Peter..... As an ex pigeon-fancier and one-time keeper of Racing Pigeons I
can tell you that most members of this fraternity (at least the ones I know)
adopt a "survival of the fittest" attitude towards their birds. They expect
to lose a percentage of birds to raptors (both in training and during races)
and don't waste time venting their anger on them. Keepers of racing pigeons
are constantly weeding out weaker birds from their flocks, and regard the
forces of nature as just another method of doing that. Birds that don't make
it home for whatever reason are usually unwanted....For example, stray birds
that end up in your own flock are almost never wanted by the owners when you
try to return them. In other words it's the birds that don't get picked up
by the raptors that are of most value to them. High value birds that have
proved themselves in races, and that are used for breeding are never let
out. Having said that, of course it's possible that a champion bird could be
picked off by a falcon during a race. But the fanciers constantly lose birds
for all sorts of reasons, and its just part & parcel of owning a flock of
racing pigeons.
Cheers Steve Murray
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Peter Shute
Sent: Friday, 30 May 2008 11:27 AM
To: L&L Knight; Birding Aus
Subject: Another case of the tension between raptors
andbirdfanciers
Free flying pet pigeons and raptors are simply incompatible. My
neighbour has had to keep his flock locked up permanently after a Brown
Goshawk continually followed them into their cage, and when shooed out
would simply sit on the house roof, waiting. I counted 5 raptor species
hanging around one day, it was great.
Peter Shute
wrote on Friday, 30 May 2008 11:13 AM:
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4029413.ece
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