Roll Pigeons?

[PAUL161]

Roll pigeons, ever hear of them? I was flying for a grain dryer outfit out of Kearney, Nebraska and at the airport was a whole lot of pigeons. I noticed one day that some of them looked like they were doing back flips in flight. I thought I was seeing things at first, but then a local told me that they call them roll pigeons. No one seems to know why they do this. Their amazing to watch and the funny part is, not all of them in the same group do it. Seems like they will snap roll plus do back flips and keep on flying. Anyone else ever see them? I've told people about them over the years and they look at me like I'm a little off my rocker. Well, <span style="font-size: 9pt">that</span> might be true, but seeing is believing!

UFOs anyone?

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Never heard of 'em, but there's this.

Maybe into the fermented berries? :wink:

Very interesting, though. Would like to see them.

 

[DrEntropy]

They just have FLEAS.

 

[anthony7777]

paul161, about 4 years ago a customer of mine asked if id build him a pigeon coupe, he raced them and some of them cost several thousand dollars, the coupe ended up being about 400 square feet with a center building having a wing/extension on each side, it had to be cat, dog, and racoon proof, this young man and his dad are very serious racers and winning prizes are thousands of dollars, hence, there are cheaters involved in pigeon racing and the birds are electronically timed, building of the coupe took just about two weeks, during this time i witnessed several training sessions and noticed exactly what you mentioned, birds willy nilly doing barrel rolls and mid air flips, he explained to me that the birds are just playing around "spreading thier wings" as he said. :confuse:

 

[aerog]

Jackalopes?

 

[Healeysince59]

Many years ago my neighbor raised them. Called them "Tumblers".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbler_(pigeon)

Marv J

 

[TR6oldtimer]

Many years ago my neighbor raised them. Called them "Tumblers".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumbler_(pigeon)

Marv J

In my youth I had pigeons, jacks, trumpeters, and tumblers. One of my tumblers would actually do back flips all the way to the ground. As I recall, these birds had a genetic defect that caused a spasm like reaction to stress, hence the erratic flight (this might just be folk lore). There were also birds that were called rollers, who in straight flight would frequently roll similar to an airplane, unlike tumblers, all pigeons will roll from time to time.

A Jacobin

A Trumpeter

 

[Basil]

Jonathan Livingston Pidgeon!

 

[PAUL161]

Well, it's nice to know that I'm not alone in this! Now I can tell people that might think I'm a little loose, the club is getting bigger.

 

[DNK]

Looked back. Didn't see any vid,so...

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[Darwin]

As A youth I raised many pidgeons. There are rollers, tumblers, fantails. Archangels, LaHornes, owls (yes that is a type of pidgeon) as well as the racing varieties. In the '60's I was selling the LaHorne eggs of $50 a pair. There is a lot of money in certified bloodline birds as there is in other animals. It is a fun hobby but a lot of work if you are a serious breeder.

 

[GregW]

As I recall, these birds had a genetic defect that caused a spasm like reaction to stress, hence the erratic flight (this might just be folk lore).

That reminds me of fainting goats. Hard to believe a species could survive when it's body freezes from being startled. I'd be a happy mountain lion living near a herd of them fellas.

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[bugimike]

Looked back. Didn't see any vid,so...

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SHOWOFFS!!!!