Practical use of GPS‐localization of Feral PigeonsColumba liviain the urban environment

Abstract

Feral Pigeons Columba livia live in almost every city in the world and are often a problem because of their large numbers. Knowledge of the spatial use of the city by Pigeons is important for population control management. Previous studies have given contradictory results concerning the urban area used by Pigeons and their feeding strategies. We used the global positioning system (GPS) to investigate the spatial use of urban habitats by Feral Pigeons in Basel, Switzerland. The total ranges of the subpopulations varied between 32.9 and 306.3 ha and overlapped partially. The total ranges of individual Feral Pigeons varied between 2.9 and 150.6 ha. Pigeons from a single loft had one or two main feeding places and up to 33 other places that they used for occasional feeding or for resting. Individual Pigeons visited up to ten different locations. Our study shows that Feral Pigeons have individual feeding strategies and are flexible enough to adapt to different urban environments. Therefore, we must contradict the view that Feral Pigeons are dependent on intentional feeding by humans and are unable to fly more than a few hundred metres. Our results are important for Pigeon control management, biomonitoring projects using Feral Pigeons as indicators of pollution and the study of disease transmission. Pigeon control management based on killing has only a local and temporary effect, because Pigeon subpopulations are interconnected. Pigeons from other areas will replace removed individuals. Biomonitoring projects usually assume that Pigeons show a limited mobility. Our study reveals that this is not a generally valid assumption. Because Pigeon subpopulations are connected, diseases can be spread over an entire urban area. This is of human concern, as seven infectious diseases have been shown to be transmitted from Feral Pigeons to humans.

Spatio-temporal use of the urban habitat by feral pigeons (Columba livia )

“…This led to the number of 212 complete records quoted in the results. Other aspects drawn from the same dataset, such as the detailed description of the places visited by the pigeons, are published in Rose et al (2006).…”

“…spilled food in the streets or at school buildings. Descriptions and details about the different places visited by the pigeons from the three lofts are given in Rose et al (2006). Some pigeons employed only one strategy as pigeon "B+C+lw/or" from the Stapfelberg loft that visited the streets and squares near the loft in the 9 day records it performed (numbers are given in Table 3).…”

A temporal analysis of the foraging flights of feral pigeons (Columba liviaf.domestica) from three Italian cities

“…Although ferals have been under evolutionary pressure firstly to cope with the needs of the urban, rather than the natural environment, these daily movements, which have been basically ''bred out'' of domestic races (Goodwin 1983; but see e.g. Eber 1962), still remain in urban populations, which may fly for food to adjacent agricultural areas as wild doves do in the natural environment (Havlín 1979;Janiga 1987;Ragionieri et al 1991;Baldaccini & Ragionieri 1993;Johnston & Janiga 1995;Rose et al 2005Rose et al , 2006. These movements may differ in occurrence and extent from town to town, sometimes involving only a fraction of the considered population (e.g.…”

“…Indeed, diet requirements can be met only with difficulty within cities, for urban populations, and in the colony area for wild ones (see Toschi 1939;Goodwin 1983;Little 1994;Johnston & Janiga 1995;Baldaccini et al 2000;Rose et al 2006 and references therein). Consequently, a typical behavioural trait of the wild rock dove is the daily foraging flights from colonial sites to feeding grounds (Goodwin 1983).…”

Error Properties of Argos Satellite Telemetry Locations Using Least Squares and Kalman Filtering

“…However, the use of GPS is limited by the need to download stored positions or the need for a data relay system to transmit positions to a distant user – often via VHF or Argos. Present GPS-based systems with data relay are generally not light enough for deployment on animals weighing <1000 g (i.e., maximum ∼ 30 g, using the maximum 3% of body weight rule of thumb) for more than several days or a few weeks– largely because of power limitations [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10].…”