by Ryan Ponto | Apr 19, 2017 | Bird Netting
Cliff has not lost his pigeon racing touch Sport. 00:45Thursday 27 April 2017
Retired docker Cliff Edwards has many pigeon racing successes under his belt, and he showed that he has not lost his touch by taking the first four places in Boston Central RPC’s opening race of the season from Bubwith. Results: 1, 2, 3 and 4 G. and C. Edwards 1853, 1851, 1843 and 1838 yards per minute, 5 and 6 Appleby and Daughter 1817 (2), 7, 8 and 9 Upsall and Grandson 1810, 1798 and 1797, 10 and 11 K. Ward 1788.663 (2), 12 Upsall and Grandson 1788.237. From Wetherby, the first four places were taken by Upsall and Grandson: Results: Upsall and Grandson 1685, 1680, 1666 and 1631, 5 Appleby and Dtr 1620, 6 Frost and Spooner 1615, 7 and 8 G. and C. Edwards 1592 and 1590, 9 K. Ward 1588, 10 Upsall and Grandson 1585, 11 Appleby and Dtr 1581, 12 A Cooley 1574. Swineshead and District RPC results: Bubwith – 1 and 2 Craig Pearson 1687 and 1629.743, 3 and 4 G. Wheatman 1629.587 and 1576, 5 Craig Pearson 1549, 6 G. Wheatman 1429, 7 Mr and Mrs T.F. Welby 1381. Wetherby: 1 and 2 Craig Pearson 1521 and 1515, 3 and 4 Mr and Mrs T.F. Welby 1489 and 1428, 5 Craig Pearson 1402, 6, 7 and 8 G. Wheatman 1343, 1274 and 1211.
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 Ryan Ponto | Apr 18, 2017 | Bird Netting
There’s a lot to talk about in the day to day political climate. Bombings, elections, air strikes, Supreme Court justices. The list goes on, and painfully so. But instead of talking about those things, I’m going to take a breather, hop onto a new soapbox and speak in defense of something a little closer, geographically, to Point Park.
Pigeons.
To many, they’re just vermin who get in the way when you’re walking to class. To some extent, that’s all true. Pigeons do in fact carry diseases, and they do have a tendency to get in your way on the street. But if I’m just being completely honest, if you just change a couple words in that sentence you’re also talking about humans.
Pigeons get a lot of crap thrown at them on a day to day basis and almost 100% of it is caused by humans. Be it punk kids trying to kick them while waiting for the bus, or some college kid trying to step on them for a cheap laugh, but have you ever paused to consider the fact that a pigeon has the actual resources to crap on you. Even if they do poop on you, rather than be angry and curse the pigeon, change your perspective. In many cultures it’s good luck to get pooped on by a bird.
To most, they are winged rats. To me, they are survivors. They fearlessly walk alongside man, like equals. They fearlessly walk into oncoming traffic, like warriors. They look danger in the eyes and scoff. They hobble around the city in the most mesmerizing fashion, like a once fabulous woman who spent a few too many nights in her stilettos.
Speaking of fearlessness, during World Wars I and II pigeons were used to relay top secret messages. They were chosen for their instinctual homing capabilities, and for their service they were awarded the Dickens Medal.
So yeah, there are 32 pigeons who are war heroes. Their missions were dangerous, enemy forces would try and shoot down the pigeons in hopes to intercept the message. One such pigeon lost her leg and her eye, but saved the lives of American infantrymen who were surrounded.
Aside from that fact, let’s think critically here. Why do people really hate pigeons? Because they carry diseases? So do humans, so do squirrels, rats and chickens. Because they can poop on you? So does every other species of bird, and humans too. Because they have wings? First of all, they can’t help that. Second of all, so do butterflies and every other species of bird. Because they’re gross? So are a lot of things, humans included.
I’m not saying that pigeons deserve to be worshipped or that they deserve to be treated better than people. I’m saying they deserve better. They don’t deserve to be kicked by punk kids or stepped on. They’re products of nature and vital to an ecosystem. It may not seem that way, but it’s true. We used to treat the bees like they were disposable and now we’re facing an environmental crisis because of our neglect. It’s unfair to hate something just because it’s gross or it gets in your way.
It is important now more than ever to show respect to those around us. Sometimes it starts small with working past your prejudices against pigeons. You may think it doesn’t matter, but it does.
Making room in your heart to be kind to pigeons makes room to be kind to people you may not like. It’s an exercise in tolerance, and I think we could all use some exercises in tolerance.
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 Ryan Ponto | Apr 17, 2017 | Bird Netting
A PUPPY was savaged by a hawk brought in to see off pigeons from its owner’s posh block of flats.
Chihuahua Dolly was in a garden when the bird sank its talons into her throat and bit her head.
Owner Eunice Barth was left horrified after her pet Chihuahua was savagely attacked by the hawk
Owner Eunice Barth, 80, said: “I remember the moment I heard Dolly scream.
“She was being dragged along the floor and the hawk was just about to fly away when the handler threw it some red meat.
“She was covered in puncture wounds. There was blood pouring everywhere.
The four month old pup was dragged along the floor by the bird of prey
“I was screaming hysterically, Dolly was screaming, it was awful.
“It was shocking, it left me in such a nervous state.”
Four month old Dolly was attacked after she snuck into the garden while her artist owner was taking out the rubbish.
The pup thankfully made a recovery after her owner forked out £400 on vet bills after the attack last June.
But now the hawk has made an unwelcome return to manage pigeon pest control at the luxury flats in Regents Park, London.
Eunice now fears the bird of prey could strike again or even attack one of the newborn babies in the block.
“My dog was savaged. How could they hire that hawk again?
“I can’t bear that it’s come back.
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 Ryan Ponto | Apr 16, 2017 | Bird Netting
The City Times has received numerous letters to the editor from Benonians who have found dead birds on their properties.
“We live in Airfield and have had a similar experience,” said Haley Steingrover in response to a previous letter that was published.
“In a space of about two to three weeks we have had four dead pigeons in our garden.
“All the other birds seem to be fine; it’s just the pigeons.
“We are concerned for the poor birds and also for our animals that are around these birds.”
Elizabeth van Genderen, of Rynfield, said on March 15 that over the last month she found two dead birds.
“My son witnessed one drop out of the tree and hit the ground,” said van Genderen.
“When we went out there, it was already dead.
“This is disturbing.”
Judy Davidson, of Wildlife in Crisis, said the deaths should not be a concern and that she is “pretty sure” the cause is E. coli.
She said a dove and pigeon from Marister and Rynfield were taken for an autopsy, which revealed E. coli being the cause of death.
Davidson said the bacteria is species-specific and that there is no danger for other animals or humans.
She said the only confirmed reports of pigeon and dove deaths have been in Benoni.
The non-profit organisation is still searching for two or three fresh carcasses to conduct further tests on.
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 Ryan Ponto | Apr 15, 2017 | Bird Netting
“Years and years and years ago, when they first recognized there were pigeons, monks found them in a cliff, and they captured them for food,” according to Charlie Klipsch, a breeder of racing pigeons (called Racing Homers).
Klipsch operates a loft, dubbed “Flying Surprises,” of about 48 birds in his backyard in Sunset Hills.
“Some of these birds escaped, and when the monks went back to get more food, they found that the ones that had escaped were back at the cliff again. And they realized that these birds had a homing instinct,” Klipsch said.
So goes the foundation myth for homing pigeons. It was the beginning of many centuries of partnership between man and pigeon that extended well into the modern era. A Racing Homer was standard issue to English airmen flying over France, and to Allied spies parachuting into it, in both World War I and II. In 1943, three pigeons serving in the Royal Air Force were the first winners of the England’s Dickin Medal for Gallantry (by animals) for their remarkable flights through heavy winds and stormy weather to deliver messages on the locations of downed pilots. In 1944, pigeons flew with American paratroopers on D-Day.
Pigeons also provided the basis for the giant Reuters news service, which began its corporate life as a kind of Pigeon Express shuttling financial market closing prices between points not yet served by telegraph.
Most famous, though not necessarily accurate, pigeons brought early word of Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo to financier Nathan Mayer Rothschild, who turned this news beat into a fortune on the London bond market.
“We know the English used pigeons a long, long time ago,” Klipsch said. “We know the Germans did, the Belgians did, the Italians did. We know the Phoenicians used them!”
Today, the march of technology has ended the economic and military usefulness of Racing Homers, but they retain a mystique that transcends their lost utilitarian value. Their unique capabilities – not to be duplicated even in an age of electronic miracles – still fascinate those who care to look.
For example, what featherless biped could match the prowess of a pigeon traveling from Shamrock, Texas, to St. Louis (approximately 600 miles) with nothing to guide him but the tools nature provided – eyes, ears, nose, brain? Some no doubt could manage it, but a Racing Homer can do it in one day, flying from 45 to 60 mph.
The pigeon’s feathers obviously provide a large speed advantage over earth-bound bipeds. But the accuracy of the flight derives from a suite of in-born navigational tools that for centuries have eluded scientific description.
“To know where home is, when they have never been to a place before, never been 200 miles away, and yet they come home,” said Klipsch. “That’s the homing pigeon.”
Research universities “have studied this for the past hundred years, spent thousands and thousands of dollars on it. They don’t know how the pigeon does it.”
But much has been found out.
“We have proven a lot of theories,” Klipsch said. “We know that the pigeon uses a magnetic sense, from the earth. We know they use the sun as a navigation tool. We know they use their sight – 26 miles they have been registered to see something.”
But the birds have some means of coordinating all these tools that is not understood, Klipsch said.
“If they blindfold them, they can still find their way home,” he said. “They plug their ears, they still find their way home. They put magnets on their wings, and they still find their way home. They know they use all of these things (sensory detectors), but they don’t know how they use them.
But Klipsch knows he can use them – for an absorbing hobby and for simple backyard fun. He races his birds every weekend of the racing season, which runs for several months from spring through autumn. He ships the birds to a launch point, and awaits their return with wife Florence from their screened back porch or lawn chairs.
The birds clock themselves by passing through an electronic detector at the door of their roost. The days of mechanical clocks are over. The birds’ flight times now are recorded to the fraction of a second.
Klipsch, a member of the Mount Pleasant Homing Pigeon Club, is hoping to engender wider interest in racing among the younger generation. He inherited the love of racing (but no birds) from his father, and he from his father before.
But Klipsch’s six children and nine grandchildren so far appear immune to the racing bug, he said.
To enter the hobby, only a simple loft (“mine was just a tool shed when I got started”), and a couple of birds are required, Klipsch said. Breeders will give young birds – as well as the mentoring needed to keep them – to a club member who wants to get started, Klipsch 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)
