08/07/2006

The birds have the first race of the season under their belts. All birds went to the race except a bird that is almost recovered from a broken leg, and one that had a pox mark on its eye.

I took 10, 24th-26^th and 34 in the classic race, with 66 birds competing. In the open race, I did not fare as well. I took 53^rd as the highest position with 256 birds competing. This is the club result; the combine results will be posted in a few days. 0038 and 0251 were first in each of their races.

http://www.twincityconcourse.us/

I lost one bird in the race, 0028 was not back as of dark Sunday evening.

I submitted my variance paperwork to the City today. I have been interviewed by KSTP news, the Eagan Sun Current, Minneapolis Star Tribune and St Paul Pioneer press in the past several weeks regarding the pigeons. It has been pretty hectic. I am the Gold Band Chair, and am also serving on the 2007 Midwest Convention Steering committee. Between those responsibilities and work, it’s a full time deal.

The young birds go on the training trailer twice a week, and I run the birds 30 miles by myself a day too. They are trapping very well. All are hitting the landing board on the drop if there is enough room.

The next race is again 100 miles. If the winds are better, I look forward to another enjoyable race.

08/20/2006

Of the birds that are left, most of them have had three races under their belt. All birds have been to at least one race. There were two birds this week on their first race.

Last weeks race was a 100-mile blow home. Speeds were in excess of 1700 YPM. I had many birds on the drop, and the race was over in a few minutes. This week’s race was a different story. Race speeds should be well less than 1000YPM, with the first release below 700 YPM. A lot of stress for a young bird.

We has a 150-mile smash. Many people did not get day birds. The second release was home approximately two hours before the first release. After 12 hours of race time (dark), I had 23 of 36 birds shipped. I had a lot more birds home than many others. I expect to get a few more in today and throughout the week, but with the birds expending so much energy to fly all day, I suspect that my team will now be less than 25 birds.

I will post the results on the web, but do not be surprised if there are several of your birds missing.

I shipped every bird in the loft. Looking back, maybe I should have skipped the race. I do feel it is important to get the birds in as many races as possible, but maybe next year I will shoot for just three blue-bird races before the big race. I will see how these birds remaining fare. I try to follow my general guideline, every bird that comes home in less than 8-hours time the previous week goes to the next week’s race.