As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Don’t pigeonhole these birds


These pigeons are not the ones dragged in by the cat or picking at the garden. These pigeons are trained athletes on high-protein diets that fly up to 500 miles in a day to find their way home.
“People don’t realize how important they still are,” local pigeon racer and farmer Jerry Donaldson recently told the Grand Junction City Council while explaining the history of carrier pigeons used in the military and noting that some have even received medals of honor. “They are hero pigeons.”
Donaldson is part of a passionate local club that participates in the longtime, worldwide sport of pigeon racing — a group city officials only discovered after an update of the city’s land-use code in 2010.

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