Posted on 03/22/2022 1:48:59 PM PDT by SJackson
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - They look harmless enough, perched on top of rooftops, soaking up some Arizona sun. But make no mistake, pigeons have a lot of friends and they don’t play nice. Pigeons are a serious problem in communities across the Valley. That’s where “Tony Hawk” comes in. The majestic bird is an expert in catching pigeons.
Bladen Benson is the owner of Desert Kings Falconry, a bird control business in the Phoenix area that specializes in removing pigeons from your property. “A lot of companies out here use poisons or cages, or other traps to catch them and remove them,” said Benson. “That’s all human work. It’s humane, but you can’t get more natural than this.”
Benson and his hawks will show up at any apartment complex, HOA, or office building to get rid of the unwanted flying pests, one at a time. “The young birds, they tend to bring back 5-6 pigeons per night when they first start,” said Benson. “Tony here can do about 15-20 pigeons in about 2-3 hours, depending on how many he is doing that night .”
“We have 8 birds, so if each bird is bringing back 15-20 pigeons a night, we’re doing right now about 1,200 pigeons a month for certain properties like this,” said Benson. He said each pigeon they catch is “put down” in a humane fashion, then fed to the hawks as food. AZFamily followed along one night to watch Benson and his birds do their thing at a Tempe apartment complex.
The hawks only work at night, when the sun is down and the pigeons are sleeping. Benson will flash a light on the pigeons to show their location, then the hawk goes to work. “We’ll actually find the pigeons for them,” said Benson. “Once we find the pigeon, we’ll spot it, and they’ll grab it and bring it back to us .”
In some communities, the hawks have removed hundreds, even thousands of pigeons over a six-month period. Bladen understands that not everyone will approve of the way his hawks operate, but the way he sees it, it’s “just hawks being hawks” as nature intended.
“They’re not hurting anybody, people love them, they love seeing them,” said Benson. “They are very gentle. We hang out with these guys all day at resorts, flying up and catching pigeons, then bringing them back. No better way than that.” According to Benson, the cost to hire the hawks ranges from $200 to $100,000, for some resorts and college campuses. It all depends on many pigeons there are and how long it will take to get rid of them.
Haven't seen them used in the US but frequently south of the border. Handlers acknowledge it's a little inconvenient if they kill a bird in view of guests/diners but it's my impression they're happy to simply scare other birds away. The article seems to imply they actually eliminate them from property, probably a losing proposition.
We used to put fake Owls under large awnings to keep all manner of birds from making nests under them. Normal birds aren’t very smart. Owls are mega predators on small birds.
Should have noted I’ve seen them used in daylight at restaurants/hotels. At night probably a different job.
We have a couple of hawks that live in our neighborhood, they get rid of pigeons and other pests. Only problem is, if you have small dogs you better not let them out alone.
In 1851 the British built the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851. A lot of existing trees were inside of it, which has sparrows that were causing problems.
Queen Victoria asked the Duke of Wellington how to rid herself of these troublesome birds. Shooting wasn't an option in such a structure. Wellesley responded, "Sparrowhawks, ma'am."
You do more than one a day?
>Oh, sometimes we do six, eight a day.
>It's a cutthroat business, and if we get backed up, we gotta work weekends.
>>>And we no like that. No. We family man.
You treat it like it's a normal business.
>To us, it's art.
Call Nate Romanowski.
Brilliant post. Thanks.
Working by night is cool.
GMTA on Nate - posted similar comment on an earlier thread.
Hawks don’t like to eat pigeon. They tried that here and didn’t check. They like snakes, rodents and little birds. At least our red tailed hawks do.
Hawks taking away the fun of PCP air rifle shooters...........
Wow! Totally natural, poison free, 0 enviro impact, so.....
PITA / lefties will put an end to this in 3, 2, 1
Tried that but number was disconnected. Now what?
Wait a second, who is Nate Romanowski and why should I have called him?
Fort Worth used hawks to rid downtown of their grackle problem in 2006.
Years ago, there was a “pigeon woman” who fed pigeons in her back yard with a LOT of birdseed. Resulting in a LOT of pigeons liberally littering her neighborhood with droppings. Combined with her indifference and disdain to the harm this might cause children, one of her neighbors came up with an ingenious solution.
He built a two story pigeon killing machine. The first story was just a trash receptacle with a garbage bag in it. The second story had a metal floor and could be used as a pigeon feeder. Looking out his window, to make sure it only had pigeons in it, he could then push a button, and house current would go through the pigeons, killing them.
A second button made the metal floor open up, dropping the now dead pigeons in the trash bag below, and resetting the trap.
After dumping several hundred pounds of dead birds, it culled her huge flock substantially. She eventually started to make inquiries, so he let other neighbors suggest that maybe they had perished due to ‘bird flu’, large flocks of birds being very susceptible to it.
—check the last Joe Pickett” novel by C.J. Box—
Nah, never heard of him either......
Very creative.
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