Should have just build a nice nestbox a little higher than that, put it where they want, and let that dove nest in peace. Maybe canalizing part of the heat with a steel plate or something
> Two nations fought wars on birds and lost. That should be a lesson.
Indeed. Prosperity of a people, whether in terms of wealth, happiness, or exterminating all the pesky little critters, is achieved not through violent conflict, but by steadily and patiently growing the economy. Industry, not anger, is what extincts species.
“By the fourth day of the campaign, army observers noted that "each pack seems to have its own leader now—a big black-plumed bird which stands fully six feet high and keeps watch while his mates carry out their work of destruction [of the fields] and warns them of our approach".
“By 8 November, six days after the first engagement, 2,500 rounds of ammunition had been fired.The number of birds killed is uncertain: one account estimates that it was 50 birds, but other accounts range from 200 to 500, the latter figure being provided by the settlers. Meredith's official report noted that his men had suffered no casualties.”
After the withdrawal, Major Meredith had said:
“If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds it would face any army in the world ... They can face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks.“
And Ornithologist Dominic Serventy had commented that:
“The machine-gunners' dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month.”
We recently had birds nesting in the awning of our loading bay. I was tempted to just get bird spikes off amazon and have our maintenance team install them, but my boss wanted to get advice and quotes from our pest control company.
I mentioned my whole bird spike idea and the pest control guy laughed and said they don't even sell those because little tiny birds nest between the spikes and it protects the nest from bigger birds.
We ended up getting netting under the whole awning to stop any entry points for birds to get at the bars. For two facilities it cost nearly $30k.
We stage pallets of product under the awning for shipping purposes. Our product is food packaging and bird poop on product (even packaged and wrapped) is a big no no.
That actually happened with us. Usually there's a gap at the side or corner where the birds can squeeze through. We just called the company back to get the birds out of there (we have zipper openings to change lights so the birds were lured out from those) and then tighten up the sides and corners. It solved the problem.
Time to try to foster the kind of birds and other wildlife we want in cities. Otherwise we will only have the "asshole" birds (et al) who laughed in our faces and used our weapons against us.
My parents had a couple that learned by themselves how to open the sliding door of the cage, so they would take turns going for walk inside the house, while the other one would lift and close the door.
Hah, speaking of budgies, I failed to latch the door on my budgie's cage one day and the cheeky little fella figured out he could push it open to escape. We originally found him at a bird feeder outside, so I should have known he was clever enough to escape if he wants.
It's easy to underestimate them with how silly they act, but never again. He gives me green cheek conure a run for his money on intellect.
Magpies and other corvids are ok in my books, but stupid flying rats aka pigeons are not.
As long as pins work on pigeons, I’m ok. Although… I mean, you saw what pigeon nests look like? They could deem pins a multi-apartment ready thing and just lay their eggs there.
Magpies make a hell of a racket first thing in the morning, especially if they think you might give them snacks to shut up (they love nuts, in case you're wondering). I quite like listening to the chatter but it's not what you want after a late night.
And my magpies attack the finches. They've killed 3 finches so far. I've given the finches a place to escape where the magpies can't fit but most of them haven't figured it out.
The magpies also try to attack my Uinta Chipmunks but they are too fast for the magpies. I put the food between my firewood logs where the chipmunks can fit and the magpies can not. Funny thing is the magpies can't stop talking so I know when they are up to no good.
In dense urban environments, masses of corrosive pigeon shit everywhere, with feathers sticking to it. Unsanitary.
In my French Parisian city of Courbevoie, pigeon houses where eggs are shaken to sterilize them, and re-introducing magpies solved the problem - the now sparser population is fine. Magpies and crows devastate pigeon nests.
Also, the expansion of greenery led to shifting the pigeon population from mostly columba livia, which nests on rocks (and therefore on buildings) to mostly columba palumbus - which nests in vegetation and thus doesn't make a habit of shitting on buildings.
Interesting article! Didn't know that the sentiment is relatively recent.
I always die a little hearing the flying rat thing. I get that they can be really annoying, waking you up, trying to lay eggs everywhere. But—having helped to care for many injured, sick, and unwell animals, pigeons _and_ fancy rats among them—I can't help but to feel sorry for how they are treated.
‘If it became necessary immediately to discard every line and method of communications used on the front, except one, and it were left to me to select that one method, I should unhesitatingly choose the pigeons’, wrote Major General Fowler, Chief of Signals and Communications of the British Army, after the First World War.
On today's podcast Tom and Dominic are joined by Gordon Corera, the BBC's Security Correspondent and author of 'Operation Columba: The Secret Pigeon Service', to discuss the often under-appreciated role of pigeons throughout the course of history.
Sadly the common European dove is being more and more scarce, following the same path than the migratory pigeon. The Eurasian collared dove or Turkish dove is invasive, but spreading naturally. They don't overlap.
As they suffer predation by magpies, the more spikes that humans put in the nest, the more attractive became to nest on it, it seems.
Haha, had the same problem. Don't even mind the doves, would gladly build them a place to live myself. But the early morning wake up alarm they create is too much.
It's not necessarily a matter of not wanting to share space. Some birds instinctively build nests on cliffs, but when their instincts drive them to nest on the side of skyscrapers, their young end up falling to their deaths since skyscrapers are taller and more vertical than the cliffs they evolved around. (Fledglings falling out of nests is normal, but in natural environments is rarely lethal.)
In cases like this, anti-bird architecture is really just an attempt to say "no really, this isn't a good place for a nest".
Our species is formed from planet scale disasters/events, literally evolving us to have the ability to form our world around us, with absolutely incredible excess in ability. There may eventually be less of us, but humans are definitely not going anywhere. "Wipe ourselves out" and "extinct" is always ridiculous hyperbole.
I'm not a climate denier or any other silly label. I'm a logical realist who thinks hyperbole/clickbait have no place in serious discussion.
https://imgur.io/a/W4GPjdh