Large pigeon lost to science for 140 years rediscovered in Papua New Guinea

Large pigeon lost to science for 140 years rediscovered in Papua New Guinea

A team of scientists and conservationists has rediscovered the elusive black-naped pheasant-pigeon, a large, ground-dwelling pigeon that only lives on Fergusson Island, a rugged island in the D’Entrecasteaux Archipelago off eastern Papua New Guinea. Like other pheasant-pigeons, the black-naped pheasant-pigeon has a broad and laterally compressed tail, which along with its size, makes it closely resemble a pheasant. The photographs and video are the first time the long-lost bird has been documented by scientists since 1882, when it was first described. Ornithologists know very little about the species but believe that the population on Fergusson is very small and decreasing.

Pigeon Patrol fake owl

The research team photographed the pheasant-pigeon with a remote camera trap at the end of a month-long search of Fergusson.

“When we collected the camera traps, I figured there was less than a one percent chance of getting a photo of the black-naped pheasant-pigeon,” said Jordan Boersma, postdoctoral researcher at Cornell Lab of Ornithology and co-leader of the expedition team. “Then as I was scrolling through the photos, I was stunned by this photo of this bird walking right past our camera.”

The expedition team–which included local Papua New Guineans working with Papua New Guinea National Museum, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and American Bird Conservancy–arrived on Fergusson in early September 2022. They spent a month traveling around the island, interviewing local community members to identify locations to set up camera traps in hopes of finding the pheasant-pigeon. The steep, mountainous terrain on Fergusson Island made searching for the bird extremely challenging.

“It wasn’t until we reached villages on the western slope of Mt. Kilkerran that we started meeting hunters who had seen and heard the pheasant-pigeon,” said Jason Gregg, conservation biologist and a co-leader of the expedition team. “We became more confident about the local name of the bird, which is ‘Auwo,’ and felt like we were getting closer to the core habitat of where the black-naped pheasant-pigeon lives.”

The expedition was the first-ever camera trapping study conducted on Fergusson Island. The team placed 12 camera traps on the slopes of Mt. Kilkerran, Fergusson’s highest mountain, and deployed an additional eight cameras in locations where local hunters had reported seeing the pheasant-pigeon in the past.

“When we finally found the black-naped pheasant-pigeon, it was during the final hours of the expedition,” said Doka Nason, the member of the team who set up the camera trap that eventually photographed the lost bird. “When I saw the photos, I was incredibly excited.”

A local hunter named Augustin Gregory in the village of Duda Ununa west of Mt. Kilkerran provided a breakthrough lead on where to find the bird. Gregory reported seeing the pheasant-pigeon on multiple occasions in an area with steep ridges and valleys and described hearing the bird’s distinctive calls, which is similar to other species of pheasant-pigeons.

Following Gregory’s advice, the team set up cameras in an area of dense forest. A camera placed on a ridge at 3,200 feet (1000 meters) near the Kwama River above Duda Ununa eventually captured the black-naped pheasant-pigeon walking on the forest floor two days before the team was scheduled to leave the island.

Several members of the team have attempted to find the black-naped pheasant pigeon before. A two-week survey in 2019 by Boersma, Gregg and Nason didn’t find any traces of the bird, though it did gather reports from local hunters of a bird that could have been the pheasant-pigeon. The results from that survey helped to determine locations for the team to search in 2022.

“The communities were very excited when they saw the survey results, because many people hadn’t seen or heard of the bird until we began our project and got the camera trap photos,” said Serena Ketaloya, a conservationist from Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. “They are now looking forward to working with us to try to protect the pheasant-pigeon.”

The team’s findings suggest that the pheasant-pigeon is likely to be extremely rare. The rugged and inaccessible forest where they rediscovered the species could be the last stronghold for the black-naped pheasant-pigeon on Fegusson.

The expedition was supported by American Bird Conservancy and the Search for Lost Birds, a collaboration between BirdLife International, American Bird Conservancy and Re:wild. The Search for Lost Birds identified the pheasant-pigeon for an expedition after a global review revealed it was one of a few bird species that have been lost to science for more than a century.

The full expedition team consisted of Jason Gregg; Jordan Boersma; Doka Nason of Porotona village; Serena Ketaloya of Porotona village; Elimo Malesa of Basima village; Bulisa Iova from Papua New Guinea National Museum; Cosmo Le Breton, University of Oxford; and John C. Mittermeier from American Bird Conservancy. The expedition was funded by a grant from Cosmo Le Breton to American Bird Conservancy and the Search for Lost Birds.

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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

Estimating site occupancy and detectability of the threatened partridge pigeon (Geophaps smithii) using camera traps

Estimating site occupancy and detectability of the threatened partridge pigeon (Geophaps smithii) using camera traps

Since European settlement, many granivorous birds of northern Australia’s savanna landscapes have declined. One such example, the partridge pigeon (Geophaps smithii), has suffered a significant range contraction, disappearing from at least half of its pre-European range. Multiple factors have been implicated in this decline, including the loss of traditional Aboriginal burning practices, grazing by large exotic herbivores and predation by feral cats (Felis catus). While populations of partridge pigeon on the Tiwi Islands may be particularly important for the long-term persistence of this species, they too may be at risk of decline. However, as a reliable method to detect this species has not yet been developed and tested, we lack the ability to identify, at an early stage, the species’ decline in a given location or region. This severely limits our capacity to make informed management decisions. Here, we demonstrate that the standard camera trapping approach for native mammal monitoring in northern Australia attained an overall probability of detecting partridge pigeon greater than 0.98. We thus provide a robust estimate of partridge pigeon site occupancy (0.30) on Melville Island, the larger of the two main Tiwi Islands. The information presented here for the partridge pigeon represents a critical first step towards the development of optimal monitoring programmes with which to gauge population trajectories, as well as the response to remedial management actions. In the face of ongoing biodiversity loss, such baseline information is vital for management agencies to make informed decisions and should therefore be sought for as many species as possible.

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

HOW CAN I KEEP PIGEONS OUT OF MY FACTORY?

HOW CAN I KEEP PIGEONS OUT OF MY FACTORY?

Pigeons are always on the lookout for a source of food and buildings with plenty of high nooks and crannies to roost and nest in, and your factory might just fit the bill.

But if pigeons get into your factory, it’s a serious problem. These pest birds and their guano (poo) carry and spread some nasty diseases, and they can also damage property. This is bad news for any business, but if food is manufactured, packaged, and stored in your factory, it can be disastrous.

Before your reputation and your profits take a serious hit, read our advice on how you can keep pigeons out of your factory.

How to prevent pigeons from getting into your factory

First, eliminate any sources of food

Any sources of food will be very attractive to pigeons, and eliminating them will make your factory less desirable to roost or nest in. Keep your factory scrupulously clean and don’t leave food ingredients or waste lying around, inside or outside of the premises.

It’s also a good idea to talk to nearby businesses if their poor waste management or housekeeping practices are attracting pest birds to the vicinity.

Second, use deterrents

When you are trying to prevent pigeons from nesting or roosting in or on your property, deterrents like bird spikes, bird wire, and netting can be effective at keeping them at bay.

Third, fix up your factory

If there are holes in your factory roof or walls that you haven’t got around to fixing, you could inadvertently be providing pigeons with the perfect nesting place. Make sure you fix them up-deterring pigeons is all about making your factory much less attractive to them.

Finally, deal with the guano

As we mentioned earlier, pigeon droppings can contain some harmful bacteria, so we would recommend that you don’t try to clean it up yourself.

If pest pigeons have made a mess of your factory, call in the professionals. We will blast away guano with the right equipment and products so your premises is clean, safe, and hygienic again.

Do I need professional pigeon control for my factory?

As birds are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it’s illegal to poison or shoot them if you don’t have a license. If you put poison down, you could harm other birds and end up in legal trouble. And not only that, if you’re a food business, you won’t be able to use toxic bird control methods anyway as you could contaminate your product.

If you hire professional pest control, you can get your pest problem dealt with fast. We can deal with any existing infestation, install effective bird-proofing and deterrents, and give you expert advice on preventing any problems in the future.

To protect your business, customers, and your reputation, professional pigeon control is your best bet.

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

Testing pigeon control efficiency by different methods in urban industrial areas, Hungary

Testing pigeon control efficiency by different methods in urban industrial areas, Hungary

The development of cities and urban sprawl has made room for wildlife inhabiting human environments. Among birds, feral pigeons (Columba livia domestica) are often present in large numbers in the cities. Problems related to pigeon occurrence result in economic loss and health issues for humans. There are different methods of controlling pigeon populations in urban areas. In this study, we compared three techniques that can be used for pigeon pest control. In two urban industrial sites in Hungary, we used trapping, falconry (in both Study Area 1 and 2) and mist-netting (only in Study Area 2) to remove pigeons. We compared the effectiveness and limitations of each method. Our results show that over 105 days in Study Area 1, we managed to remove 173 individual pigeons. We did not find a significant difference between the effectiveness of trapping or falconry. In Study Area 2, the overall number of pigeons removed was 1412 over a period of 150 days. There, we managed to catch significantly more birds by netting than by trapping or falconry, but the latter two did not differ statistically. We recommend a combination of techniques for pigeon control. Mist-netting can be the most effective way for direct pigeon removal, whereas trapping is an easier but less efficient method to catch pigeons. Falconry is the least efficient in pigeon catching and requires the most investments, but the bird of prey may chase the pigeons away for a short time.

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

How to Keep Pigeons Away from Your Garden?

How to Keep Pigeons Away from Your Garden?

Birds are not picky eaters. They can feed on a number of things: seeds, grains, fruit, breadcrumbs, worms, and more.

Bird control is a hard job, especially if you have a vegetable garden. You’d want to keep birds as far away as possible. Even though it’s not easy, there are a few things you can do.

  • Make a scarecrow or use decoy hawks and owls. Also, fake snakes could scare some of the birds.
  • Use old CDs as shiny reflective objects to scare the birds. Hang a few of them every couple of meters around your garden.
  • Buy or make bird nettings from cord or wire to protect your crops.
  • Plants to distract them. You want to keep your crops intact and you’ve lost all hope of keeping the birds away? You can distract them by planting other seductive plants away from your vegetables. Plants like buckwheat, sunflowers, or some berries can be used to attract pigeons and other birds to the opposite side of your garden.
Are pigeons misunderstood?

Are pigeons misunderstood?

We trap, poison or push these nuisance birds away from bridges and the ledges of downtown buildings, but perhaps pigeons are just misunderstood. At least, that’s what a group of university researchers think. They’re testing a new, er, old approach, really, to the problem of pigeon poop.

By this time next year, they’ll have at least one attractive stone “pigeon cote” to house the birds, attracting them to one place in order to concentrate the poop and use it as fertilizer. It works with nature, rather than controlling it, and aims to restore an ancient, mutually-beneficial relationship that modern society simply forgot.

Yuck. Yes, I know. But intriguing as well. As city council heads into a week full of tough environmental decisions, I wonder if there’s a broader wisdom here that can help.

But first, these pigeons.

Pigeons really are the flying kings of poop. One study found they poop up to 40 times a day, although English researcher Kristine Kowalchuk (’12 PhD) would put that closer to 10, based on what she saw from a rescued baby pigeon.

She was walking out of the Art Gallery of Alberta one afternoon in the spring of 2016 when she found the tiny bird sitting quietly in the gutter. She picked it up, carried it home and raised it in her spare room until it was too big and messy to keep any longer.

That’s what got her thinking about pigeons, and the many references to squab (young pigeon) and the excellence of pigeon droppings as fertilizer she found littered throughout 17th century cookbooks and farming manuals during her English PhD.

It turns out farmers across Europe and North Africa would create large houses for free-ranging pigeons in fields or above their homes so that the birds would roost in one spot. That way both the young birds and poop could be harvested.

Now Kowalchuk, along with UAlberta professors Debra Davidson, an environmental sociologist, Howard Nye (Philosophy) and Aidan Rowe (Art & Design) using a $7,500 grant to build their own pigeon cote. It’s being built on a farm near Camrose because none of the five organizations with pigeon problems they contacted here in the city would entertain the idea.

They’re hoping a year observing the cote in action will change attitudes.

“We have so many misconceptions and cultural bias,” says Kowalchuk, citing studies measuring the risk of getting sick from being around the poop as tiny, akin to getting sick from a pet dog or breaking a leg from slipping on a dandelion. The person shovelling it out periodically would simply wear a mask.

Plus, the cote itself doesn’t increase populations; only feeding them does that, she says. “Our parks and flower beds could all benefit. Another way of looking at pigeons is entirely possible.”

I love the simplicity of Kowalchuk’s approach. I love the way it turns our pigeon problem on its head, resets a relationship.

That’s why I’ll be pondering pigeons as council wrestles with the environment file next week: first with its greenhouse gas reduction targets on Tuesday, then with waste management Thursday and a proposed ban on single-use plastics.

Because pigeon control isn’t the only area where humans expect we can control and build our way out of a mess with technology. We pave large parking lots and wonder why we have flooding. We cut trees and seem puzzled at the heat and dust of the city. We set out one big bag of all our trash and wonder why garbage fees keep rising.

I don’t think a single-use plastic ban will help much. It’s too narrow and complicated to administer. I’d rather see small fees for bags at the grocery store combined with measures that actually change a culture – like neighbourhood-level composting with free soil in exchange for yard waste drop-offs.

As for curbing carbon emissions, city officials have a long list of actions needed, from incentivizing electric cars to expanding district energy. But I don’t think technology is enough to solve this issue, not without a cultural change. Perhaps the lessons of pigeon poop will help there, too.

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