By Hannah Dreier

The "thoroughbreds of the sky" are remnants of a time when children spent afternoons on rooftops and in barnyards

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — Hans Foell spends race days pacing his Concord, Calif., backyard, squinting up Kirker Pass as he waits for one of his prizewinning birds to come into view.

Foell's brother gave him his first homing pigeon when he was 5. He speaks passionately about his pedigreed fleet and dismisses common pigeons as "street rats."

But the birds may not be coming over the pass much longer — blown off course by changing cultural currents, this esoteric pastime is in decline.

The "thoroughbreds of the sky" are remnants of a time when children spent afternoons on rooftops and in barnyards, sons learned the sport at their fathers' sides, and even toughs such as Marlon Brando's character, Terry Malloy, in the 1954 film "On the Waterfront" sought solace in feathered companionship.

Oakley, Calif., resident Wes Askins, who won his first pigeon race at age 14 and now hosts a weekly pigeon-themed show on www.pigeonradio.com, remembers those days well.

"We didn't have computers or video games," Askins, 56, said. "Pigeons were all we had — or trouble."

When Askins and Foell were growing up, the Martinez Homing Pigeon Club had dozens of "junior members." Today, the youngest fanciers in the almost century-old club are in their 30s. Old-timers say it is too difficult to interest over-scheduled youths in a sport that requires several hours of solitary labor every day to compete in, let alone win.

Fanciers must be trainers, vets, parents and friends to their birds. The most successful trainers rise before daylight to sweep cages, administer vitamins and exercise the small athletes. Many have spent sleepless nights waiting for lost birds to return.

"You have to be there every day," said Lee Schneider, treasurer for the Bay Cities Combine, the Bay Area's umbrella pigeon-racing organization. "You can't ever close the door and leave for the weekend."

Zoning ordinances and urbanization have driven fanciers to the more rural corners of the region, and the increasing costs of feed and medicine have driven away some from the sport.

Combine membership has dropped by one-third since World War II to 200 members, even as the area the organization covers has expanded. Nationwide, the number of pigeon fanciers has plunged to 20,000 from a peak of 100,000, according to the International Federation of American Homing Pigeon Fanciers.

Membership would have fallen even more dramatically if not for an influx of immigrants who grew up racing pigeons in their native countries, Schneider said.

Vincente Saro, of Byron, Calif., is one of several younger Martinez club members who raced birds as a child in Mexico. His pigeon, El Gordo, recently won a 250-mile race.

"It's a beautiful thing because it fills you with pride," he said in Spanish.

But it saddens Saro that his American-raised sons have failed to take up his hobby.

"There's no way to teach a child the joy of flying pigeons," he said.

The practice of using the birds to deliver messages dates to Roman times. A plaque commemorating a famous bird who saved the lives of 1,000 soldiers during World War II adorns the Martinez clubhouse walls.

Experts still debate the science behind the phenomenon, but homing pigeons have the uncanny ability to return to their coops after being released hundreds of miles away. Evading predators and power lines, 99 percent of birds make it home.

Animal rights groups including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals call the sport cruel, but Askins says he's just asking the pigeons to do what comes naturally. It is their seeming magic that draws him to the sport.

"If I took one of my kids a few miles from home, they'd be lost," he said.

Fanciers begin training new birds when they are just months old by releasing them a mile or two from their home loft, to which they return. Trainers gradually increase the distance as the birds learn to return to their coop for food and water.

If they move, trainers must leave their birds behind. Pigeons can live more than 20 years but call only one place home.

When traveling to races, Askins uses a special trailer divided into hundreds of easily opened crates to haul as many as 2,000 birds to Nevada, Idaho or Utah. At the starting point, his partner — the "liberator" in pigeon-racing parlance — releases the birds, who mass in a slow gyre as they seek their home course.

With the wind at their backs, birds can reach 70 mph. Sometimes, Askins said, they get home before he does.

The birds trip tamper-proof clocks as they glide into their coops, but participants do not know how they have done until they compare times. Standings are tallied in yards per minute, and races are sometimes won or lost by seconds.

In the sport's heyday, fanciers competed for purses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and created networks of side bets. Today, Bay Area hobbyists compete mostly for trophies and certificates.

The sport still supports a monthly magazine, a museum in Oklahoma City, and a legion of companies that sell everything from gourmet feed to identity chips. The pigeons sell for hundreds of dollars, and some racers say they've laid eyes on local birds valued at more than $30,000.

Residents who have stuck with the sport share a common sense of wonder.

"That one pound of flesh and feathers can fly over all the mountains and rivers," Foell said. "That's a beautiful thing."

by Les J. Parkinson

I have been doing quite a lot of research into the Dordin family and as always l am looking for any opportunity to write about anything to do with pigeons. The names of Nobby and Michael Henley of Kingsteignton came up. After having a chat to Nobby the bags were soon packed and we headed down the M6 and M5 to Torbay on a day that was good to us with sunshine all the way with the exception of about 1/2 mile as we hit the Bristol area. We had booked into the Channel View Hotel which is well known to many fanciers. The evening was quite entertaining with Nobby Henley turning up with the material that l was after for the Dordins article which caused quite a bit of interest with fanciers looking forward to the finished product. That material was put aside and we had quite a conversation and Nobby certainly had some tales to tell, a point that was discussed at length was getting the pigeons from across the water to this part of the Country.

This was a topic l discussed with Tony Haynes of Blamford a few years ago. Nobby pointed out the same problems and that it was even at Torbay and the Weymouth where Tony lives. Tony was telling us about getting the pigeons from across the channel and particularly Guernsey on this occasion where they just would not come across. This was echoed in this conversation that the pigeons come wide out of the area and do more often than not come back to them going right round the bay. Talking about actually getting a pigeon to cross the bay I was telling them about John Hodgson getting his birds to cross the bay up in to Annan and how he eventually got them to cross the bay. It is only with experience over the water in a short stretch that will gain the confidence of the pigeons. The only problem is to tempt them to come across that stretch of water which is a long way round for Morecambe bay for a training toss of not many miles. That time on the road paid off for John in the end, if that is the problem here why they cant get them to cross this bay, if one can do there must be a way for another.

Next morning I looked out of the window and the weather was certainly different than yesterday mist well out to sea and very low cloud with a little rain we were hoping that it would stop falling for when we go over to see Nobby. We were told during a conversation that Roy and Audrey Bishop are only around in their shop known as "The Pigeon Fancier". This was the ideal opportunity to look up someone that we had not seen for many years so when they opened up at 10am we went round to see them for a short stay to see how they are getting on and have a look at the shop. When I first started writing in the gazette it was for Roy and Audrey, and they encouraged me, and gave me the opportunity to get about, and write on individual fanciers. Anyway we had a good chat, and made a promise that next time we were in the area, we would give them plenty of notice so that we could call in at their house and see their team of racers. It was then on to see Nobby & Michael who answered a few questions for us and how to the point they were.

Q. When did you first start to race pigeons.
A. (Nobby) I joined the club when l was 6 years old that is 62 yrs ago and at that time we had a junior section and there were 74 senior members and 25 junior members. (Michael) l am 3 1/2 yrs younger than Nobby and l started when the club went into Newton Abbot to the Railway Hotel to do the basketing. They changed the way they used to basket and that was in 1947 that is the first year that l was an equal partner. We stayed like that until 1971 when the decision was made to race our birds separately which did in fact lead to us as two individual lofts winning more than we had previously done with our other system. The change really did make a difference because we were now clocking to two separate lofts and if one loft didn't win the other would so we were better off.

Q. What about your lofts.
A. (Nobby) I use creosote and lime only in the lofts and all boxes are removable but l only use 6 boxes and there are 16 below but I only use 9 of those. I like plenty of ventilation and light in the lofts. (Michael) I have an L shaped loft some 53ft in length and like Nobby I use lime and creosote throughout the lofts and we both trap through traps. My loft is breeze block and reclaimed timber and the pigeons have performed well to so I am happy. Les. I must admit that the lofts were a pleasure to be in and Nobby's loft was like a tunnel of fresh air, it drifted through all ways but the birds were happy. The one thing was that they did not have to sit in a draft because all the air circulated and the birds were in their boxes so went across the front of them.

Q. Did you also go your own way regarding the strains that you raced.
A. From the actual breeding side of it we are still like partners we still race the same family of pigeon which are the Dordins.

Q. Are they pure.
A. No there is no such a thing, how can you keep interbreeding for 30 yrs, you would end up with deformed pigeons that are not going to perform. They will lose their shape and not conform to the standard that we expect of our birds. Pigeons are the same as people you have to be careful with breeding, they can be pure, what you would do is to bring in pigeons of the same family but different lines. You could bring some in from say Australia but still a Dordin then cross in into your existing family. You can do this but to say you can keep the family pure its just not on but if they are a Dordin cross they are still a Dordin (Michael) Yes but as Nobby has always said Dordin himself brought the crosses into his family they then became his name in the same way that all Belgians do it. Almost in the same way as George Busschaert he would go to a sale and buy 20 pigeons and as soon as he had paid for them they were Busschaert's regardless of who bred them. I went to several sales that he attended and when he was in p/ship with Gil Duncan it was the best of the Busschaert's. In his partnership with Gil they raced over here but them George moved back to a new Million Pound loft in Belgium and failed to make his presence felt but he was disadvantaged. He didn't last long out there. They were then sold and Tony Cowan helped the Busschaert sale in fact he had previously owned those birds. Going back to the original question, yes l have tried the Stichlebauts and as l have said before l soon wiped then out they just wont fly the water. To the pigeon fancier they would be the ideal racing pigeon but didn't have the constitution to fly that water.

Q. How do you both find racing living so close to the channel.
A. Short distance channel racing is no problem to Guernsey. One year l had 18 youngsters from the 13 pairs none from the Dordins because the cock was over in Holland we sent to Guernsey with the Dover & Cornwall Continental race only 21 birds home in race time 15 of which were mine. Everybody said well that is it the Stichlebauts are the family of birds to have but send them across the water to France forget it. It wasn't that they came home late they just never came home they have never returned l have bred off them pigeons for 6 seasons 5 yrs for 13 pairs of birds l have never had one pigeon left in the loft they were not up to it at all.

Q. Why do you think that is when the family has such a good name in the longer races into say Holland.
A. Because they are pigeons that are raced on land. They go on about pigeons and generalise about pigeons, talk about the Dordins, our management is nil, a chap of your height (Les) wouldn't be able to get into my loft for the pigeon muck as it would be near the top. That is no joke the JCB came once a year to clean the loft and yet my birds would go to the show and win best in show and best opposite sex rosette's galore. The loft is only cleaned out once or twice a year it was cleaned out for your visit Les and l got 20 bags from there you will see them when you when you go to the loft. (Les). We saw the bags and the pigeons who looked as healthy and good as any fancier could wish, they obviously like the natural feeling around them. Let's face it they do not get cleaned out in the wild everyday. A local wagon will take them when he comes this week so in that case its down to the pigeons not down to the management. It's like widowhood l would not even consider the system and yes we both fly natural. Widowhood is not a sport, what happens now is you have got the build up of the sprint culture races 50-60 miles races. Then people making there name out of selling pigeons make a commercial thing of it when selling pigeons on the strength that they may have won 20 or so 1sts. Then some are duplicated 2 or 3 times so the standard of pigeons in many lofts has just gone down and down. These Dordins will win land or channel, oh yes we first raced them on the north road because l had been on to the Nat flying club but we didn't have marking stations my birds had to go to Reading. I was working away l would have to drive home Wednesday basket birds then drive back to Reading drop off my clock at the clock station. l used Cabrlly to have my clock set a 400 mile round trip because we didn't have a central club in our area and l was very keen. l think it should be written into the laws that RPRA fanciers should be committed to the sport and fed to progress to fly international races. Far too many fanciers restrict themselves to club race's, that is ruining the sport because they are sending 50 birds up the road 80 miles timing in the first 10 and the up and coming fanciers are getting disheartened so they pack up.

I had previously heard a comment so I had to ask the following question because this relates to a lot of fanciers around the Country.

Q. How do you rate your pigeons.
A. (Michael) When l won the y/b Nat one of our club members who has now passed away said to Nobby he had seen a batch of 400 going over dropping out everywhere. (Nobby) Well where they went I have no idea they must have disappeared because Michael was miles in front. The next bird to Michael's was 15 mins behind and that was in Bristol there were no pigeons about. (Michael) Like Nobby's bird when he was 8th open in the Nat the next to him was 200 miles east the bird was completely on his own. David May pointed out that what made this that bit more special was the fact that this was the fancied pigeon, the one that was pooled and won L2005. l have got two performances of my loft when l raced in the Wales and West y/b race Nantes 250mls to us called the Cabanna Sponsored by a drinks firm. l sent 2 birds it was a West gale so l thought they would disappear and l would never see them again. I stood in front of the bungalow and 2 birds came over the roof and one hit the first sputnik in the y/b section and caught himself on the corner and ended up in the old bird section he was blown over. One was a Blue and one was a Cheq and l had sent these colours, then suddenly realised that the Cheq was my pigeon. In the end l got the bird in and timed it Brian Shepperd in Wiltshire had 8 in the first 12 and one bloke in Bristol and l was beaten by 1yd a min and l won the T V Video and all pools L250. (Les) They are obviously very good pigeons. We have always been pleased with the pigeons and it is reflected in the fanciers who have had them from us over the years.

Q. I hear you like to give pigeons to Charity, do you get any feedback from these sales.
A. l have 30 rings per year and our club are always wanting babies for the club sales and over the years they have made plenty of money. In 1976 l took two youngsters to a sale that Jimmy Saville organised for the spina biffida and on the Sunday morning l got in the car and travelled up to Rugby with these two youngsters. There was some good Dordins put in the sale but ours made L350 each which was L100 more than other Dordins in the sale from top lofts. If you track down the line of these birds you will find that they are the best Dordin you could every have had. Going back to the question, yes we have always supported charities because it is good for the sport.

Q. How many birds do you keep.
A. (Nobby) I keep 12 racers 4 pairs in the stock loft and I generally pair up on the 10th March, l have 2 sections cocks in one hens in another and three sections empty. I have 3 sections at the top and 2 sections at the bottom, stock birds are in the far end of the section and up until this the last couple of years they all went out. I had the Australian pigeons 12 months ago and normally all pigeons fly out l take no prisoners. Now I didn't let these birds out it would have been suicidal. Besides the 3prs of Australian Dordins, there was a son and daughter of the 1st National cock that fly out. They are all in the y.b section now but when I pair up they will be removed to the centre section where they will go to nest. I have 12 boxes but only use 6 and when the y/bs are ready they go in the other side where there are plenty of perches I hardly have any pigeons in the loft compared to the space which they have.

Q. Do you do much training.
A. I only train down to the beach Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday evening two and a half miles by road where I stand on the wall, they fly over the river and straight into the loft then to the y/b National. The birds have never had top management, my birds are picked up not for the race but just to train. When they went over to France my 5 birds were back 20 mins before my neighbours who is a keen fancier and my birds were just training not racing in the race.

Q. With being so close to the coast do you race North or South.
A. We used to race North Road but in 1981 joined the National FC so I switched them around keeping some of the them which had been on the North road constantly, the old ones 2 - 3 - 4 year olds because they could not do anything it was a nondescript.

Q. Do you use any medication.
A. None at all selection of the strong is the only way that's how we were brought up checking the birds 4 to 6 to 8 weeks if no good then they had to go its the only way. All the medication that was available then was pigeon tonic and not all this medication that is on this market today. (Michael) If you look in Nobby's loft there is a 3rd open Nat winner about 9 years old happy to be in the aviary, she went a bit off colour but has been in the aviary ever since. I could have dosed here up with all sorts but didn't I just put in the aviary. I used to give then Johnson's tonic but not anymore they are vaccinated only and then I stick to the old system of common water and use grit. As I pointed out earlier on people have become slaves to their birds and l agree with them that the success they get is for 365 days of the year. Now if l was to work with them for 365 days l would want more than a 60 to 80 mile race you need to get some satisfaction out of the racing and you cannot get it from those type of races. You get fanciers winning 20 club races per year but they don't send in the National they say that they are not interested in the money. All the supplements you give to the pigeons is like seeing a lady without her make up first thing in the morning. By giving your birds these supplements it only flatters to deceive, as long as the bird can perform naturally in other peoples loft then you don't need any supplements.

Q. What about your management.
A. What management, our management is not up to scratch at all, you could call it none management and if we were running a factory we would probably be bankrupt by now. How about management of pigeons well it should be a pleasure not a chore the least time you can be with them the better the more natural they can be the better. I don't spend anymore than 10min a day with my pigeon's change the water when the drinkers are empty. Both our lofts are cleaned out maybe once a year green algae on the side l have one feeder in the stock bird section and the y/b are fed on the floor. I thought I have lost one of my best hens to the hawk then when l looked again she had gone and laid eggs behind the pigeon muck underneath the bottom of the box. She had 2 babies and l thought she was missing she was well out of the way and the pigeon muck was half way up the boxes where she had gone. When David Bayman came to take photos of the National winner he was on the top perches that was 2" thick, I had to scrap it before the photo could be taken. ( Nobby is 68 and Michael 64). Everything is made easy and the birds are exercised around home with and with pigeons fanciers lung we should have been dead years ago even the birds should be in a heap. But it is not like that at all everything we have done is natural, we have done it all very naturally, we have never had any other system so that must be taken in to account when you are talking to motivation for birds.

Q. What makes a Champion pigeon or pigeon man.
A. Every year there are new National champions created overseas if you talk to my mate Dave May he will tell you he went to the continent in 1966 on a trip to one of those loft visiting organised trips. He was in one of those big hotels when his father in law was taken ill so he didn't want to leave his wife on her own. So the rest of the party went off on their journey to visit the lofts and he stayed in the hotel with his wife. The waiter in the hotel said "You have not gone on the trip" he said "No as my wife's father has been taken ill and l would not leave here all day". The waiter said "My mate who lives down the road is a pigeon man why don't you pop down and have a word with him". So the wife said "Yes go down and have a hour or so". So down he went and came out with 6 of his chaps young ones and 2 years later he won the Nat and International. I knew I had some good stuff here because one of the pigeons was sire to one of the International pigeons and also the sire of the youngster we have here. A few years later he went back over to visit him and Bob stayed in the same hotel we called in to see him and to tell him how well the birds are doing. When he let me in through the front door we went through to the back garden where l expected to see a 12ft loft. To my amazement there stood a 2 story loft made out of reclaimed material, tiled roof the lot as if it had been there for 100 years. He was taken on one side and asked who built this, he said "Well if you win the National over here this is what happens". By this time he had 100 or so pigeons in the loft, how he produced that many birds in that time l don't know. He was asked "Are you selling the birds" he replied "Yes l am selling them to Taiwan for a lot of money". What I am getting at is if you had not seen the loft he had before the 2 story one you would think the new reclaimed loft had been standing between 60 and 80 years it was brilliant.. The ironic part of this is years ago all we did was give birds away and l mean give them or loan them out knowing you will never see them again, that is not the case today because there is too much money involved. The happy friendly atmosphere has gone and how nice it would be to see it return.

I must say it was a pleasure to see and visit these lofts because both Nobby and Michael have an open view and are happy just to race their own pigeons. However Nobby does have strong views and is a firm believer in the National FC where they can compete against the best in the Country, that is why Nobby is a member the NFC committee.

There were a lot of areas covered during our conversation that I have on tape, they are the stories that Elizabeth and myself hear on many occasion's but generally leave out of the articles for one reason or another. I was talking to an elderly member of the sport a few years ago who had similar views and I asked if could use them and he replied. "Those views are for you to learn from in your position as a writer for the sport, what you must do most of all is keep control of your articles because if you do not then they will not be worth reading". These views came home to me after a couple of things that have cropped up over this article. Life is a learning process and some will never learn, Nobby & Michael have and used it well. A great visit to two very knowledgeable fanciers in the sport who have seen and done a lot and we look forward to seeing them again in the near future.

By SUE DICKENS

Unbeknownst to many, except those directly involved, there is a silent flock of feathered athletes in the skies overhead on any given weekend as racing pigeon fanciers test the mettle of their birds.

"Pigeon racing is the sport of one starting line and a thousand finish lines," said Naomi Armstrong, special event coordinator with the Canadian Racing Pigeon Union.

For some owners of racing pigeons it is all about the competition, for others it is about the fun of having a hobby that can be done from the comfort of one's home (and loft). Ashley Berwick of Picton has had racing homers (homing pigeons) on and off since 1962. He has close to 100 birds in a loft at his home. As a member of the Tri-County Flyers, his birds often race with those of other clubs nearby such as the Quinte Racing Pigeon Club.

The sport itself, in Canada, is made up of clubs, combines, concourses, associations, federations and national organizations.

There is one national organization for all racing pigeons in Canada known as the "CU" which was founded in 1929. The CU issues club charters to groups who have a minimum of five members. The national organization sets uniform rules of conduct and where necessary, national race rules.

"My group of birds is part of the Eastern Ontario Combine," said Berwick.

Young birds such as his are being trailered to places like Kingston, where they are released and their trip home is timed. This is taking place during the next seven weekends.

At the moment it is the younger birds that are being flown, those born after January 2010.

The older birds had their turn earlier this year and are taken as far north as Englehart and Cochrane. "We fly the older birds up to 600 miles," said Berwick. The younger birds are flown about 350 miles, after weeks of rigorous training with gradual increases in the distances so they can build up their muscles.

"We train the young birds this way. They already know how to home. We condition them like an athlete that does a triathlon -- we build up their endurance," he explained.

Each bird is banded with information about the club and the bird's owner.

An electronic clocking system is often used and the bird is outfitted with a sensor in many cases so when it comes back to the loft its time of return is recorded.

"It's all about time over distance," he explained.

"My racing homers are bred for intelligence, not looks," said Berwick. "I don't care what they look like if they can fly really fast. Some birds can get up to 72 mph with a tailwind, but their average speed is 60 mph."

But he does admit that these birds are his pets as well.

These birds can fly as long as 15 hours and those that get lost or sidetracked often spend a couple of days resting up before heading home.

Last weekend, a number of young racing pigeons were taken to Bissett Creek, the northeast edge of Algonquin Provincial Park on the Ottawa River and they had a 165-mile flight home, which the birds' owners said took about 3 1/2 hours.

Martin Woodyatt, 70, is another pigeon fancier in the county and has about 60 older birds and 60 young ones and he is busy racing them, too, alongside Berwick's. In fact they take turns doing training runs with the younger birds.

"Every fancier has a different method of training ... which makes it a fun hobby and we like to compete with each other," said Woodyatt.

"I enjoy the fact that these birds have total freedom -- once you let them out they can go if they want to -- you let them out and they get attached to your loft and you and they come back to you. It's that thrill that these birds come back after 300-400 miles of flight," he added.

"It is a fascinating hobby and there is a complete cross section of people in it. Some of these birds can cost $1,000 and more you know," he concluded.

For more information check out Armstrong's blogspot for beginners: http://mybeginningswithracingpigeons.blogspot.com/andto learn more about the sport go to www.crpu.ca

EDITOR'S NOTE:The article was the result of this writer finding a racing pigeon on her neighbour's rooftop, where it remained for a couple of days before refuelling and heading home. This can happen with young birds that are racing, especially if they get tired and dehydrated and, as a result, become disoriented and lose their sense of direction. They have to find water, rest and are then usually able to find their way home. This particular bird was gone within two days.

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