Released In Fishkill, N.Y., Headed For Shelton––

Rookie Homing Pigeon Makes Unscheduled Stop In Sandy Hook After Run-In With Hawk

By Dottie Evans

People involved in pigeon racing call it an honorable, inspirational, and all-consuming pastime with a historic tradition both here and abroad.

People not involved in this hobby –– especially those who find lost or injured racing birds in their backyards –– might call it controversial.

Concerning IF 2005 VPC 646, a blue-gray racing pigeon that landed with an injured leg and wing in Norma Pajk’s Jeremiah Road backyard on Sunday, July 24, everyone agrees on at least one thing. The bird had fallen victim to a hawk attack.

“My grandson was mowing the lawn when he spotted this pigeon standing there on the ground. It wouldn’t go away,” said Ms Pajk.

At first, she thought it was a mourning dove, but then she saw the two bands on its legs.

“I’ve got two dogs that wanted to go after it, but I knew it needed food and drinking water and time to heal.”

So she wasted no time scooping the bird up into her arms and carrying it into the house.

“It was very sweet, and I could tell it liked being held.”

After she and her grandson, Jeffrey Head, 12, put the pigeon in a dog crate and set it out on the front porch with food and water, Ms Pajk began trying to find out where the bird had come from. Her Internet searches turned up the American Racing Pigeon Union (ARPU), a nonprofit organization with 700 affiliated racing pigeon clubs around the United States and approximately 10,000 members.

The Valley Racing Pigeon Club (VPC) of Shelton was a nearby club that conducted races throughout the state of Connecticut with cash prizes up to $1,000 offered to the breeder/handlers whose birds come home with winning times.

“The numbers on the band indicated this was a young bird hatched in 2005,” she said.

After talking to VPC members, she was able to contact the owner by his ID number 646. When she described the injured bird, she was disappointed to find he did not want it back. A Valley Club member since 1990, he agreed it was probably a hawk that brought the bird down. Since it was on its first training flight, he did not think it could manage by itself in the wild.

“He said that the weak ones sometimes don’t make it. Only the strong survive, and it would be best if I let nature take its course. I was horrified. I just couldn’t let the poor thing go,” Ms Pajk said.

After a phone call to The Bee, contact was made with an animal rescue organization in Weston called Wildlife-In-Crisis, Inc, that agreed to take the bird and care for it. Two days later, on Tuesday, July 26, it was delivered into the hands of Jordan Simons, an animal caretaker at Wildlife-In-Crisis.

“It’s quite unfortunate because they’ve been bred in captivity so they lose their survival instincts. We receive many of these calls,” Ms Simons said.

A follow-up call was made two weeks later on Tuesday, August 9.

“The pigeon is doing very well and he’ll soon be back to health. He’s eating, and we will probably release him as soon as he can fly and is sturdy enough to perch. He’s not the only racing pigeon in our care,” said Jennifer, the staff member on duty that day in place of Ms Simons.

“Then I would expect he might fly back to his home in Shelton,” Jennifer said.

“Some do very well, and some don’t.”

Historically, the European sport of raising and racing homing pigeons was first introduced in this country in the 1860s, and the first American club consisting of local pigeon fanciers was started in the Philadelphia area in 1872. It is thought that pigeon racing is an offshoot from the use of homing pigeons on farms––first as a food source and then as messengers.

Today, a racing pigeon hobbyist maintains a “loft” of from 50 to 100 or more birds which he has personally bred and raised, or which he has purchased from other hobbyists. Two longtime members of the Valley Pigeon Club in Shelton were available for comment on this story.

Attorney Jon Spodnick of Trumbull is a passionate advocate for the sport of pigeon racing as an activity that his whole family enjoys and that he himself “puts an inordinate amount of time into.”

“These birds are bred and observed through many generations so that they have pedigrees, just like dogs and horses do,” he explained.

“They are born with an instinct to go home. By a certain age, say, at four weeks, they’ll be weaned and separated from their parents and will learn to eat on their own. Gradually, they use their wings to fly and get stronger as we allow them to go out around the loft –– we call it routing out. Often they fly at 50 miles an hour for one to two hours.

“At first they travel all through the neighborhood where they’re from, and we know where they are. They must be physically conditioned to handle greater distances before we can release them,” he added.

The first release could be at two miles, at 25 miles, or at 50 miles or more, depending upon the handler’s preference.

“Mine are like pets, and I spend a lot of time with them. I give them quality food and watch for parasites and disease. I’ve done it since I was a kid,” he said.

Steve Meyer, another member of the Shelton club, said most hobbyists are very dedicated and “absolutely love” their birds.

“We don’t shoot birds like hunters do,” he added.

“It’s a sport, and it keeps kids out of trouble. It’s something to do, and it saved us during the war. These are very intelligent birds. Their use goes back to the Egyptians,” Mr Meyer noted.

Commenting on the downed pigeon, he guessed it was probably a youngster just starting to train and a “wire or a hawk got him. Ninety percent of the time, it’s a hawk.”

“It’s the birds in training that get into trouble. The old ones usually make it home. They’ve been through everything already,” he said.

A mature racing pigeon might be released in Toledo, Ohio, then fly 600 miles to its home loft in Shelton.

“I got into this when I was 6 years old. A gentleman up the road from me in Stratford showed me all about it. Now I’ve got 150 birds, and I’m 28 years old. My loft looks like a hotel. In the winter, we don’t let them fly, but we keep them warm in their cages with food and water. We have to break up the males and females or we’d have too many birds,” he said.

For her part, Ms Pajk believes that more information about pigeon racing in this area should be available to the general public, and that racing release dates should be announced.

“People could be watching out for them. Newtown is in the flight pattern. This isn’t the first time we’ve had one land in our yard. Last year, one came down and it wasn’t injured, but it was exhausted. We fed it and gave it water and rest, and it flew away.

“If they can heal themselves, they will go home.”

(To provide temporary care, or to find the owner of a lost pigeon, check its leg band and visit appropriate websites. AU (American Racing Pigeon Union) is a national organization registering birds at www.pigeon.org/lostbirdinfo.htm. IF (International Federation of Pigeon Fanciers) registers band lists at www.ifpigeon.com.)