Why cities are unleashing birds of prey into their skies
canada goose clearance While political hawks and doves clash inside the Palace of Westminster, real hawks patrol the skies above the famous buildings to control the population of feral pigeons which, despite the name, are actually a kind of dove. canada goose clearance
But it is not Canada Goose Parka just at the UK’s Houses canada goose of Parliament that you might see a bird Canada Goose Jackets of prey swooping after problem birds. Hawks are also at work around canada goose uk black friday the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh and in many other towns up and down the UK as well as in other countries. Birds of prey have even canadian goose jacket been deployed in British seaside resorts to keep control of gull populations.
There is simple and seductive logic behind the idea of falconry for bird control. Problem birds usually pigeons or gulls recognise a large bird of prey as a threat. As soon as the predator takes to the skies, they scatter.
Canada Goose sale Pest control is not really seen as a particularly sexy subject Canada Goose sale
As a result, the problem birds should stay away as long uk canada goose as the bird of prey is flown in the area on Canada Goose Online a fairly regular basis. The falconer has modified their “landscape of fear”, creating a hotspot of terror that they avoid because they associate it with a threat of predation.
canada goose coats on sale Falconry has been used to keep birds away from airports and landfill sites for decades. Presumably it is buy canada goose jacket cheap effective to some degree, or the operators at these sites would have stopped paying the falconers long ago. canada goose coats on sale
canada goose deals But exactly how effective? canada goose coats The question is uk canada goose outlet not easy to answer because canada goose coats on sale few scientists have investigated falconry for pest control. It can get overlooked a little,” says Aonghais Cook at the British Trust for Ornithology in canada goose outlet Thetford, Norfolk. canada goose deals
buy canada goose jacket cheap In a study published in 2008 while he was at Newcastle University, Cook and his colleagues explored the subject. They investigated whether falconry and other pest control measures changed the behaviour of nuisance gulls at six landfill sites across buy canada goose jacket the UK. buy canada goose jacket cheap
buy canada goose jacket Falconry could be effective indefinitely, as long as there is enough money to pay the falconer to return on a regular basis buy canada goose jacket
His observations suggest falconry can have a useful impact, and that it may be a better long term deterrent than some other anti gull strategies.
canada goose black friday sale Pest controllers use many canada goose store gull deterrents at landfill sites, from crude methods like fireworks to Canada Goose Outlet more sophisticated approaches like playing seagull distress calls through loudspeakers. These methods might work for Canada Goose sale a while, but Cook and his colleagues found that over a few weeks the birds gradually realised that the threats were hollow and learned to ignore them. canada goose black friday sale
canada goose But the pest birds cannot ignore a bird of prey. “A large falcon or hawk scares the birds off and keeps them off,” says Cook. canada goose
Canada Goose Parka In cheap Canada Goose some cases, Cook found that the number of gulls on site was lower after a hawk had been used for several weeks than it was during the first few days following canada goose clearance sale the introduction of the hawk. To put it another way, the predatory bird became a more effective threat with time. Canada Goose Parka
In principle, it is possible that falconry could be effective indefinitely, as long as there canada goose uk outlet is enough money to pay the falconer to return on a regular basis.
Canada Goose Outlet On South Africa’s golf courses it is Egyptian geese that are the problem. Some golf course managers pay falconers to trundle around the fairways on golf buggies, flying Harris’s hawks that spook the geese. Canada Goose Outlet
cheap Canada Goose Falconry on its own is unlikely in most cases to solve the problem cheap Canada Goose
canada goose coats Atkins and his colleagues decided to examine whether the approach discourages geese from lingering on the links by monitoring geese Canada Goose Coats On Sale at a golf course before and during a nine week period in which falconry was introduced. Shortly after the falconry began, goose numbers fell by about 80%, and they remained low for the rest of the monitoring period. canada goose coats
canadian goose jacket “We found that the canada goose clearance presence of an avian predator was effective enough to maintain low numbers of geese on the course, provided the canada goose uk shop falconry canada goose black friday sale treatment was consistent and occurred once per week,” says Atkins. canadian goose jacket
canada goose clearance sale The hawks occasionally caught and killed a cheap canada goose uk goose, he says. This https://www.gooseyou.com might have kept the other geese alive to the threat and prevented them from habituating to the presence of the hawks. canada goose clearance sale
So the science, what little of it there is, seems to suggest that falconry works. You might well expect professional pest controllers to thoroughly endorse this conclusion. But in fact they can be far more cautious.
“Falconry on its own is unlikely in most cases to solve the problem,” says David Van Vynck of Van Vynck Environmental in Tilbury, UK, who has been in the pest control business since the 1980s.
canada goose store If the hawk is not there, it has no effect canada goose store
Canada Goose Jackets His company uses a variety of pigeon control strategies. These include falconry, but Van Vynck says the birds of prey are generally only used to deter pigeons from roosting on a given building Canada Goose Jackets.