Subject: Racing Pigeons?
Date: Jul 11 07:39:49 2002
From: Greg Toffic - greg.toffic at zoo.org


Jamie,
Go to the website below for the American Racing Pigeon Union, then open the AU Bandlist folder and click on AU Band listings, then scroll down to SKI and you will find out the name and phone number of the owner in Woodinville.
http://www.arpu.org
Greg Toffic


>>> Jamie Acker <biowler1 at juno.com> 07/10/02 05:37PM >>>
Tweeters,
At about 1:30 this afternoon I noticed about a half dozen pigeons flying
northeast over my house on Bainbridge Island. I thought this unusual, in
that I had never seen pigeons here before, except for the band-tailed
type. Later, I received a phone call from a woman who said she had a
pigeon in her yard that was banded on each leg. I went and looked at the
bird.
It appears to be a racing pigeon. It has a green plastic band on its
right leg that is not cylindrical, and is a snap on design. It has the
letters "BR 2" on it. The left leg band is white, and is cylidrical with
a clear plastic coat. It reads "422 AU SKI 2002", with the "AU" over
the "SKI". The band is placed upside down. (Don't you just hate that?)

If anyone out there knows of a pigeon owner, race, or has any knowlege or
connections, please respond. The bird is obviously lost, and while the
woman has fed it, the bird keeps looking to enter the windows of her
home, like they are an entrance to a dove cove. She would like to see the
bird returned to its owner.


For those interested,
A shaggy dog sea story regarding racing pigeons:

While in the Navy, I had an experience with a bird onboard. I was the
Officer of the Deck on a recently surfaced submarine, cruising northeast
up the English Channel, looking for the entrance to Portsmouth harbor, in
a hazy fog. The lookout and I were sorting and dodging through all the
surface traffic while the Navigator in the control room was trying to get
a navigational fix to determine our position so that he could recommend a
course to bring us into the harbor. We had a poor idea of where we were.
Anyway, during all the confusion, I started noticing that there were a
bunch of pigeons flying past, from France to England, one of which landed
on the bridge windshield, totally exhausted. For the next half hour, the
pigeon sat there while I called for some water and sunflower seeds to be
sent up. I also noticed that this pigeon was very tame and banded with
several bands on each leg, which I figured indicated that this was a
racing pigeon (which obviously lost the race).
Suddenly, the pigeon took off over my left shoulder in a direct flight.
Just at that time, the Navigator called up, stating that he had obtained
a fix, and recommended a course to bring us onto the approach to
Portsmouth. I concurred with the Navigator's recommended course. It was
the same bearing that the pigeon had flown!

Jamie Acker
Bainbridge Island,WA
Biowler1 at juno.com


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