Introducing the Newest Member of Team Urban – Betty!
Urban Pest Control is pleased to introduce the newest member of the team, Betty!
Betty, or Black Betty as our team affectionately refer to her, is part of the bird of prey pest control programme that Urban Pest Control offers. This involves several visits from our in-house falconer, Ryan, and a member of his team of birds to the affected site. Ryan works closely with you to put a plan in place regarding the number of flights required to achieve the best results for your business. This process is essential as each bird species requires different approaches to successfully deter nuisance birds from the affected area. Regular visits will reduce the amount of guano, feathers, nesting material, and bird carcasses around your commercial or organisation site. Sites with a well-established “resident” bird population may take numerous visits over a 3-5 year period to ensure the nesting bird population has been significantly reduced by the falcon’s presence.
Betty is a female Gyr x Saker falcon, a hybrid of the world’s largest falcon species, the Gyrfalcon, and the second-largest species, the Saker. The idea for this breeding was to create heterosis, or hybrid vigour, for improved traits like growth rate, swift and powerful performance, and health benefits. Not to be confused with the Peregrine falcon, which is the fastest living thing on the planet while stooping, the Gyrfalcon is the fastest animal in horizontal travel. Due to their immense endurance, they have been known to tail chase their prey for several miles until exhaustion.
Black Betty is 6 years old and has an impressive wingspan of 140cm. She is particularly partial to eating partridge, rats, chicks, and quails after a hard day’s work. When Betty is in full flight, she can fly as fast as 100 m/h – so she can work up quite the appetite! Betty is particularly effective when used at larger sites where gulls sometimes have more space and don’t quite leave the area with the Harris hawks present. Due to being a falcon, Betty will rarely land during a flight and literally chase her targets out of the area before returning to Ryan for her food reward, served up on a lure to replicate a hunt.
If your business requires a bird management service and you would like more information about our effective and environmentally friendly falconry services, please contact us today to discuss how we can meet all of your bird control needs.
