There used to be a racing pigeon flock in Lyons and they used to be let out every now and then and circle the suburb before returning to the base.
They disappeared some years ago.
Alan
From: Con Boekel [
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2019 3:40 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Feral Pigeons
Geoffrey
I believe that over time more and more birds as a proportion of the flock have tended to carry the original Rock Dove colour scheme. I also have a hunch that dark greys and particularly whites are the last bred colours to survive in flocks - with the white
lasting longest on the rumps. This could easily be wrong, statistically speaking.
Formerly there used to be an irregular influx of racing pigeons associating with the local flocks - generally one at a time and generally only for a short time. These birds generally had rakish colour schemes - not very Rock Dovish.
IMO, these birds were also noticeably larger than the local birds.
It is years since I have seen a 'lost' racer.
Apart from the JWNR paddock flock, I used to see regular flights of pure white birds around JWNR. I only ever saw them in flight. These were fast and generally flew high - almost certainly loft birds. They did not deign to associate with the motley scruffies
of the JWNR paddock flock. They sometimes seemed to lose height somewhere in the vicinity of old rail yards or perhaps beyond. It is a while since I have seen the white flock.
regards
Con
On 8/30/2019 2:43 PM, Geoffrey Dabb wrote:
Thanks for all the helpful responses to my request - from well over 20 individuals. Please excuse me for not acknowledging each individually. The responses have drawn attention
to the role of bridges and overpasses throughout the suburbs, of which there are probably hundreds suitable for occupation by pigeons. On the other hand, some types of structure have no ledges or apertures at all. I had a look at Tuggeranong this morning
and particularly noted the pedestrian walkway over Erindale Drive. This harboured 2 kinds of tenants (below).
One other thing. If anyone has any local information on the proportions of the different colour variations over time, I’d be very interested to hear about that.
