Dylan Bettencourt
For decades Wimbledon organisers complained about the “bloody pigeons” that came to nibble on the grass courts and ended up derailing the tennis action.
No more. Rufus the Hawk protects Wimbledon from the skies, keeping away the greedy birds who can force games to be stopped.
After watching a game involving Pete Sampras on the grass court in 1999, Donna Davis saw a pigeon land right in the middle of the court, forcing play to be stopped. A ball boy or girl would attempt to chase the pigeon to fly away before play could resume. But Davis had a better idea.
During the 1980s, Davis set up Avian Environmental Consultants to fly hawks and falcons at American Air Force bases to scare off pigeons.
Davis and her hawks became the solution to Wimbledon’s pigeon problem.
The first hawk to patrol the Wimbledon grounds was Hamish, but it is his grandson, Rufus, who protects the grounds now and has even become somewhat of a celebrity. Rufus even has his own Twitter account.
Players such as Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal have asked to meet the hawk.
Davis describes waking up at 3.30am to arrive at the courts an hour later to set the hawks free to scare off any pigeons lurking nearby.
The hawks have GPS trackers installed on them and are weighed to ensure they fly at their ideal weight of 650 grams.
Three hawks patrol the grounds until 9am when the crowd begins to arrive for the day’s action.
The four hours of patrolling are enough to ensure no pigeon lands on any court with the hopes of feeding on the grass.
The hawks repeat the same process every day during the Grand Slam tournament.
“The hawks do not harm the pigeons at all, they just scare them off to ensure the pigeons feed elsewhere,” said Davis.
The team of hawks even worked at the recent Jubilee for Queen Elizabeth, ensuring that no birds caused any disruptions on the day.
Image source: @EveningStandard
