Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!educ-isis!teexmmo
From: teexmmo@ioe.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Winged rats and other introduced bird pests
Message-ID: <1990Sep14.195319.6234@ioe.lon.ac.uk>
Date: 14 Sep 90 19:53:19 GMT
Reply-To: teexmmo@ioe.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore)
Organization: Institute of Education University of London
Lines: 46

In article <1990Sep14.103009.744@newcastle.ac.uk> q1ygq@turing.newcastle.ac.uk (J.M. Spencer) writes:
>In article <1990Sep13.172006.21612@ioe.lon.ac.uk> teexmmo@ioe.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore) writes:
>>David Graham) writes:
>>
>>stuff about pigeons...[more stuff deleted]
>>Here in sunny London there are press reports that in Covent Garden, (a
>>touristy area in the West End), the local authority has hired a hawk
>>(with its keeper) and they go prowling together every morning. The nut
>>cutlet brigade has been placated by claims that the (evident)
>>reduction in pigeon numbers has been achieved because the birds are
>>afraid, and have gone elsewhere. Its only occasionally that the hawk
>>actually catches a pigeon.
>
>This sounds rather like the vicar (?) who wanted a recording of
>"the attack cries of a kestrel" in order to play them inside his
>church/cathedral to frighten off the sparrows.  It doesn't work.
>The kestrel (and other hawks) make no such noise: what advantage
>would it be for a predator to announce to its intended victims
>that it was attacking?  (I accept that a pack of barking dogs
>might confuse a herd of goats etc. and thus aid them to kill, but 
>kestrels hover quietly they don't announce their intentions, nor
>do any other hawks.  Reason: they are solitary hunters.)
>
>Gamekeepers often put forward this thesis as justification for
>shooting hawks, but a moments though will show it to be rubbish.
>In fact, if the predator's very presence causes its quarry to become
>afraid and go elsewhere, it means a short lifespan for the predator,
>doesn't it?  Do rabbits become afraid and go elswhere just because
>they share territory with a fox?  No, they carry on as normal but
>scurry down the bury's during times of danger only to re-emerge
>once the danger's gone.
>
>The best way to deal with pigeons is to remove them, permanently,
>either by trapping or shooting.  But, as you say, Joe Public gets
>squeemish about such things.  If the stories about the hawk-keeper
>are true then the council responsible has been well and truly 
>hoodwinked.  Can you let me have their number as I've got a tin-
>whistle which will lead away all the capital's rats.  (Take with
>plenty of smileys!  :o)  :o)  :o)

An amusing reply! The original intention was to imply that the early
morning prowls were indeed providing the hawk with its breakfast. The
stories about 'scaring the pigeons away' are for the consumption of
press and public. (It should be noted that the prowling is conducted
in the early morning, before Joe and Joanna Public are abroad to be
horrfied by natural events).