In the past several weeks, I have written that it is best to select racing pigeons that will help you play the game well rather than hurt your chances of success - pigeons that will add to the quality in the loft rather than detract from the quality - pigeons that will provide enjoyment rather than pigeons that create headaches. I have also recently written that the primary criteria on which I select racing pigeons is intelligence. While I understand what I mean, I don't know if readers understand exactly what I am trying to express. Yesterday, something happened that may demonstrate these points very clearly.

I accidently left one of the interior doors in the breeder loft cracked slightly. An important female from Denis Sapin that has bred several excellent racers and breeders carefully slipped out of her section through the door that was slightly ajar. She then proceeded to find her way out of the breeder loft through a partially open window. She walked on top of the breeder loft for several hours before taking off into the blue skies over Lookout Mountain. After I discovered what had happened, I was convinced that I would never see her again. While she continued to fly high around the Ranch all day long, she stayed within the general air space of the loft never completely disappearing from sight. The female, BELG 05 1534721, was purchased from Sapin as a young bird, imported to America, and has never flown out of the loft. Consequently, I was amazed that she was strong enough to fly as high as she was flying for as long as she flew. Normally, imports that experience open loft for the first time after years of captivity are barely strong enough to fly from loft to loft - if they fly at all. But 721 flew off and on all day returning to the roof of the breeder loft to rest after every flight. Incredibly, since it appeared that she was lofted, I decided that I might be able to catch 721 after dark if she perched somewhere on the roof of the breeder loft that I could reach. I began to plan a strategy to catch her after darkness fell. At dusk, I went over to the breeder loft to locate 721 before dark. She was no longer sitting on the breeder loft nor was she flying in the air over the loft. In a slight panic, I quickly went inside the breeder loft. There sat 721 inside the breeder loft in an open nest box near the door of her loft section that I had previously shut tightly after finding it ajar. Evidently, she had re-entered the breeding loft through the cracked window from which she had exited earlier in the day.

I cannot begin to tell you the feelings I have for this female and how impressed I am with her as a homing pigeon. Her intelligence is off the chart. As I said before, she had already proved herself in the breeding loft. Not only have her children raced well, but a daughter raised 4 first or equal-first prize winners for a club mate in the 2007 young bird race series. In addition to her breeding ability, this remarkable female had now demonstrated her performance abilities by finding her way out of the breeder loft, playing in the blue Oklahoma skies over Lookout Mountain for the better part of a day, and returning to her loft section inside the breeder loft through the window portal from which she left. This is a pigeon that will definitely help my breeding loft. I didn't even need to crawl up on the breeder loft to catch her after dark. She made it very easy on me by easily finding her way back into her loft.

when I observe flighty, nervous, dumb, or hard-to-manage pigeons, I now think of 721. She is now one of my standards. Those pigeons that cannot match her reasoning abilities and incredible homing performance will not remain in the loft. Although historically these pigeons have not lasted long in the loft as a general rule, because of 721's recent performance, the selection bar has been raised even higher. I will continue to keep only those few amazing homers that make my personal hobby successful, fun and exciting. Only those pigeons that can match 721's intelligence will be kept to race and to breed. Fortunately, my friends from whom I purchase breeders have this same philosophy of selection as I do and have provided me with some of their most intelligent pigeons. Sapin has been no different. Thank you, Denis!

Last night I have the privilege of appearing on John Froelich's pigeontv.com. John and Tim interviewed me on the telephone for about 30 minutes. They host a live radio show on their website every Thursday night from 7:30 pm to 9 pm EST. I suggest that you tune in weekly. I think you will enjoy it very much.

One of the questions Tim asked me was "did I look for one particular physical attribute when selecting pigeons?" In retrospect, I didn't like my answer as I remember stating it. I think I said that there was no one single attribute that I look for when selecting pigeons. Here is a more complete answer to Tim's question.

I look for a very strong bird with a very strong back, tight vent, tail that goes down into a single pin (it doesn't fan out), wing size appropriate to body size, long thin primary flights on the 8, 9, and 10th flights, thick and smooth feathers - especially on the wing, a wide chest that doesn't "vee," a short arm bone, a nice head and wattle appropriate to the size of the bird, and a nice eye: the color of the pupil, the circle of correlation around the pupil, a small pupil when dilated, and a noticeable serrated muscle within the pupil. The pigeon must radiate super health. And, it must show grace and balance when moving around the loft or when released from the hand. All of these physical attributes compromise my idea of an excellent pigeon. I have heard that some fanciers look at the short feathering under the wing. They look for feathers that have blunt ends or squared off ends. I have heard of several other idiosyncratic preferences in pigeons.

As I have written before, the number one attribute that I look for in racing pigeons is intelligence. I mentioned this criteria on the show. One listener wrote a remark during the on-line chat that my answer was true - except he thought that it is very hard to determine the native intelligence of a pigeon. My response to his comment is as follows: while intelligence is often difficult to look for under some situations, it is easy to observe in other situations. For instance, if there are numerous pigeons packed into a large loft section fighting for a perch, then it may be extremely hard to determine the intelligence of any one pigeon in such a crowed group situation. In such a case, the obvious intelligence test is to look at which pigeons occupy the top perches. These pigeons may be several of the most aggressive and intelligent pigeons in the group.

There is a much better way to observe intelligence than simply trying to evaluate pigeons in a "mass" setting or a crowded group situation. Intelligence must be put to work individually or in small groups in order to observe the intelligence of each pigeon in the loft. The best way to observe a pigeon's intelligence is to observe it on a daily basis as it performs specific tasks. These tasks should take place in confined areas or small loft sections with box perches or preferably - nest boxes. Intelligence becomes easy to evaluate when subjects or pigeons are given tasks or asked to learn skills. Intelligence becomes visible when pigeons are asked to use it.

For instance, when hand feeding young birds on a clean scraped and swept floor, which pigeons eat first? Which pigeons come first when called? Which pigeons become the most tame the quickest - without coaxing or prodding? Which pigeons learn the hand-feeding procedure the easiest? Which pigeons allow their fear to block or stymie their intelligence? Which pigeons are not only willing to learn - but love to learn? Which pigeons help you perform your chores by cooperating quickly and easily? Which pigeons are difficult to manage? Which pigeons drink first when new water is provided? If they temporarily run out of water, which pigeons watch you and pace back and forth when they see you near their loft - trying to communicate to you that they need fresh water? Which pigeons talk to you through their body language and movements or gestures?

when placed in a new widowhood loft or a loft with box perches, which males take nest boxes immediately? Which males adjust and respond the fastest and the most consistently to the physical structure of the new loft? Which females couple the easiest?

These are only a very few examples of how to see a pigeon's intelligence at work. when you put pigeons to work performing varied tasks, their intelligence becomes quite observable and noticeable. Put your pigeons to work. You will learn a great deal about them and they will, in turn, learn a great deal about you and your expectations. Teach pigeons skill sets. when you do, their intelligence will become very apparent. And so will yours.

There are many reasons why fanciers play the racing pigeon game. All of them are very personal and involve the personalities of fanciers. when discussing the pigeon game, it is much easier to discuss the pigeons rather than the fanciers. Everyone feels qualified to discuss pigeons whether they have been in the sport a month or twenty years. It much harder and riskier to discuss fanciers. But let's do it anyway. To begin the discussion, it is important to ask of each fancier the following question: Why do you want to play the game? Based upon my experience, there are several primary personality types that play the game. Here are a few of them.

Fancier A - There are fanciers who play the game as a family hobby. These families are usually husband-wife or father-son teams. They play the game primarily to have fun together as a family involved in a common activity.

Fancier B - There are fanciers who play the game to socialize. These fanciers primarily want to enjoy the company of other people as part of their hobby.

Fancier C - There are fanciers who play the game because they love pigeons. These fanciers primarily play the game to enjoy the company of their pigeons.

Fancier D - There are fanciers who genuinely enjoy playing the racing pigeon game; "average" pigeon fanciers who simply enjoy the game as a hobby with all of its complexity and diversity.

Fancier E - There are fanciers who like to drink. Primarily in Belgium, there are fanciers who enjoy the club house pub or tavern and enjoy a couple (?) of beers on a regular basis.

Fancier F - There are fanciers who like to gamble. Pooling is an integral part of the sport all over the world. The thrill of combining money with racing performance is the primary reason these fanciers play the game - much like horse racing or dog racing. The more money they win - the more fun they have.

Fancier G - There are fanciers who like to think that they are besting or beating other competitors. These fanciers primarily enjoy the thrill of thinking that they are really beating other people in a game experience.

Fancier H - Fanciers do not often fit into one personality type; but may in fact be a combination of several personality types. For instance, Fancier H may be a combination of Fancier E, F and G. That is, they like to drink, gamble and beat other people. Or, a fancier may be a combination of E and B. That is, they like to drink and socialize.

As far as my personality type is concerned, I do not particularly enjoy racing pigeons as part of an organized game. I am not Fancier D. I am Fancier C - I love my pigeons. I love my "best" pigeons most. Organized pigeon racing for me is a necessary evil. It is a common way to test pigeons to determine which ones are the best racers. While I enjoy when a pigeon races well, beating others does not give me much pleasure. For me, pleasure comes from a pigeon's individual performance on a given day - and the "body of work" that a racing pigeon accumulates over its lifetime racing. For me, in the US, helping a pigeon achieve an AU Registered Championship or Elite Championship is the ultimate thrill of the game.

Recently, I sent in 6 applications for AU Championships. All 6 were approved: 3 champions and 3 elite champions. This week, I have sent another 7 applications to the AU office. It is my expectation that they will be approved in the next week. What that means is that since 2004, 13 widowhood males will have achieved their AU Championships. That's 13 champions in 4 years!!! In light of this statistic, is there any doubt that the Jacops pigeons are great racing pigeons? Is there any doubt that Antoine Jacops and his management methods are not effective? Further, there were a number of excellent females that could have also finished their championship if they had been raced more in the old bird race series. But in old birds, I primarily only race males. In addition, there were two other males that missed their championship by just a few points. If there were just a few more birds in a few races, they would have earned their championship also. Consequently, they will need to race one more season (2009 ) to earn their championship.

Much like the club, provincial or national ace pigeon awards in Belgium, the ARPU Registered Champion award is the highest award that can be attained in the racing pigeon game in my opinion. Racing one's pigeons is the only way that a pigeon can achieve an AU Championship. Consequently for me, the game of racing pigeons is a means to an end and not an end in itself. For me, the game itself offers little satisfaction other than the opportunity for my best pigeons to earn points towards their registered championship.

Maybe this personal revelation is surprising for many readers. But it is truthful. I enjoy pigeons. I love my best pigeons best. I sat out of organized pigeon racing for several years in the 1990s because I lost the enjoyment of playing the game. I still kept my pigeons and I still enjoyed them every single day. I simply didn't race my pigeons as part of an official club. I raced them against each other every time I loaded them in the truck and went down the road. (I consider taking my pigeons down the road to a fantastic restaurant in a far away place to be one of the most relaxing experiences imaginable - other than watching the pigeons soar around the loft while taking their daily exercise. Incidentally, these great restaurants are seldom on the line of flight. You line of flight fanciers are missing a whole lot of great eating at restaurants that are perpendicular to or in opposite directions from the line of flight.)

CRITICAL POINT: During my self-imposed isolation from organized pigeon racing, I learned a marvelous life-changing lesson. I learned to enjoy my pigeons competing against each other more than I enjoyed them competing against other lofts. This revelation was incredibly liberating for me and represented the point at which I could re-enter the game in 2002 and not take the negativity of other fanciers so seriously. Since 2004, 13 widowhood males have earned an AU Championship while several others lack but a few points to qualify. The pigeons that earned their AU championships are as follows:

I love my best pigeons! They are a thrill to own and I really enjoy managing their careers.

Howdy Dr. John, I truly enjoy your blog. Its a real service to our sport. I would like you to describe the males on you old bird race team and HOW they got there. I try to fly widow males and getting them to the old bird race team is the hardest decision to make. THANKS

In order to respond to this email, let's first identify several AU Champions. These are pictures of 4 widowhood males. From the pictures, you can see that each male resembles a standard type. All four males looks somewhat alike.

Three of the four males: MAVERICK, PRETTY CLASSY, and TRAVELER, contain the blood of the super pigeons of Antoine Jacops. The silver male, THE MAIL MAN, is a full brother to the POSTMAN, the 2005 1st Ace Young Bird in the Northeast Oklahoma RP Federation and 12th National Ace RPD, and is from the super pigeons of Mike Ganus. You may click on any of the pictures for more information about each male; however, THE MAIL MAN is a combination of TOPO, MR VITA KING, RED ANGEL (Silvere Toye), and the KOLONEL, WITTENBUIK & SISSI (Gaby Vandenabeele). All of the pigeons in the MAIL MAN'S pedigree are outstanding breeders. The same is true of the other three males. It is not a mystery why these pigeons excell as racers - exceptional performance is in their genes. They were bred to run - so to speak. Breeding great pigeons is not rocket science. Great pigeons come from other great pigeons - it's that simple. However, not every pigeon that a great breeder breeds is a great one or even a good one. Great pigeons breed average pigeons also. As I have said time and time again in the blog, the Lamberton Rule states that less than 10% of the birds raised will constitute the pool of potential champions. For example, from 2006, I have only a few widowhood males left in the loft: THE MAIL MAN, MAVERICK, PRETTY CLASSY, and TRAVELER. AU 06 LAMBERTON 45 died last summer while 13 and 183 are a few points from their championship. That totals seven males that became or will shortly become champions from 2006. I probably bred at least 100 males to race on the young bird team in 2006. Seven remain today. In ratio form, 7/100 = 7%. Today, less than 7% of the young males bred in 2006 remain in the racing and/or breeding loft.

Generally, young males are only raced through the first 4 races of the young bird race series: 2 - 100s and 2 - 150s; while the young females are raced for the entire race series. Depending upon the weather, young males could be sent to a 200 mile race. However, the primary goal is to teach young males how to compete on the widowhood system without physically or mentally stressing them - even in the slightest. when they race as yearlings - after racing young birds on widowhood - they know the race system since they have already raced on the widowhood system as youngsters. Generally, yearlings are raced through the 400 mile race station. then, as fresh two-year old racers, the widows are flown to all race stations including the 600 mile station. Oftentimes, if young males get hot during the race series, fanciers often have a tendency to race them through the entire young bird race series including the 300 mile station once or twice. then, they often race these same pigeons heavily again as yearlings. The trouble with this rigorous schedule is that young birds only have a few months to rest after the young bird race series is over before they race again as yearlings. Every other year of their lives, they have a full year to recoup from competing in an old bird race series. But not the year they mature from young birds to yearlings. In this year, they only have a small window of time to recoup: November (the end of the young bird race series) through March (the beginning of the old bird race series.) (These estimates are based upon the racing seasons in Oklahoma and should be amended for other areas of the US or other countries.)

I don't particularly like to use the words "cull" or "culling." They are too negative for me. I prefer taking a positive management approach and use the words "select" or "selecting." I evaluate young birds for selection to the young bird race team every single day from the day they are hatched. I look for outstanding young birds: both males and females. I look for signs of intelligence. I look for tremendous feathering - often a very obvious sign of super health and physical stamina. I look for balance and athleticism. I look for poise. I watch how they walk and how the fly around in the loft; especially how they take off and land. In general, I look for a number of qualities that I can see with my eyes before I ever pick up a young bird and hold it in my hand. when I handle a young pigeon, it usually confirms what my eyes have already told me.

I prefer to race a maximum of 24 young males and 24 young females during the young bird race series. Every day, I make notes about the young bird race team that will allow me to fill 24 places on the race team before the young bird race season begins. If 100 young males are bred to race in 2009, I will "select" the best 24 (or less) to race in the young bird race series. Although I will race as many as 24 young males, if there are not 24 young males that I think are worthy of my time and attention, I will race only that number of young males that I think will become great racers. I am too old and too tired to waste my time on average pigeons! (I have been saying that since I was a teenager).

I find that "selecting" the best young birds is a fairly easy process. However, selecting quality pigeons takes experience, time, patience, continual observation, and copious notes - and above all - a willingness to select pigeons without the fear of making a mistake or being wrong. From time to time, I'm sure I have made mistakes. But I also think that I have been right about a pigeon's quality more times that I have been wrong. Would a .400 batting average in baseball be a good one? That's a hit 4 times out of every ten times at bat. While selecting quality pigeons, I think that my average is much higher then .400; and I would not trade any of the current AU Champions for any pigeon that was lost or that was not selected for the team.

After the 24 young males (or less) have been selected for the young bird race team, young widows are selected based upon their performance during the young bird race series. Selection is easy for those young males that win a prize (or prizes) in the top 10% or 20% of the race sheet. Other quality widows are not quite so obvious. With less obvious young males, I look for consistency in their race results. I always study the "Time to Win" statistic on the race sheet available in WinSpeed for each race bird. On a fast race, a young male may win the 100th prize - a statistic which may not look very impressive; but he was only 15 minutes behind the winning pigeon. So time to win is often a very important measurement tool when evaluating young widowhood males. Consistent results are also a good way to evaluate future old birds. Consistent young birds almost always make good old birds. Conversely, I also evaluate inconsistency. Inconsistent results may suggest that a young bird does not have the physical stamina to recuperate quickly enough to race well each week. Therefore, inconsistency is usually a sign of weakness in a young widowhood male. Finally, AU points are a great measurement tool to evaluate young birds as well as old birds. I would prefer not to race a pigeon for five or six years in order to earn enough points to achieve an AU Registered Elite Champion status. I prefer that most widowhood males achieve their AU championship within 4 race seasons. In other words, if the young bird race season is the first race series, then old males must earn their championship by the time they are two or three years old. DIAMOND JACK won his AU championship by the end of his yearling race season and was immediately sold to a Japanese fancier.

In summary, selecting an old bird widowhood race team begins when each youngster pips out of the egg. The selection process continues every day. By the middle of June, they must make the top 24 selection spots in order to qualify for the young bird widowhood race team. During the young bird race series, they must win some type of head prize(s), or they should consistently race within a few minutes of the winning pigeon (less than 30 minutes depending upon the weather conditions), or they must race consistently, or they must not race inconsistently. I prefer that they earn 20 to 50 AU points as young birds. They also must pass a number of qualifiers that I use with my eyes and my hands (please refer to the Video about evaluating pigeons in the hand). They must possess an outstanding pedigree. Unless they can breed successfully after retirement, their racing careers become somewhat irrelevant.

D. Wayne Lucas is a famous race horse trainer. I once heard him state that he could identify a probable future racing champion by the time a yearling colt was led halfway out of his stall in front of him. I believe that the same is true for pigeons. Great pigeons will demonstrate their speed, their balance, and their intelligence if they are given the chance to display their skills. It is harder to see quality if there are 50 or 60 pigeons flopping around a crowded room with only a handful of perches for them to mark as their territory. Fanciers must put young pigeons in a position to adequately demonstrate their qualities and abilities. If you have limited facilities, crate a few young birds and place them in a small empty widowhood loft. Watch them for an hour. then, crate them up again, remove them from the widowhood loft, and place a few more young birds in the empty widowhood loft. You will be amazed at what you will learn about your pigeons.

I discussed last blog why it is important to race young males very carefully as young birds and yearlings. In order to visualize my point, I have created the following Table. It demonstrates that there are only a few months between the young bird and yearling race seasons to rest young males that were raced in the young bird race series. While the difference between every other race season after the yearling race series is one whole year. Many fanciers burn out young birds because they over race them in young birds and especially, as yearlings. Yearling males that were heavily raced as young birds should be carefully raced as yearlings. I know a fancier who raced a super young male in the young bird race series. This racing machine was clearly the best pigeon in the area. He raced every week with incredible results. He was then raced as a yearling. Although he had a great yearling year by many standards, this racing pfemaleom did not score in the top twenty pigeons one time during the race season. Consequently, he received zero AU points for the entire effort of his yearling race season. I believe he was fatigued by the total effort given during the young bird race series and his fatigue carried over into his yearling year. In my mind, he should have only raced a few races as a yearling - if any at all. In terms of obtaining an AU Champion Certificate, his yearling year was a waste. It didn't count. It produced no points. As a two year old however, after one year of rest, he again raced several times in the top twenty pigeons to add points toward his AU Champion Certificate. Take a look at the following Table and consider the effort that your young birds gave in 2008 and the impact that effort will have on their upcoming yearling race season. If you lose good pigeons as yearlings, or if the best young birds are not your best yearlings, consider the message of today's blog. I do not race every pigeon every week during a race series. Racing my best pigeons involves a weekly strategy similar to a great chess game. And my competition is not necessarily other fanciers' pigeons; my primary competition is usually the weather (usually the wind). If the weather does not physically take my pigeons out of the game, they will usually race well. As I have said before, besides having fun with my pigeons, the only goal of participating in organized pigeon racing is to accumulate AU points on my best racers as a strategy to strengthen my breeder loft and produce more great candidates to turn into champions. This is the wonderful cycle of the game - the revolving door as it were - youngsters becoming champions which in turn breed better youngsters.

Hi, My name is Cha. I have seen all of your pigeon videos on YouTube and your website. Some of your pigeons on the website were raced in one hundred miles plus and still came back home. I use to have about ten young racing pigeons that I've kept for a year. I heard that a racing pigeon can be trained and tossed for over forty miles away and still find their way home. After letting them fly around my loft for about three weeks, I tried their first toss at one mile. For sure they came home and none were missing. then I tried five, ten, and none were missing. After giving my pigeons a good rest of three days after each toss, I tried tossing them at twenty-five miles and three of my young birds were missing. I thought that they're going to come back in a few days but they didn't. I didn't worry too much and continued training my other ones into a another twenty-five mile toss and yet two of my young birds didn't come back. I tried not to worry and tried forty with five of my last five young birds and two of them came back. Can you tell me what I am doing wrong and what I have to do?

Answer: Cha: when physically fit, good racing pigeons can find their way home from hundreds of miles away. I do not know the origin or heritage of your pigeons or how you take care of them. Even very good racing pigeons must receive a good clean pigeon grain, fresh clean water, clean grit, and pickstone each and every day of the year. I also give my pigeons salad greens and carrots shaved into small strips. Occasionally, I feed them non-medicated chicken pellets or crumbles with the pickstone. I medicate my pigeons 4 times a year or more depending upon what they are doing: racing, breeding, or idle. Pigeons should be bathed weekly in order to clean and strengthen their feathers.

As you can see, there are many reasons why homing pigeons do not make it home. You may be doing nothing wrong. On the other hand, there may be a number of things you might do differently to improve the performance of your pigeons. In order to remedy your situation, may I suggest the following remedies:

1. Enjoy the two pigeons that you have left. Continue to train them around the loft every day and on the road once a week. Do not worry about the pigeons you have lost. They are gone. Learn to appreciate only the pigeons that return home. Are these two pigeons related? Are they bred from the same pair or the same family of pigeons? If so, breed more youngsters from the pair or pairs that bred the two pigeons that consistently came home.

2. Make sure they are receiving good clean grain, fresh grit and clean water on a daily basis.

3. Worm them with a drop or two of Ivermectin wormer down the throat from a small syringe and give them each a Pegosan tablet every other day for a week in order to improve their health.

4. Let them bath every week with a capful of Adams Shampoo to improve their feathers. If necessary, dunk them until they are thoroughly soaked in the same bath water. Let them dry in the sun away from danger and predators.

5. Exercise your birds twice a day if possible for an hour each time to build up their stamina and endurance.

6. If you lose your last two birds, start over with a few high quality pigeons from a successful fancier who is concerned about you and your situation.

Racing pigeons is fun; but it takes a lot of very hard work to be successful. Spend time with your pigeons. Work hard. Be persistent and never give up. If you continue to work hard, one day, many of your pigeons will return from hundreds of miles away. Good luck!

Thank you for your kind words. As you now realize, my belief is that a pigeon "races" home as a result of motivation and that motivation is a function of the cognitive ability (intelligence) of racing pigeons. "Hunger" is a function of cognitive ability; the mental awareness to know that he or she is hungry. "Separation from the loft" is also function of cognitive ability; the mental awareness to know that home is far away. However, these functions require only recognition by pigeons that their basic needs are not being met and they must "fly" home in order to meet these needs. If motivation can be quantified on a scale from 1 to 10, flying home as a result of hunger or a cognitive uneasiness experienced as a result of "general separation anxiety" away from the loft are mental functions that can be scored in the lower motivational range from 1 to 3. Motivation as a result of a weekly separation from a mate (widowhood) or motivation as a function of a particular nest condition (pipping eggs or youngsters in the nest) can be scored as a 8 to 10 on the motivational scale. Passion stimulates motivation which results in a higher motivational score. Passion comes from interaction with other pigeons (a mate or babies) and does not involve hunger or protecting a perch from a mass of other pigeons. Passionate motivation involves a deep psychological desire to return home and therefore scores the highest on a motivational scale.

Regardless of what type of motivation racing pigeons experience, if you agree with this argument like Ken now does, then you realize that motivation of any type is a cognitive function. Therefore, in order to motivate pigeons to come home, whether they are "flying" home or "racing" home, we must have "smart" pigeons in the loft - pigeons that can think and understand their situation and surroundings. As I have said many times before, speed is a function of the intelligence of racing pigeons. As a general rule, the smartest pigeons win races. The reason I say "general case" is that in certain cases, lucky pigeons win races. Just because a pigeon wins a race does not necessarily mean that it is a smart pigeon. Consistent racing results over time demonstrates true intelligence.

Another way to put it is that "speedy" pigeons are "smart" pigeons. Wing theory, buoyancy, eye-sign, balance, long thin flight feathers, etc. are all nice theories, but they may have little, if anything, to do with speed - if speed is a function of intelligence. All these other theories describe stamina and endurance rather than speed. While a very smart pigeon may race at the top of the sheet in races of 200 miles or less, this same pigeon may be lost from a distance of 300 miles or more. A smart pigeon with poor physical qualities will often tire after 200 miles. Superior physical qualities depict a pigeon's stamina, not a pigeons speed. Again, stamina is a function of body type - speed is a function of intelligence.

I have handled numerous "speed" pigeons or "fast" (vitesse) ace pigeons in Belgium with surprisingly poor physical qualities, i.e., weak back, deep keel, etc. However, these poor physical qualities did not impact the speedy pigeon at races under 300 kilometers. However, the same pigeon might be lost on races over 600 kilometers due to its lack of stamina as a result of the impact of its poor physical qualities. A weak back may not matter in races under 200 kilometers. But over time in races over 500 kilometers, a weak back will tire and begin to wobble. Over time, a tired racing pigeon with a wobbling back will either slow down or stop entirely.

In summary, speed is a function of intelligence. Stamina is a result of body type. Because of the stamina it takes to race many hours on the wing, long distance champions are usually built very well. That is why smart long distance pigeons can adapt to short distance racing; but smart speed pigeons with poor physical qualities may not be able to adapt to long distance racing. As a rule, pigeons with poorly constructed bodies are too weak to race the distance. I am amused when fanciers ask me if a certain pigeon is a short distance pigeon or a long distance pigeon. My answer is that pigeons that are both smart and built very well can race at the top of the race sheet at any distance. And, Antoine Jacops has proved that for over 40 years of racing at the top of the race sheet in the Antwerp Union Belgium - one of the most difficult geographical areas to compete in the world.

With the advent of ipigeon and the other pigeon auction web sites, a new American craft has emerged - pigeon photography - and I believe that my son, Jeremy, is one of the very best pigeon photographers anywhere in the world. During the twenty five years I have purchased pigeons from Mike Ganus and Antoine Jacops, I seldom, if ever, saw a picture of any of the hundreds of pigeons I have purchased from these two fanciers. If I had demanded pictures prior to these purchases, do you think I would have received better birds or that I would have made different purchases? My answer is a resounding "NO!" However, in today's market, many fanciers want to see a picture of a pigeon before they purchase it. (Normally this adds at least $25 to the cost of a pigeon).

I remember sending a very nice female to a fancier who purchased her on ipigeon. when he emailed me to say that the female had arrived, he also wrote that the female was much more beautiful than her picture. I was amused. Recently, after agreeing to buy two females, a fancier cancelled the purchase of the females because he didn't like their pictures. These events as well as other experiences have led me to write this blog about pigeon photography.

In the world of pigeon sales, a pigeon must not only be a great bird, but it must also be able to take a great picture. A significant problem in pigeon sales today is that many great pigeons do not take great pictures. I would say that from 30% to 50% of the pigeons offered for sale are great pigeons or they wouldn't be offered for sale; but they do not happen to take great pictures. Why? Often, when placed in a very bright picture box, some pigeons squat. Not only does the light hurt their eyes, but the confines of the small bright box is intimidating - so they squat. Other pigeons try to escape the box. Sometimes they try to fly upwards banging their heads into the lighting tubes in the top of the box numerous times. Before they settle down, pigeons may have banged their heads from 5 to 10 times on the top of the box. Do you think these pigeons will take good pictures after banging their heads multiple times?

Naturally tame or very trained pigeons take the best pictures. They usually remain calm in the box. However, pigeons that have been kept in larger lofts with other non-racing pigeons often take poor pictures because they have not been handled consistently like racing pigeons are normally handled. In 2009, we are planning on lofting and training every pigeon we raise in order to train them and handle them - whether it is offered for sale or not. The time and effort it takes to produce quality pictures is too time consuming and expensive to allow 30 to 50% of the pigeons offered for sale to take unflattering pictures. when a sale pigeon takes a great picture, the pigeon is either naturally gentle or well-trained or both. You can't be assured, however, that it is a quality breeding or racing pigeon. I have learned over the past two years that "photographing well" is now a new characteristic of quality racing or breeding pigeons. Forget pedigree, forget balance, forget intelligence, forget all the other wonderful characteristics of quality pigeons offered for sale - if a pigeon simply takes a great picture, it is automatically going to be a great breeder or racer. Conversely, if a great pigeon takes a poor picture, fanciers assume that it is a lousy pigeon and will never make a great breeder.

The reason Ace pigeons usually take quality pictures is because they are very well-trained and have been handled consistently and often, and have spent time in hand crates or shipping crates and learned to be calm in a small confined space. Consequently, when they are placed in a photography box, they will usually remain calm, and with a little nudging with a small headed long-handled soft paint brush, they often can be prodded into taking spectacular pictures. Pigeons who have not experienced this training will often react poorly in a small box (as much as 50% of the time) and will often take a very poor picture.

In today's pigeon game, pigeon quality now includes picture quality. The problem with this association is that the ultimate racing or breeding quality of a racing pigeon has little, if anything, to do with whether or not a pigeon takes a great picture. There are many very nice pigeons that squat, that look out extending their necks, that move too much, that twist their heads to one side or the other, that bang their heads on the top of the box before they settle down if they settle down at all, that pant when hot after trying to escape the box, etc. I would venture to guess that on the average at least one-third of the high quality pigeons we offer for sale online do not take flattering pictures. Like any true business venture, pictures of pigeons that do not sell because of an unflattering picture is an expense that must be included in the price of the pigeons that are sold with quality pictures. Although I completely understand the desire of wanting to see something before purchasing it, when fanciers ask for pictures of breeding or racing prospects before considering them for purchase, while the cost of these pigeon goes up due to the expense of the picture, the racing or breeding quality of these pigeon does not improve at all.

Morgan and I have been watching American Idol. There is a current contestant who does not sing very well and has a very limited vocal range. Yet, week after week the American public continues to vote for her to stay on the show over much better singers. Her asset is not her voice. Her asset is her face. She is stunningly beautiful. I think that the public is not judging her voice; but instead is rapt by her face. Why? Because in America, we value perceived beauty over most other qualities. Concerning pigeons, there are many pigeons who may take great pictures; but cannot race or breed well at all. Although I like beautiful pigeons too, picture quality is not the criteria upon which I base my selections. There are many excellent pigeons that do not take the best pictures and whose value should be found in the nest box rather than the picture box.

Although it has come out a little late this year, THE PATRIOT CHALLENGE is a great way to participate in a four race young bird series (you choose which four races you enter) out of your own loft in 2009!!! Much like the WORLD OF WINGS Gold Band Program, the PATRIOT CHALLENGE allows you to race your own young birds from your own loft. I plan on giving it a try this year. Why don't you. $5,000 guaranteed to the first prize winner! The following text is an excerpt from THE PATRIOT CHALLENGE website.

These two programs are excellent ways to achieve recognition for your top race birds racing out of your own loft as well as being able to race for prize money.

More revelations to follow......................................................Thank you......................................................Dr. John and Morgan Lamberton