Lofty

The best birds generally take top perches in the loft.

Twenty words or less TCC Loft series

W. S. "Billy" Pearson

Widowhood Old and New

Edited by Colin Osman

Form Requirements

Before form can be brought on, the loft must provide fresh oxygenated air, sunlight, and warmth.

Twenty words or less TCC Loft series

Another interesting story on Pigeons.

Naturenews

Published online 7 April 2010

The homing pigeon is a variety of domesticated Rock Pigeon (Columba livia domestica) that has been selectively bred to be able to find its way home over extremely long distances. The wild rock pigeon has an innate homing ability, meaning that it will generally return to its own nest and its own mate. This made it relatively easy to breed from the birds that repeatedly found their way home over long distances. Flights as long as 1800 kilometers (1,118 miles) have been recorded by birds in competition pigeon racing. Their average flying speed over moderate distances is around 48 km/h (30 mph), but speeds of up to 95 km/h (59 mph) have been observed.

Homing pigeons are called carrier pigeons when they are used to carry messages. This is possible where a message is written on thin light paper (such as cigarette paper) and rolled into a small tube attached to the bird's leg; this is called pigeon post. Pigeons can only go back to one "mentally marked" point that they have identified as their home. So "pigeon mail" can only work when the sender is actually holding the receiver's pigeons. White homing pigeons are used in Release Dove ceremonies at weddings, funerals, and some sporting events.

Navigation

Research has been performed with the intention of discovering how pigeons, after being transported, can find their way back from distant places they have never visited before. Most researchers believe that homing ability is based on a "map and compass" model, with the compass feature allowing birds to orient and the map feature allowing birds to determine their location relative to a goal site (home loft) While the compass mechanism appears to rely on the sun, the map mechanism has been highly debated. Some researchers believe that the map mechanism relies on the ability of birds to detect the Earth's magnetic field. It is true that birds can detect a magnetic field, to help them find their way home. A light-mediated mechanism that involves the eyes and is lateralized has been examined somewhat, but recent developments have implicated the trigeminal nerve in magnetoception. Research by Floriano Papi (Italy, early 1970s) and more recent work, largely by Hans Wallraff, suggests that instead pigeons orient themselves using the spatial distribution of atmospheric odors, known as olfactory navigation (see the August 20, 2005 issue of Science News.). Near their home lofts, in areas they have previously visited, pigeons probably are guided by visual landmarks.

Various experiments suggest that different breeds of homing pigeons rely on different cues to different extents. Charles Walcott at Cornell was able to demonstrate that one strain of pigeons was confused by a magnetic anomaly in the Earth that had no effect on another strain of birds. Other experiments have shown that altering the perceived time of day with artificial lighting or using air conditioning to eliminate odors in the pigeons' home roost affected the pigeons' ability to return home.

Some research also indicates that homing pigeons navigate by following roads and other man-made features, making 90 degree turns and following habitual routes, much the same way that humans navigate.

Homing pigeons, the winged messengers of the Indian police force, did perform for more than 50 years of distinguished service.

About 800 birds from the Police Pigeon Service, which have defied cyclones and floods to deliver urgent police messages between remote stations in the north-eastern state of Orissa since 1946, may be retired under government proposals that suggest e-mail and telephones make the birds obsolete in 2002.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

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Naturenews

Hens in the Flying Loft

I'd suggest you mate the experienced hens to yearling cocks and race the hens in the long races and give your yearling cocks plenty of work at short and medium distances in preparation for widowhood next year.

Taken from Widowhood Flying

by Mark Gordon

Doping scandal hits pigeon racing

John Carreyrou

Wall Street Journal

Nov. 11, 2004

CHELTENHAM, England - After rocking the worlds of cycling and track and field, the scourge of doping is ruffling feathers in another athletic endeavor: pigeon racing.

Gifted with uncanny navigation skills, pigeons have been used to carry messages for centuries. In the early 1800s, people in northern France started racing them. Half a century later, pigeon contests took off in Britain and became the poor man's horse racing. Today the country boasts 50,000 "fanciers," as pigeon trainers are called, and some three million specially bred racing pigeons.

But a pall has been cast on the venerable sport. In Belgium, where the pastime is also popular, scores of pigeons have tested positive for steroids. A number of fanciers have been suspended since the Ministry of Health imposed drug testing in 1995 out of concern for the birds' welfare. In 2001, Belgian police raided 80 homes of breeders and feed-and-medicine suppliers, confiscating large quantities of illegal products that were being used to goose performances.

Until recently, no one had raised questions about the sport in Britain. But a series of sensational race results by fanciers here has sparked grousing that some are feeding their pigeons more than grain.

The 107-year-old Royal Pigeon Racing Association, which is based in this scenic region of western England and counts Queen Elizabeth II among its members, instituted random drug testing in July. The substances banned in the RPRA's 2004 rulebook read like a list of drugs outlawed at the Olympic Games: anabolic steroids, beta-agonists, corticosteroids, opiates, analgesics and synthetic hormones, among others.

So far, the RPRA's 40 tests have all come back negative. But some of the country's top fanciers nevertheless remain under a cloud of suspicion. Among the rumors flying: They are using new drugs that can't be detected, or the drugs have left the pigeons' systems by the time tests are administered. The successful fanciers reply that the doping allegations are sour grapes from jealous rivals.

"I've had a lot of suspicions because of certain performances," says Frank Brammer, an 81-year-old fancier from Gloucester who started racing pigeons in 1937, when he was 14. "Some people who have to win at all cost will dope their pigeons," he says. He adds that he has caught fellow fanciers using other tricks to cheat - such as tampering with race clocks or with pigeons' identification rings.

An incident involving one of Mr. Brammer's birds fanned the doping rumors when the pigeon in question went missing during a race between France and England in May, only to turn up in Canada two months later. A racing pigeon's maximum range is usually around 500 miles, but this bird traveled more than 3,000 miles over the Atlantic Ocean.

Mr. Brammer, who swears he doesn't dope his birds, says it's "fantasy" to think his pigeon could have flown that far, even on drugs. He speculates that it hit some bad weather over the English Channel and took refuge on a passing ship bound for North America.

Pigeons have an impressive ability to find their way home from afar. Scientists believe they use an internal sun clock and an innate ability to read the Earth's magnetic field to guide themselves. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all used pigeons to carry messages. In the 12th century, the Caliph of Baghdad had them deliver mail in one of the world's first postal services. When Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in 1815, Count Nathan Rothschild famously received the news from a pigeon long before anyone else in London, and profited by investing in depressed British government bonds.

In the 19th century, pigeon racing spread from its hub of northern France to Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Britain. Today, there are pigeon fanciers in North America, Asia and Africa.

In modern races, pigeons are transported in a big truck to sites hundreds of miles from home and then released. The pigeon that flies back fastest to its loft - the birdhouse where it was born and bred - wins the race. In some races, pigeons are taken as far afield as southern France or Spain and have to find their way back to England.

Performance-enhancing drugs can produce roughly the same effects in pigeons as in human athletes. Anabolic steroids build up a pigeon's muscles. Beta-agonists open its respiratory tract and improve breathing. Both can boost a pigeon's endurance. Corticosteroids, which are administered in eye drops, delay a pigeon's molting, enabling it to train harder and race later in the season.

The incentive to cheat is in large part financial. Fanciers can earn big money from prizes awarded at races or by betting thousands of pounds among themselves. By far the greatest potential for gain comes from selling champion cocks and hens for breeding. One pigeon with a particularly impressive record of victories fetched a record pound sterling 177,000, or about $328,000.

Anxiety grew this year in Britain when some fanciers flew circles around the competition in the country's toughest races. A fancier from Birmingham, Bob Walton, placed seven of his pigeons among the top 36 finishers - including first, second and fourth places - in The Vanrobaeys Gold Ring Classic on Aug. 30. He won $45,158 in prize money and a new car. Mr. Walton's pigeons have since been tested and cleared. He declined to comment for this article.

Mark Evans, a 40-year-old fancier from the town of Whitley Bridge in North Yorkshire, did even better. His pigeons claimed the top six places (and 10 of the top 12 places) in a race that is part of the prestigious Midlands National Championship. When droppings were collected from his birds for testing the day after the stellar performance, rumors began swirling that he had been caught doping them.

The RPRA can't afford the expensive fees of the laboratory the Belgian federation uses at the University of Ghent, so it sends its samples to a horse-testing lab in South Africa. It takes a month for results to come back. During the long wait, Mr. Evans, who also sells pigeons he breeds, got calls from clients "who wanted to know if the rumors about drugs were true," he says. "It hurt our reputation."

He was eventually cleared, yet he says some of his competitors still suspect him of foul play and even refuse to race against him. "Unfortunately, there's a lot of jealousy in this sport," he says. Mr. Evans has won the six-race Midlands National Championship three times in the past four years. He says the reason his pigeons do so well is their elite breeding. "We have the best bloodlines in the world," he says.

Steve Palin, a 42-year-old window washer from Cheltenham who moonlights as a fancier, doesn't believe the doping rumors. Having inherited his passion for the sport from his father, he gets up at 5:30 every morning to feed his pigeons and let them out for an exercise flight. "I honestly don't think most fanciers in this country would use drugs," he says, as he pets Baldy, a strapping champion with a white beak and greenish neck who has won seven races.

The RPRA plans to continue the drug testing next year. Fanciers whose pigeons test positive will be banned from racing for three years. "We'll show people that we do have a clean sport," says Peter Bryant, the association's general manager.

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ergogenics

Completed Moult

The last feathers to drop are  the second from the outside tail feathers. This should be completed  by December fifteenth.

Twenty words or less TCC Loft series

History of Racing Pigeons

Pet Article World

By Dave Peterson

7-16-2010

Today's generation is fortunate enough to experience the wonders of modern communications. Letters are electronically sent in a matter of seconds via the Internet, and real time conversation with colleagues from far away is now possible through Instant Messaging.

Ah, thanks to technology. Did you ever wonder what was it like a thousand years ago, when ancient man was still one with nature and empires were just about to be built? Tribes communicated with each other through pigeons, and the racing pigeons were animals that were revered by many because of their speed and agility.

The great civilizations from East to West made full use of the racing pigeons as messengers that deliver important messages coming from the emperors out to the most remote areas of their lands. As empires expand, more and more racing pigeons were sent out to the sky.

Because of their intelligence and swiftness, racing pigeons were regarded as prized possessions during the ancient times. Just imagine empires having only horses and caravans as their message-carrying tools. It would take weeks before messages can be exchanged from one area to another. Animals that travel by land are also more prone to danger, especially during warfare.

One famous incident in history where racing pigeons proved their worth was when Napoleon was defeated in Waterloo. No other person knew about this event right away, except for Count Rothschild, who got this first-hand information through a racing pigeon. This knowledge enabled Rothschild to make decisions way before other persons had a chance to meddle. He was able to collect a large amount of money to start up a banking dynasty.

Racing pigeons were not only used as an important military weapon. During the Industrial Revolution when people started to revolutionize their way of thinking, racing pigeons were used as news-carriers not to aid a war, but to keep people informed about the society. Julius Reuter, the founder of the world-renowned Reuter News Service, was actually established as a line of pigeon posts. Up to this day, the symbol for many European postal systems is a racing pigeon.

As years go by, a lot more people have taken to raising pigeons. Gone are the days when only the nobles can have them. Most of the time, these birds are seen with racing enthusiasts, with the birds as the main attraction.

The most successful modern racing pigeons were developed in Belgium. They were a result of a cross between the Cumulet and the Smerle. The Cumulet is often described as a pigeon that has the ability to fly high and can be gone out of sight from the sky. The Smerle, on the other hand, doesn't fly as high as the Cumulet, but is much faster and hastier.

It's no surprise that the Belgians were the ones who first enjoyed the hobby of pigeon racing. The first long distance pigeon race was in Belgium in 1818. After 1875, the hobby of pigeon racing gained popularity in England. In the 19th century, the popularity of the hobby reached the United States.

Today, the world continues to be enthralled with the speed, endurance and the intelligence of racing pigeons. Amidst the technology that we have today, these pigeons still surely know how to get our fancy.

 

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Pet Article World

Pigeons under attack in Moss Park

The Toronto Star

Friday December 10, 2010

Curtis Rush

Staff Reporter

This red-tailed hawk has been seen eating pigeons and rats at Moss Park.

A red-tailed hawk, showing no fear of people — or anything else for that matter — has set up a killing zone for pigeons in Moss Park.

It lunches on them in broad daylight and in clear view of motorists and pedestrians at the corner of Sherbourne and Queen St. E.

People wandering to and from Moss Park Arena snapped cellphone shots of the hawk devouring a pigeon in a tree on Wednesday, not far from a sidewalk and within steps of the arena’s front doors.

It carried the pigeon to the lowest branch on the tree, and within minutes all that was left of it were the feet and a few feathers — still visible on the branch a day later.

Meanwhile, other pigeon carcasses lay nearby, apparently previous victims.

But observers say the hawk’s diet is not limited to pigeons. Squirrels and rats have reason to fear for their lives, too. And like coyotes found roaming in the city, this hawk is unusual because it seems totally urbanized.

“It seems to like this corner,” said Graham Willcock, who operates Moss Park Arena.

“When I saw it, it was just sitting on the branch cleaning itself with its beak,” said another observer, Ruth Dundas, who was here from Thunder Bay to watch a grandchild participate in hockey camp.

Willcock said the bird has been lurking around the park for three years. He tells a recent story of the hawk on the ground just outside the arena doors, clutching a rat with its talons, as kids walked by, lugging their hockey equipment.

“The kids weren’t scared. They were fascinated,” Willcock said.

Some people weren’t sure whether it was a hawk or a falcon, another raptor species that has taken a liking to downtown Toronto.

But Ron Ridout, a biologist from Bird Studies Canada, a non-profit group that monitors bird populations, confirmed from a photo that it was a red-tailed hawk.

The bird has a brown-streaked belly band on a pale underside, and of course a red tail, which wasn’t visible in the photo.

While falcons are known to take up living quarters in high rise buildings, it’s more natural for hawks to nest in trees, the biologist said.

Red-tailed hawks are quite different from falcons in other ways: they’re bigger, with broader wings. Their hunting styles differ as well.

Falcons normally rely on speed to chase down their prey, while hawks soar high overhead and dive quickly, catching their prey by surprise.

The arena operator at Moss Park said he has seen the hawk strike pigeons right out of the sky. The pigeons have come to sense when the hawk is close by, and will panic and fly off.

Being migratory, red-tailed hawks often fly down to the central United States in the winter. But not all of them; if the supply of food is sufficient, some will stay behind, the biologist said. And this hawk clearly likes the food supply at Moss Park.

However, it is highly unusual “to see them on a street corner eating a pigeon.”

Sympathy for the pigeons was in scarce supply among people outside the arena Thursday. One man, asked if he’d heard about the hawk’s hunting habits, said he hadn’t, but added: “Good for it.”

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The Toronto Star

Jim Jenner's pigeons

by Brad Webber
The Rotarian -- December 2011

Fifth grader Kane, with Jenner, is among the Philipsburg, Montana, students taking part in Young Wings. Photo by John Nilles

“I’ve heard every joke,” says Jim Jenner. Those laughs come at the expense of Columba livia, or the rock dove – also known as the humble pigeon. Jenner bristles at the bird’s bad PR, particularly Woody Allen’s famous characterization of pigeons as “rats with wings.”

With their uncanny ability to find their way home from hundreds of miles away, pigeons deserve a little respect, says Jenner, an award-winning filmmaker whose 1990 documentary, Marathon in the Sky: The Story of Pigeon Racing, remains an inspiration for hobbyists. Actor and director Michael Landon narrated the film in exchange for Jenner’s footage of birds in flight, which Landon later used in his TV movie Where Pigeons Go to Die.

Doves, which mate for life, are often a symbol of peace, but as Jenner noted during a speech to England’s House of Commons in 2005, they’ve also played a vital role during wartime, braving flak to carry code across battlefronts. One of the earliest domesticated creatures, pigeons boast a diverse group of famous fanciers, including Charles Darwin, Pablo Picasso (Paloma, his daughter’s name, is Spanish for dove), and Queen Elizabeth II. A program on the Animal Planet network, Taking on Tyson, follows former prizefighter Mike Tyson as he races his pigeons against birds owned by trash-talking wiseguys.

Thomas, who is featured in Jenner's documentary, is part of a pigeon program in Belgium. Photo by Jim Jenner

Jenner, a member of the Rotary Club of Philipsburg, Mont., USA, “is a pretty dynamic figure in our world,” says John Heppner, president of the National Pigeon Association.

"Young Wings, a program Jenner started in 2009, brings children in Philipsburg, a 19th-century mining town, closer to the natural world. Through the program, children raise pigeons in a horse-trailer-turned-pigeon-loft. “This domestic creature, this wonderful, hardy, easy-to-care-for, inexpensive, and profoundly intelligent pet, can fit in with helping kids,” Jenner says.

He is completing a documentary about the program and similar projects, including one for former gang members in South Central Los Angeles and another for juvenile offenders in England.

Pigeons can help “young people become better people,” says Jenner. “I decided to make a film where I would tell a little of my own story and look for evidence that these birds can have a profound effect on children.”

Mike Cutler, superintendent of Philipsburg School District No. 1, says he’s seen how Young Wings has turned things around for some youngsters. “We’re a small community, but we have children from broken families. When those children find a love for pigeons, it kind of replaces things they may not be getting elsewhere. And it has taught the kids about the birds and the bees. It’s been a great science lesson.”

Jenner’s connection with pigeons began at age 10, when a classmate brought a cage with two street pigeons to their school in Seattle. “It was the first time a bird looked back at me,” he recalls. After talking his parents into letting him keep some birds of his own, “I had this responsibility, rain or shine, in all seasons, to take care of them. That teaches a child so much. Here I was, witnessing these very gentle, loving creatures. Their conduct with each other is a beautiful thing.”Besides, “it’s pretty neat to let something out of its cage and let it fly around the house at 50 miles per hour.”

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The Rotarian

How pigeons produce ‘milk’

Deakin University
Tuesday, 20 September 2011

Deakin University scientists have revealed some of the secrets behind the pigeon’s rare ability to produce ‘milk’ to feed its young.Deakin PhD student Meagan Gillespie and research fellow Dr Tamsyn Crowley, along with colleagues from the University’s Institute for Technology Research and Innovation and CSIRO Livestock Industries, have studied the genes behind pigeon ‘milk’ production. They found that, like mammalian milk, it contains antioxidants and immune-enhancing proteins important for the growth and development of the young.

“Producing milk to feed babies is normally the domain of mammals, including humans. However, the pigeon is one of only three bird species (the others being flamingos and male emperor penguins) to produce a milk-like substance to feed their young,” Dr Crowley explained.“We looked at the genes involved in the production of pigeon ‘milk’ and found that it contains antioxidants and immune-enhancing factors. This suggests that, like mammalian milk, it plays a key role in enhancing the immune system of the developing baby.”Both female and male pigeons produce a nutrient rich substance in their crop to feed their young (squabs). This substance has been likened to lactation in mammals and is referred to as pigeon ‘milk’. This ‘milk’ is essential for the growth and development of the pigeon squab, and without it they fail to thrive.“Bird crops are normally used to store food. However, in the pigeon the crop changes prior to ‘lactation’ in response to hormones and returns to its ‘non-lactating’ state at the end of the lactation period, a bit like the mammary gland,” Ms Gillespie explained.“During ‘lactation’, a curd-like substance is created from fat-filled cells that line the crop and regurgitated to feed the squab. This ‘milk’ contains protein, fats, minerals and antibodies to provide nutrition to the young.”While studies have investigated the nutritional value of pigeon ‘milk’, very little is known about what it is or how it is produced.“This study has provided an insight into the process of pigeon ‘milk’ production by studying the genes expressed in the ‘lactating’ crop,” Ms Gillespie said.“Birds are different to other animals in that they don’t have sweat glands, but they do have the ability to accumulate fat in their outer skin cells (keratinocytes) which act like sweat glands. We found that the evolution of pigeon ‘milk’ appears to have developed from the ability of these outer skin cells to accumulate fat.“The way pigeon ‘milk’ is produced is an interesting example of the evolution of a system with similarities to mammalian lactation, with pigeon ‘milk’ fulfilling a similar function to mammalian milk but produced in a different way.”The results of the study will be published this week in BioMed Central’s journal BMC Genomics.About pigeon ‘milk’The crop in most species of birds is normally used as a food storage area. It is located between the oesophagus and the top of a bird’s stomach where food is moistened before further breakdown and digestion through the gastrointestinal tract.The pigeon is one of only three bird species (the others being flamingos and male emperor penguins) known to produce ‘milk’ to feed their young.In pigeons the milk starts to be produced in the crop of the parent birds two days before eggs hatch.During ‘lactation’, a curd-like substance is created from fat-filled cells that line the crop and regurgitated to feed the squab. This ‘milk’ is made up of protein (around 60 per cent), fat (up to 36 per cent), a small amount of carbohydrate (up to three per cent), a range of minerals and antibodies.Squabs are fed the ‘milk’ until they are around 10 days old. Once the young are weaned the ‘milk’ stops being produced.The unique qualities of pigeon milk have been shown in previous studies.One study tried replicating pigeon ‘milk’ however, for the squabs fed the artificial substance, their growth was either very poor or they died. This suggests that there is a unique quality to the pigeon milk that is necessary for squab growth and development.In another study, when pigeon ‘milk’ was fed to chickens their growth rate improved by 38 per cent. Since this study, it has been shown that pigeon ‘milk’ contains certain antibodies, which provides further evidence that it is not just a nutrient-based substance.

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