What do Jimmie Smits, Genghis Khan, and the Reuters News Agency have in common? How is a city rooftop like a fancy restaurant? What connects ancient Uruk, 1850s Paris and a downed World War II flier? And most unlikely, how is a Victoria’s Secret model like a paratrooper?

Don’t pull our newspaper over your head and run for cover, but it’s the pigeon. Or more specifically, the connections are pigeon keepers, pigeon eaters and pigeon messengers. (OK, the Victoria’s Secret/paratrooper deal is a bit more complicated, but I’ll get to that later.)

This most recent episode of my life’s education began on a pretty afternoon off N.C. 209 outside Waynesville, where I met Bill Mackey, an unassuming fellow with a southernised yet distinctly New England mother tongue. He took me inside a small blue barn and nonchalantly pointed to what is likely the only breeding pair of Almond Baldhead Shortface Tumblers in existence.

Raising pigeons is not especially complicated: basically, they need feed, grit, charcoal and water. But for the next hour I scribbled furiously as with a gentle slipperiness he ranged through more material than I could absorb - from genetics to animal psychology to ancient history and beyond - all filtered through the wisdom and experience of middle age, yet flavored by the still-mystified enthusiasm of the 10-year-old boy who caught his first pigeons in a Boston livery stable.

And that simple encounter set me on a fascinating journey of web and library research, amassing much more material than I can present here, yet barely a smidgen of the story that deserves to be told.
Except for Antarctica, pigeons inhabit every land mass on the planet. Domesticated for food by the first civilization (Sumeria), the pigeon and man have shared a closely intertwined history, especially in the area of communications.

A strong flier, the pigeon can cover as many as 500 miles a day at 50 miles per hour, in part because its respiratory capacity is twice that of comparable-sized animals. Also, during flight the bird can take in more than twice the oxygen needed for metabolism, enabling it to maintain body temperature despite severe wind chill.

With this ability, plus a still-unexplained penchant for getting home from anywhere, pigeons have delivered onsite news from such events as the Greek Olympic Games, the campaigns of Mongol hordes, and the fields of Waterloo. In the Middle Ages, the Arabs became experts at breeding and raising homing birds, and in Baghdad established the first “air mail” postal service. In 1850, Reuters, the first major news service, used pigeons to deliver Paris stock market results. And in 1898, a country doctor writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested using pigeons to obtain condition updates on far-flung patients.

World War I brought a veritable explosion in use of pigeon messengers, as armies advanced and retreated beyond reach of field telephones. Some pigeons were even outfitted with cameras for aerial reconnaissance. So important was their role that soldiers instinctively shot at birds released by the enemy, and Lillie, France, hosts a memorial to the 20,000 pigeons killed in that war.

In October, 1918 a pigeon became the mascot of the U.S. Signal Corps when the 77th Division, the so-called “Lost Battalion,” had taken severe casualties, was surrounded by German forces, and was mistakenly being shelled by the Allies. Their sole remaining pigeon, Cher Ami, flew through a barrage of shrapnel and rifle fire to arrive at his loft severely wounded, but dangling - from what was left of his right leg - a message that led to the rescue of 194 soldiers. After recuperation and award of the Croix de Guerre, the bird sailed home a hero, personally attended at the dock by General Pershing.

In World War II, U.S. forces took advantage of the pigeon’s excellent eyesight (up to 10 miles, even in fog) and rare ability to see colors. Specially trained pigeons rode in the bellies of rescue planes, pecking a button upon spotting the orange survival vest of a downed pilot. And messenger pigeons were sent along with paratroopers in bassier-like “pigeon vests” produced by the Maidenform Company.

Homers were credited by the Royal Canadian Air Force for 14 percent of its air crew rescues. And of the 53 Dicken (animal) Medals for Gallantry awarded by Great Britain, 31 went to pigeons - including Mary, who in five years of service was wounded 22 times.

Today, though rarely used for communications, more pigeons are raised worldwide than any other domesticated animal. More prolific than rabbits, a single pair and its offspring can within two years produce as many as 150 birds. Also, pigeons are available in the most varieties of any animal - some 319 - which are organized into three general categories: utility (food), fancy (show), and sport (racing).
Prized for its flavor, tenderness and nutrition, pigeon (or squab) - about the size of a Cornish hen - is featured in gourmet restaurants. Atlanta’s Brasserie Le Coze lists stuffed squab with romangioli pasta and porcini squab jus for $23.

Show pigeons come in a bewildering array of sizes, colors, and adornments, many of which are works of art. For example, the Chinese Owl Pigeon is beautifully banded, with feather “pants” and a high, fluffy collar. According to A Handbook of Fancy Pigeons, “from the front, a good Chinese appears like a feathered ball.”

Pigeon racing began in 1818 in Belgium, which remains the recognized capital of pigeoneering. Nearly 30 million homing pigeons are raised there annually, and racing bets are handled through parlors, where winnings can exceed $25,000.

Though long used in psychological studies, recent evidence shows that pigeons may offer direct therapeutic help. Bill has sent several pairs to a psychologist in Ohio, who found them to have a soothing influence on self-destructive autistic children.

And despite its tremendous contribution, the pigeon at the unthinking hand of man sparked the U.S. conservation movement. Passenger Pigeons lived in North America by the billions, their migrating flocks darkening the sky for days. But during the westward expansion of the 1800s, these birds were slaughtered wholesale for shipment to city markets. And, adding final tragedy to the story, the last known Passenger Pigeon was sighted in 1914 by an Ohio farm boy who, because it was different from the other birds, killed it to get a closer look.

Today, enthusiasm for pigeon husbandry has dwindled somewhat, largely due to society’s focus on instant gratification and the popularity of other pets. But pigeons are easy to raise, inexpensive, affectionate and in Bill’s words, “nearly indestructible.”

The Western North Carolina Pigeon and Dove Association promotes pigeons at every opportunity. The group not only sponsors races and exhibits (including the state fair and its own show each December), but offers elementary school programs and contributes a festive flair with bird releases at public events such as Folkmoot and Greening Up the Mountains.

Yet the impression I carried home from Bill’s barn, and the unmistakable thrust inherent in all I encountered from other pigeoneers, was one of admiration and love. And not so much for the sport or the hobby, but for the bird.

Maybe the feeling runs both ways.

In his 1992 book Pigeon Gas, Bill Cowell, perhaps the most quoted writer on pigeon racing, describes pigeons as “independent creatures, which can turn their back on man and exist quite happily without him, yet will almost kill themselves to get back to his side if they love him enough - and some of them do.”

(For more information, contact: Western North Carolina Pigeon and Dove Association. Rodney Hendricks, 828.254.2327 or Bill Mackey at 452.9575. Recommended reading: Oldest Feathered Friend (video), narrated by Jimmie Smits; Marathon in the Sky (video), narrated by Michael Landon; The Pigeon in History (book), by Jean Hansell; Birds of War (video, soon to be released); A Pigeon Resume (www.suite101.com/article.cfm/-5616/55670), by Thomas Morgan ; Pigeon Paradise (www.pigeonparadise.com), links to pigeon sites)

 

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