Canadian Racing Pigeon ~ Banded Homing Pigeons

Banded Pigeons are Racing Pigeons -- Numbers, etc track birds to owners

From time to time, I glanced out the window to see this pigeon still perched on the balcony railing.

He was still there after dinner.

He didn't appear at all distressed, and so I thought he'd leave when he was ready.

All I knew was that 'if you don't want pigeons, don't feed them.'

I noticed he had bands around his 'ankles' but didn't really pay much attention.

But when that evening I found him hunkered down on the cement, I knew he was not a well bird.

I took him a cup of water, and he drank right away; I finally went online to find out what I could about banded pigeons.

Sunlight shows Racing Pigeon Paul's gorgeous plummage

The top search result was the web site for the National Wildlife Research Centre Govt of Canada, with a link to the Canadian Racing Pigeon Union.

I sent off a message asking Now what? and read a few forums about racing pigeons that said 'Don't feed them or they won't leave.'

The CRPU site now has a very good page on how to care for a found pigeon - Thanks!!

Shannon at the CRPU sent an email the next morning, saying please do feed him, and can you get his ID tag info so we can try and trace.

Paul did indeed have an owner, and with my permission, the CRPU gave him my contact info.

A fellow named Jim called me, from the Welland, Ontario, area saying he was missing a few pigeons who hadn't returned from a race and could I describe him. I had never really looked that closely at a pigeon before, and came up a bit short. That's when I started taking pictures of this pigeon.

Paul the Pigeon's dinner service - Grains (raw) Rice, Corn, Split peas, Barley

This is Paul the pigeon's food service: I had several types of grains on hand, and set out some dried corn, peas, rice, oatmeal, red rice and barley.

Paul seemed to particularly like the barley.

Once, he walked over to his dish, tapped at it, then pecked at a few stray barley grains on the ground and went back and forth from his dish to me.

I looked at his dish -- no barley. I added more and he went right to it. Who says birds can't communicate? Not I!

I kept his food dishes small and out of sight of other birds like seagulls.

Canadian Racing Pigeon Tests his wings on Balcony window ledge

Paul's owner explained racing pigeons are homing pigeons.

These birds are trained to come home, he said, and once 'Paul' had rested and recovered, he  would do a test flight or two, and watch for a good flying day then head for home.

A good flying day means clear weather, with favourable winds, in Paul's case, from the north.

For the next week or so, Paul continued to eat and sleep, with occasional forays onto ledges and railings.

He was alert to birds flying over head, and squirrels and dogs, etc on the ground below.

Corner of apartment balcony roost for Canadian racing pigeon

Paul rested and slept in the front corner of the balcony, protected on 3 sides, with a view to the ground below, and the skies above.

His owner said Paul would  appreciate some bedding and a bath, and I set out both.

But only once did Paul set a spell on the blanket, and I never did see him use his bath.

Whenever I came out to the balcony, there would be Paul:

Eating, sleeping, walking about, on the railing or the window ledge.

A well-mannered bird, as neat as many a houseguest has been. No noises, save when he was on a short haul flight from floor to railing or window ledge.

I got used to his being there, and invited no one else to visit while he was still here. Only once did it rain hard enough at night for him to move away from this roosting spot.

Racing Pigeon  checks the weather before heading for home.

The weather stayed hot with several storms over the next two weeks.

Here's  my video of storm earlier on the Saturday that I took this photo of Paul, who'd gone onto the railing once the storm passed.

"Paul," I said to him, "tomorrow is a good day for flying. It's been two weeks, now, and your mate misses you."

Sunday morning indeed dawned clear and calm.

When I went out to give Paul his breakfast around 8 a.m., I found him already on the railing, scanning the skies.

As I turned my back to place his food down, I hear a squawk and wings beating: Paul was off, flapping away, over the treetops towards the lake.

I must confess I felt the prick of tears in my eyes. I tried to follow his flight path, but lost sight of him fairly soon. I waited until after noon to call his owner to say Paul had left for home. I cleaned up the balcony and put away Paul's food dishes, balnket and bath, and moved my planters around.

Mid-afternoon, I'm sitting on the balcony, admiring my handiwork, when Paul walks out from behind a planter. The look on his face pretty much said: "WTH? I go out for a few hours and you get rid of my stuff?"

Back came the food and water dishes, and Paul tucked in. I called his owner to say,"False Alarm: Must have been one of those 'test flights' you mentioned."

Paul looked a llittle tuckered out, and spent the rest of Sunday and all of Monday resting.

So when, on Tuesday morning, another fine flying day, I took out his breakfast to find him gone, I left his stuff where it was, and waited.

Just before noon, his owner rang, and asked, "So how's our bird today? How's Paulie?"

I explained he'd been gone for at least 4 hours, but I had held off phoning in case he came back again.

"No, he's here. He flew in with another flock a few hours ago. He's down a bit and doesn't look like he had a good flight, but a few days' rest and he'll be fine."

It's taken me a month to post the story of my summer balcony guest:
I felt like I'd lost a pet. Such a good bird, not any trouble at all. As Shannon, at CRPU remarked, "Pigeons are very well-mannered birds. I think sometimes they are better-mannered than my kids!"

I agree, and certainly better mannered than a parrot. And for the record, Paul's droppings, once dried, vacuumed up nicely. All that's left of his visit are a few grains of dried peas under the planters, and my pictures and a short video.

And yes, I will take his owner up on that offer of a drink when I am in the area, though really, having a racing pigeon for a few weeks was no trouble at all!

Video of Paul the Canadian Racing Pigeon

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Found  a Pigeon? See CRPU care and feeding page.