Confession: I like birds. A topic about pigeon fancying.

[OntarioHunter]

Found this strange pigeon in my loft the other day. He was eating one of my other pigeons - her head was completely gone! Might be zombie pigeon. Send help!

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Prairie falcon?

 

[jejack26]

Found this strange pigeon in my loft the other day. He was eating one of my other pigeons - her head was completely gone! Might be zombie pigeon. Send help!

View attachment 225288

How did he get into the loft? Prarie falcon is probably my biggest problem, are bobs a deterrent?
Just started flying a few birds and so far they haven't drawn any attention, but I'm guessing that will change quick

 

[OntarioHunter]

I once knew a bunch of hunters from Windsor, Ontario (suburb of Detroit, Michigan) who were a lot like that mink. If it breathed and moved, they killed it, legal or not. Owls, eagles, wolves, turtles, gray jays, whatever. The leader of the merry band was the worst (a Born Again pastor no less!). Last count he shot three cow moose "mistaking" them for calves (cows had to be drawn and calves were over the counter ... yeah I know totally crazy ... another reason why I stopped hunting moose here). They were camped in my area and would stop in when they needed something (like a cow tag!). Last time that arse called my house I turned him in. Hell, I had to. Under the law if I know someone is poaching and don't turn them in, I'm subject to the same punishment. Usually that jerk just drove to the rez and got an Indian to take it (no tags needed for Natives anywhere or anytime). I think they were blackmailing him. Good for them. Get the moose and some dollars. Anyway, I didn't know who was listening to my phone or his so yeah I set him up. That's about the time I hung up moose hunting here.

Edit: Just so you know, I never applied for a cow tag. Had to buy a calf tag to apply for bulls. Totally looney.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Last week I saw in the news the city has changed the bylaw to allow pigeon racing/raising in town again. We have a large Italian community here and they love that sport ... and gambling that goes with it. The peregrine falcons are doing well at the grain elevators and seemed to have made big headway cleaning up what was historically a huge pigeon problem in town. I estimate half of the feral birds ten years ago were escapees. Wrong colors for rock pigeons. A lot of white ones. With all the falcons here now I wouldn't spend a lot of money on racing stock. Won't last long.

 

[BirdManMike]

That is a coopers hawk, not a prairie falcon.

Accipiters will follow the pigeons in thru bob doors. They get stuck in there, of course.

Good, strong racers are a challenge for falcons. They are up to 2x larger than ferals and fly a lot stronger due to literally 1000s of years of selective genetics. Ive seen them get hammered to the ground by a falcon in a stoop, get back up, then out fly the falcon. They are faster than all but a gyrfalcon in straight flight.

Accipiters are always much more of a concern than falcons for pigeon fanciers. They are ambush hunters with much stronger feet that they use to grab and hold. If a coopers hawk or goshawk gets a solid foot on a pigeon, its over.

 

[fulldraw]

Mike, I had all kinds of pigeons as a kid. I had homers, rollers, kings, modenas, frills, fan tails just name a few. If I had room for a loft now I would probably have some birds. Those Cooper's hawks are a real problem in our area now. They kill a lot of our doves and robins.

 

[BirdManMike]

How did he get into the loft? Prarie falcon is probably my biggest problem, are bobs a deterrent?
Just started flying a few birds and so far they haven't drawn any attention, but I'm guessing that will change quick

If you have an eyrie nearby, the young falcons will be chasing your birds in the next month. Its really fun to watch. If you have good flying birds, youre unlikely to lose any to prairie falcons.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Back when we had chickens I noticed a pigeon coming to eat the chicken scratch, no big deal. After a while there were a few pigeons.
Next thing you know there's about a dozen of the darn things.
I began picking them off with my pellet gun one at a time until only a couple were left. They must have finally decided it wasn't safe anymore and they finally quit coming.

 

[BirdManMike]

Back when we had chickens I noticed a pigeon coming to eat the chicken scratch, no big deal. After a while there were a few pigeons.
Next thing you know there's about a dozen of the darn things.
I began picking them off with my pellet gun one at a time until only a couple were left. They must have finally decided it wasn't safe anymore and they finally quit coming.

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Shouldve set a bow net. Caught them all in 1 fell swoop. The guys that like playing pigeon games with their dogs will pay $10/pigeon these days.

 

[Huntkook]

 

[Beignet]

I missed this thread when originally posted, but was one of the rare NY’ers who had a soft spot for the critters (see my profile photos). A dude in a neighboring building in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn (of the early 00’s before it was all big money high rise condos) trained racers from the roof. I was fortunate enough to get up there once and see him flag them around up close. It’s become an increasingly rare sight to happen upon this from the street as the city becomes more homogenized.

Was also fortunate to catch Duke Riley’s “pigeon flagging performance art piece” Fly by Night in 2016 that you might (or might not) find interesting.

An Avian Ballet of 2,000 Illuminated Pigeons Streaks the New York City Sky

Artist and pigeon trainer Duke Riley recasts a reviled bird in a transformative light.

www.audubon.org

 

[Nunyacreek]

Pigeons are super neat and particularly the fact that urban dwellers are among the most avid fanciers. For those who don’t know, rollers are birds that when released fly several hundred feet up and without warning tumble or roll through the air sometimes nearly to the ground. I’ve heard it ascribed to epilepsy, though I don’t know.
For that matter you may not realize that almost any pigeons kept as pets are normally released every few days to fly around an exercise and then return to the coop through a one way door. Very fun to watch.

 

[mdcrossbow]

I've read a lot about pigeons and have thought about raising a flock but that's not happening until or if I retire. Until then I have Jimmy. She's 4.5 years I've had her 4 years now. She kind of runs the office. These are smart birds. She's a bird of a different breed. She like riding on the Harley, in the van and anywhere I go She is right there. When she's tired riding she'll head back to the shop. When I got her it only took about 2 months to have her tuned in on me.
She's eluded a Redtail twice and keeps an eye out for any predators.
Good luck with your birds.

 

[flatcoat]

I have Birmingham Rollers, it's a trip watching them roll out of the air and recover. I use them for training pointing dogs. Much like anything else I found out there was a Pigeon shortage this year. I finally found rollers for $5 a bird and got 12. They've produced 7 additional squeakers and 3 of somebody elses homers fancied the coop and moved on in so I'm down to about $3 a bird. Pigeon farming is going well.

 

[BirdManMike]

Rollers are raptor bait. Theyll bring in the BOP like nothing else.

Super fun watching them roll. I have about 10 right now that I got as squeakers from a local guy late last year mixed in with the homers. Gunna have to keep them from breeding and mixing genetics so they are going to have to go, unfortunately. Those rollers are probably what got that hawks attention.

 

[flatcoat]

Rollers are raptor bait. Theyll bring in the BOP like nothing else.

Super fun watching them roll. I have about 10 right now that I got as squeakers from a local guy late last year mixed in with the homers. Gunna have to keep them from breeding and mixing genetics so they are going to have to go, unfortunately. Those rollers are probably what got that hawks attention.

I'm pretty shocked I haven't lost any to BOP yet, only a matter of time. I had one marinating in a launcher last week and a Kestrel landed on the launcher and tried to figure out what was going on. All I want from them to get my project dog some work before Fall. Was real hard to find anything but dairy birds in ID this year.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I have never seen a pigeon roller but I have seen geese do it fairly frequently. Very common for cacklers dropping to decoys. Last year was the first time in my life observing a big honker do the roll. It's something to see.

 

[jejack26]

So for you guys with experience. Are there any way to reduce exposure to birds prey? I'm assuming there is a prime time of day they prefer to hunt. One of the benifits of having pigeons is I've a ton time watching raptors around house that I used pay little attention to.

 

[BirdManMike]

Don’t let them out in the morning. Once a BOP eats for the day, it’s typically done hunting. Evenings can see some action, but mornings are going to have the most risk for BOP on your pigeons.

 

[Farmerj]