2015 | Animal Deterrent Products, Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeons in the News
Bird fans are in a flap after there appeared to be fewer of the feathered inhabitants around Redhill’s shopping area and station in recent weeks.
Natalee Spencer, 20, said she feared for the birds’ safety when they did not take the food she left.
She told the Mirror: “I was wandering through the town centre on my way to work one day when I noticed I couldn’t see many of them.
“I sometimes put some food out for them because they need to eat too. But I couldn’t see any of them around so I just left the food on the ground.
“That night I went to Sainsbury’s with my dad and the food was still there. It hadn’t been touched. I was worried there had been a cull or something.”
Others have also noticed the area around Redhill Station, once littered with pigeon droppings, is now clearer.
Daniel Nixon, 36, who works in the area, said: “I have noticed the pavement is cleaner these days; there doesn’t seem to be so many birds chilling out overhead.” “Pigeons have no predators and they have an easy life with food easy to find.
“If their easy life has been disturbed by roosting being made more difficult or less food being available, then they might have simply gone somewhere else where it is easier for them.”
He added the pigeons could have caught a bug which depleted the population, but could not be sure without investigating.
In response to concerns about bird droppings on the pavement, Network Rail said it would look into installing new measures, such as mesh or nets, to deter the birds.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)
by Pigeon Patrol | Mar 19, 2015 | 4-S Gel Bird repellent, Bird Deterrent Products, Pigeon Patrol's Services, Pigeon Spikes, Pigeons in the News
Twice a year, Marcus Dodge assigns a worker to don disposable coveralls and a respirator for a trip to a downtown Fairbanks parking garage to clean up deposits from a non-native species.
Dodge, director of the Fairbanks Parking Authority, estimates the worker picks up 150 gallons of pigeon dung annually and hauls it to the hazardous materials area at the landfill.
“Pigeon crap weighs a ton,” Dodge said. “It’s not a lot of fun to clean up.”
The downtown pigeon population appears to be growing, according to Dodge and others. Businesses are experimenting with ways to deter the birds.
Roofers last summer discovered 6 inches of pigeon guano on the roof of the Courthouse Square, the former federal courthouse.
Charlie Cole, Alaska’s former attorney general, who has kept an office in downtown Fairbanks since 1957, has been talking with neighbors about fending off the birds.
“They leave droppings around warm air outlets where they congregate,” Cole said. “I think it’s a nuisance.”
Pigeon droppings contain ammonia and uric acids that eat away at metal and the sealant on the parking garage concrete floor.
One pigeon can produce 25 pounds of guano per year, according to a government report detailing New York City’s pigeon problem. The droppings were cited as possible cause for speeding the decay of a Minneapolis bridge across the Mississippi River that collapsed in 2007 and killed 13 people.
Hunters and dog trainers introduced pigeons to Fairbanks, said Cathie Harms, spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The best way to deter them, she said, is to eliminate their food source.
“We are aware that some people are feeding pigeons,” she said. “If there wasn’t as much food, there wouldn’t be as many pigeons.”
A maintenance worker for the Springhill Suites Marriot a few months ago tried chasing them off with a recording of predator birds. The sound could be heard from a couple of blocks away and drew complaints from hotel neighbors.
Robert Franklin, a maintenance foreman for JL Properties Inc., which manages the Courthouse Square and the Northward apartment building, calls pigeons flying rats.
“They’re a hazard to the equipment. They’re a hazard to people,” he said. “They get into stuff they are not supposed to.”
He uses spike strips and moves owl decoys around to repel pigeons. Success has been mixed, he said.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)