Birds of Prey Still Continue To Attack Roller Pigeons

As I have discussed in the past, Birds of Prey are a major stumbling block for any roller flier. In my almost forty years flying rollers, I will go as far as to say, that currently, populations of hawks and falcons, particularly the Cooper's Hawk and the Peregrine Falcon, seem to be at their highest levels ever.

Hawks Targeting Pigeons in England. For reference, the large cluster at
lower center is at Birmingham. Image from Hawk Watch

While some groups of pigeon fanciers, such as those who breed Fancy Pigeons, will rarely, if ever, experience an issue with Birds of Prey, to the pigeon flier who MUST fly their birds just to continue their proper cultivation, these winged demons are a total menace. This problem has reached such a proportion that in the United Kingdom, British racing pigeon fanciers even went as far as launching what is so far, a failed legislative campaign to try to get the British government to address the problem. Despite the failure, which was largely handed to them by radical conservation groups, the Royal Pigeon Racing Association is continuing their efforts through the formation of what they call the "Raptor Alliance" which is not only lobbying on behalf of the 60,000 pigeon fanciers living in the UK, but also actively recording bird of prey attacks on domestic pigeons in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. As bad as the map looks, the problem is undoubtedly worse than it looks on the screen.

Fanciers from other countries, including a few from the United States, are also reporting their losses through the interactive map. Fanciers can easily input their hawk and falcon incidents on the site. They have a reference guide for reporting attacks here.  Even if you do not live in Europe, I would still very much encourage you to also submit your reports to their system by visiting Hawk Watch. Perhaps if enough fanciers start using the site, we can start to illustrate how bad this problem really is.

Much closer to home, here on the West Coast, the Birds of Prey issue has reached such a proportion for the Roller sport, that a number of years ago, the federal government actually launched several major investigations into the situation with the intention of actually targeting several very high profile roller fliers whom they believed were actively fighting back against hawk and falcon depredations through any means considered necessary. The investigation, called "Operation High Roller" included the use of undercover federal agents who inserted themselves into the roller community in at least three states, posing as interested novices. The agents not only entrapped fanciers into admitting that they were protecting their rollers through means of force, but also went as far as rifling through their trash in the middle of the night and using deceptive trickery to try to find incriminating evidence against them. The end result was the arrest of over a half dozen very well known roller fanciers who were specifically targeted because of their reputations in the roller world in the hope that it would scare roller fanciers everywhere. Media reports on the investigation will leave a bad taste in the mouth of anyone who believes in protecting their personal property. As someone with some legal training, there are also concerns about the way that the agents conducted their operation as some of their activity appears to have been blatantly unlawful and undoubtedly violated the rights of the accused. As the federal agency involved has indicated that they are still watching pigeon fanciers, it would be wise for fanciers to become more familiar with their legal rights, while national organizations would probably find it worthwhile to become proactive on this issue. It may become necessary to start holding the self appointed protectors of Birds of Prey legally and financially accountable.

In the meantime, the Bird of Prey problem is such that despite the immense popularity of the Birmingham Roller around the world, the future of the breed actually seems very much at stake in light of the fact that it is becoming more and more difficult to manage a successful breeding program.

In light of this, as time goes on, we will start to explore some perfectly legal tactics in combatting predation by Birds of Prey in the hope that we can start to save the most valuable birds for breeding again. These will be gathered from around the net in the hope that they can be presented here for the benefit of all.