Birds Do Not Hear Ultrasonic Sounds
Posted in: How To Control Birds, Interesting Bird Stories, Pest Bird Issues | Comments (0)
Ultrasonic Bird Control? Don’t Throw Your Money Away! 
Written By: Rob Fergus, Ph.D.
Sometimes hardware or lawn & garden companies advertise ultrasonic devices that are supposed to drive birds away with high frequency noises undetectable to humans. Sounds like a good idea, right? Blast out sounds birds can hear but we can’t—what’s not to like? Unfortunately, the truth is that birds do not actually hear these ultrasonic sounds any better than humans do, and there is no scientific evidence that these devices actually work. The bottom line is that birds cannot hear ultrasonic frequencies and ultrasonic devices don’t work.
Humans hear sounds between the frequencies of about 20 to 20,000 acoustical vibrations per second (hertz or Hz). Middle C is about 262 Hz and the highest piano key (C8) is about 4186 Hz. As you get older, you lose the higher frequency sounds; middle-aged people can often hear sounds only up to 12,000-14,000 Hz (12-14kHz). High frequency dog whistles work because dogs can hear sounds up to 40-60 kHz. Bats use sounds up to 100 kHz to help them locate their flying insect prey and avoid obstacles in the night sky. More on page 1235
Meredith @ May 18, 2012
How to Market Your Bird Control Services
Posted in: Bird Control News, Bird Control Products, Bird-B-Gone In the News! | Comments (0)
Written By: Meredith Walako 5-16-12 / Bird-B-Gone, Inc. 
Marketing – for some business owners and operators this can be a frightening term. With all of the new platforms (and more popping up every day) it can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you are already looking at a full plate.
Adding bird control services is a lucrative way to bring in some extra revenue for Pest or Wildlife Control businesses and other service companies. But how do you get the word out that you do “bird work“? Today, marketing is all about being creative, resourceful, and original – and its easier (and cheaper) than you’d think. Thanks to the internet, there are many free avenues to help let people know that you can help solve a bird problem – too. You can also still rely on some conventional marketing strategies. With a little foresight and planing, you can start your bird control marketing campaign today. More on page 1223
Meredith @ May 16, 2012
Next Bird-B-Gone University – June 22nd
Posted in: Bird Control News | Comments (0)
Bird-B-Gone University is a FREE training course
designed to teach the basics of bird control.
If you’re looking to expand your business by adding bird control, or just want to develop your bird control knowledge, this is an excellent opportunity for you!
Bird-B-Gone is the leading manufacturer of professional grade bird deterrents. We pride ourselves on our level of commitment to customer service and provide superior training and support.
Those who attend receive a certificate of completion and are eligible to apply to become a Bird-B-Gone Authorized Installer. Attendees who work in California will receive credits towards their branch II SPCB license.
The next class is Friday, June 22nd, 2012 More on page 1219
Meredith @ May 14, 2012
Bird-B-Gone, Inc. Launches New Website
Posted in: Bird Control News, Bird-B-Gone In the News! | Comments (0)
Mission Viejo, CA (PRWEB) May 08, 2012 
Bird-B-Gone, Inc. leading manufacturer of professional grade bird deterrents would like to announce the launch of their newly designed website.
Bird-B-Gone supplies the commercial, industrial and residential market with effective, humane bird deterrents manufactured in the USA. Beyond offering high quality products with industry leading guarantees, the company prides itself on the level of customer service, support and free training provided to customers.
The new, improved website will be a helpful resource to pest control and wildlife professionals or anyone looking to deter birds from their property. The site offers specific information for nearly every industry affected by pest birds. More on page 1212
Meredith @ May 8, 2012
Bird Control is an Investment: Pest Birds Cost Businesses Every Year
Posted in: Bird Control Products, How To Control Birds, Pest Bird Issues | Comments (0)
From Bird-B-Gone: We wrote this article a few years back but feel it is still very relevant in the world of bird control. At Bird-B-Gone it is our goal to offer realistic advice when it comes to deterring birds commercial, industrial or residential settings. If you have a bird problem at your facility, please contact us at 1-800-392-6915 or email nobirds@birdbgone.com for advice.
Bird Control is an INVESTMENT? Pest Birds Cost Businesses Every Year
Bird Control? Why should we care about pest birds? It seems the latest issue concerning property management and building maintenance companies is Pest Birds. Every year millions of dollars are spent cleaning up after and repairing the damage caused by pest birds such as pigeons, sea gulls, crows and other urban birds. Not only are these problems unsightly, but also pest birds and their feces can spread 60 plus transmittable diseases. Safety, sanitation and health hazards caused by bird droppings can pose serious liability risks, and left untreated, can lead to accidents and lawsuits. Bird feces, bird nests and debris can also create a bad public image with tenants and patrons.
More on page 1207
Meredith @ May 4, 2012
Bird-B-Gone Ornithologist Featured in Pest Control Technology Magazine
Posted in: Bird Control News, Bird-B-Gone In the News!, Interesting Bird Stories | Comments (0)
Article shared from: PCT Magazine
Bird Whisperer
Features – Bird Control
Bird-B-Gone Ornithologist Rob Fergus has spent a lifetime understanding our “feathered friends” and he’s more than happy to share his insights with the industry.
PCT Magazine | April 30, 2012 |
Editor’s Note: Bobby Corrigan is considered the industry’s foremost “rodentologist” but when it comes to understanding the biology and behavior of birds that honor may go to Dr. Rob Fergus, an ornithologist with Bird-B-Gone, Mission Viejo, Calif. PCT magazine recently interviewed Fergus, who has a Ph.D. in urban bird conservation from the University of Texas, about the challenges of managing bird populations in urban settings, as well as the science of ornithology.
In layman’s terms, how would you describe what an ornithologist does on a daily basis?
A. An ornithologist is anyone who is involved with the scientific study of birds, which can cover anything from their DNA, anatomy and behavior to their ecology and distribution. Some ornithologists study birds or their genes in a lab, while others study free-flying birds in the wild. Academic ornithologists also spend a lot of time teaching university courses on birds, biology or ecology. Most of us do a little of all of this, so on any given day I will be out in the field observing bird behavior, corresponding with other researchers, as well as preparing or teaching university courses. My work with Bird-B-Gone involves field work studying nuisance bird behavior, as well as researching potential bird control solutions, and consulting on commercial and residential bird nuisance problems across the United States and around the world. More on page 1199
Meredith @ April 30, 2012
Pigeons’ brains have ‘GPS neurons’ to help them navigate, scientists found
Posted in: Interesting Bird Stories | Comments (0)
Article Shared From: The Global Post 
Written By: Talia Ralph
Pigeons‘ brains appear to contain “GPS neurons” that help them navigate, according to a new study published in Science journal.
Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas have discovered a group of 53 cells in the birds’ brains that respond to the direction and strength of the Earth’s magnetic field, BBC News reported.
Le-Qing Wu and David Dickman, the study’s lead researchers, found that the neurons “buzz” at different levels depending on how strong the magnetic field is and which direction it’s pointing in, Discover Magazine’s blog reported. More on page 1196
Meredith @ April 30, 2012
Ultrasonic Bird Control Devices: Peer reviewed studies show they do not work
Posted in: Bird Control Products, Pest Bird Issues | Comments (0)
From The UC Davis Website: 
“Peer-reviewed research is the gold standard of mainstream science. A peer-reviewed article has been critically read and reviewed by trained scientists. Peers are given the opportunity to anonymously comment on the adequacy of the experimental design and the validity of the conclusions that are drawn from the scientific work under review. The publication of research in a peer-reviewed journal means that the article has passed the scrutiny of fellow scientists. Studies that have not been through peer-review are not necessarily flawed, but peers have not been given the opportunity to judge the scientific merit of the results that are derived from such studies. “
Recently we published an article about the ineffectiveness of Ultrasonic Bird Deterrents, written by our well qualified in house Ornithologist and based on peer reviewed studies from the USDA, Universities and other qualified sources. This article has been criticized based on one persons un-reviewed findings. We decided to list our resources to show the studies that support our assertion that ultrasonic bird deterrents are ineffective at deterring birds: More on page 1190
Meredith @ April 27, 2012
Bird strike causes upvalley power surge
Posted in: Interesting Bird Stories | Comments (0)
Bird strike causes upvalley power surge
Article Shared From: The Weekly Calistogan / The Napa Valley Register 
Written By: Sean Scully | Posted: Thursday, April 26, 2012 2:15 pm
A juvenile eagle flew into high-voltage power lines in the Palisades east of Calistoga on Wednesday, knocking out power briefly over a broad area of the Upvalley and knocking out Calistoga’s main emergency dispatch repeater.
Calistoga Fire Chief Steve Campbell said the eagle hit the lines shortly after noon, causing a power surge throughout the service area. It knocked down at least some power lines in St. Helena, he said.
A spokesman for PG&E did not return a phone call seeking details of the scope of the outage.
The only major damage appears to have been to the police dispatch radio, which is mounted on Calistoga’s fire house, Campbell said. More on page 1184
Meredith @ April 27, 2012
Biden plane suffers bird strike
Posted in: Bird Control News, Interesting Bird Stories | Comments (0)
AFP – Fri, Apr 20, 2012 
US Vice President Joe Biden’s Air Force Two plane suffered a bird strike as it came into land in California on Thursday night and had to be grounded, a US official said.
The plane, a Boeing C-32 modeled on the 757, in blue and white air force livery, was hit by birds as it came into land in Santa Barbara, California, after a flight from Los Angeles where Biden attended a campaign event.
The pilot brought the aircraft onto the runway safely but the plane was not fit to bring the vice president back to Washington on Friday so an alternative aircraft was used, the official said.
Local news crews showed pictures of one of Air Force Two’s engines being worked on at the airport in Santa Barbara.
Biden’s plane was involved in another mishap in August 2010, when it flipped over a small light aircraft while it was taking off from West Hampton airport in New York state.
Meredith @ April 23, 2012
6 Feet of Bird Droppings in Abandoned University Chimney
Posted in: Bird Control News, Interesting Bird Stories | Comments (0)
A researcher takes a sample from the two-metre chimney swift guano deposit inside a chimney at Ontario's Queen's University. (Chris Grooms/Queen's University)
6 feet of bird droppings discovered in an abandoned chimney at Ontario University is being “excavated” for clues on the decline of Chimney Swifts in the area. The 6 foot tower of bird droppings have sat in the tower ever since it was sealed off with bird netting in 1993, but represented 50 years worth of “deposits”.
“Bird poo tower could prove research goldmine”
Article Shared From: CBS News
Written By: Max Paris, Environment Unit, CBC News
A two-metre tower of bird excrement at an Ontario university has become an unlikely archive that may reveal the reasons for the declining population of the North American chimney swift, according to new research by Canadian scientists.
The study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B document the discovery and cataloguing of the droppings in an abandoned chimney on the campus of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.
“What we have is a history book that we didn’t think we had before,” said Dr. John Smol, one of the study’s authors. Smol went on to explain that, to his knowledge, this is the first time anyone has ever measured stratified towers of bird droppings. More on page 1168
Meredith @ April 18, 2012
New study overturns prevailing theory of how birds navigate
Posted in: Interesting Bird Stories | Comments (0)
Article Shared From: Bird Watching Daily 
Posted Wed, Apr 11 2012 11:47 AM by Matt Mendenhall
Scientists have thrown cold water on the theory that iron-rich nerve cells in birds’ bills help them navigate using Earth’s magnetic field.
Researchers from Austria, France, Australia, and England, writing in a new study published today in Nature, report that iron-rich cells in the bills of pigeons are in fact specialized white blood cells called macrophages. Macrophages play a vital role in defending against infection and recycling iron from red blood cells, but they’re unlikely to be involved in magnetic sensing, the scientists say. That’s because they are not excitable cells and cannot produce electrical signals that could be registered by neurons and therefore influence a bird’s behavior.
More on page 1163
Meredith @ April 18, 2012
Improper Bird Deterrent Installation or Application
Posted in: Bird Control Products, How To Control Birds, Pest Bird Issues | Comments (0)
- Spikes placed incorrectly next to an owl decoy. The crow is given plenty of room to land on the ledge while the installation looks sloppy.
Written By: Meredith Walako
Bird Deterrents are designed to humanely deter birds from landing or nesting in unwanted areas. However, improper installation or misuse of products can lead to undesirable results that can potentially harm birds while also not being effective at deterring them in the first place.
Not every product works for every bird problem and certain products require care and planning to be successful. This is why it’s important to hire or consult a professional when dealing with a pest bird problem on your home or property.
From the installers perspective, improper installation can be a liability. Bad press, lawsuits and more can ensure if birds or humans are negatively impacted due to improper usage or installation.
Avoid claims that a product will work “100%” of the time. Most seasoned bird control professionals know there is nothing further from the truth. Choosing the correct product depends on the type of bird, the area its posing a problem and whether the birds are nesting or not. Other times, one type of product may not be enough – integrated solutions – using multiple products in conjunction with each other may work best for difficult bird problems.
There have been some recent news articles that have highlighted the negative impact of using bird deterrents improperly. Here are just a few with examples of what could have / should have been done in the first place. More on page 1137
Meredith @ April 11, 2012
Bird Spikes Added to Radio Communication Tower
Posted in: Bird Control Products, How To Control Birds | Comments (0)
Adding anti perching devices/ bird spikes to new towers is now a USDA Forest Services guideline for bird conservation in Southern California
Blog & photo’s shared from: Earth Signals
Tepusquet Peak Anti-Perching and Flight Diverter Devices
Posted on by Steve Blodgett, W7RNA
These photographs are from the government site on Tepusquet Peak in Santa Barbara County, CA. Anti-perching and bird flight diverter devices have been added to bring the site into compliance with Forest Service Appendix G. Shown are anti-perching wire spikes on the perimeter of a building roof and flight diverter metal coils that have been added to guy wires to hopefully alert birds to the presence of the wires.
In addition, Appendix G requires that anti-perching devices be added to microwave dish tops, cable tray tops and certain other long horizontal members. All microwave dishes must now be randomly covered and new towers are limited to 199 feet in height above ground. Photographs posted April 2012.
See the original post from Earth Signals and additional pictures HERE
Meredith @ April 10, 2012
Spring Bird Proofing with Bird Slope
Posted in: Bird Control Products, How To Control Birds, Pest Bird Issues | Comments (0)
Written By: Alex Kecskes 
Spring is here and pest birds will be looking for a place to roost and nest. Better hope they don’t land on your property. If they do, you’re in for some major headaches. For once they’ve settled on your commercial building or warehouse, hello expensive cleanups and repairs and goodbye peace and quiet. Here ‘s just one problem you’ll be facing if pest birds get the upper hand–and one way you can prevent it.
Problem: When pest birds lay claim to your commercial property, they’ll nest, eat and poop. This poop is not just unsightly, the acid produced by the fungi that live in bird droppings can corrode metal and erode stone. It can jam up windows, doors, rooftop ventilators and skylights. Bird droppings can also block out those skylights. And it can render security cameras inoperative. In fact, if allowed to collect, bird droppings can damage expensive A.C. units (you know how costly they are).
To keep up with birds and their droppings, you’ll have to hire expensive cleaning crews. Bird nests and droppings can also clog gutters and down pipes, causing rooftops to overflow with water. Some roof sections have actually collapsed due to bird damage. More on page 1133
Meredith @ April 4, 2012
Water source draws pigeons to Casa Grande community causing illness, property damage
Posted in: Bird Control News, How To Control Birds, Pest Bird Issues | Comments (0)
Article Shared From: TriValleyCentral.com
Courtesy of a Mission Royale resident, Pigeons leave quite a mess on the roofs of some Mission Royale homes last month in Casa Grande.
Written By: Melissa St. Aude
When Lyle Roorda bought his home in the Mission Royale community in 2006, he did not anticipate sharing his house with dozens of pigeons.But despite Roorda’s best efforts to eradicate them, the pigeons continue to nest on his roof. At last count, he had at least 30 or 40 pigeons living on top of his house and the mess they create — feathers and droppings as well as the maggots and other insects that live and breed in the bird debris — has become intolerable and a health hazard, he said.
“It’s a major problem,” Roorda said. “And it’s getting worse. The mess they leave behind is sickening.”
More on page 1128
Meredith @ April 2, 2012
Goose Sound Deterrents
Posted in: Bird Control News, Bird Control Products, Pest Bird Issues | Comments (0)
Written By: Fran Prisco 
Each year thousands of Golf Courses, Parks, Green Belts, Back Yards, Baseball Fields and even cemeteries are inundated with messy, slippery Canada Goose droppings. Canada Geese can be found on any type of grassy area that surrounds water, from backyard ponds, to large lakes and rivers. They breed throughout North America. Spring migration usually starts in late winter and will take several weeks to complete. The fall migration will begin when the water and soil begins to freeze. Geese feed mainly on land grazing on grassy plants and our lawns. In the spring and summer they can feed for up to 12 hours a day. This extended feeding leads to a lot of waste; a goose produces up to a pound of droppings a day. Multiply that by hundreds of geese and you have a big problem with goose droppings. This can lead to public health concerns in parks, golf courses, and other public areas.
One method of goose control are goose sound deterrents. More on page 1125
Meredith @ March 27, 2012
Heavy Duty Pond Netting Protects Migrating Birds from Collection Ponds
Posted in: Bird Control Products, How To Control Birds, Pest Bird Issues | Comments (0)
Article Written By: Alex A. Kecskes 
Recent studies have shown that every year, thousands of protected migratory birds die in tailings or detention ponds used for industrial waste or filtering. Tailing ponds may contain bitumen, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, naphthenic acids, brine, heavy metals, and ammonia—substances that are harmful, even fatal to birds.
The problem arises when birds mistake these ponds for fresh water. Without effective bird control measures to keep birds out of these ponds, the birds are doomed to suffer illness or even die. Most government agencies require companies to implement a comprehensive bird deterrent system if they plan to operate these types of ponds.
Meredith @ March 26, 2012
Bird-B-Gone in Pest Management Professional’s Annual Bird Issue
Posted in: Bird Control News, Bird-B-Gone In the News!, Pest Bird Issues | Comments (0)
An article about one customers success with our Bird Jolt Flat Track at deterring birds from the Robert Deney Federal Building in Lincoln NE:
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Meredith @ March 22, 2012
Pigeons keep teachers away from classes
Posted in: Bird Control News, Pest Bird Issues | Comments (0)
Shared From: The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper 
Written By: Reshma Ragoonath
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Teachers at San Fernando Girls’ Anglican Primary School walked off the job yesterday because of a pigeon infestation. The teachers walked out of their classrooms in protest after nine staffers reportedly fell ill because of unsanitary conditions at the school, on Pouchet Street, San Fernando. Parents received messages from the school’s administrative staff to pick up their children at noon yesterday.
Meredith @ March 21, 2012