OVERNIGHT FLYING CAPER
Jack Prescott
(Feathered World) Jul 2000
When a kit of pigeons drifts out of sight, at an altitude of 500 feet or more, and at the same time is swallowed up in declining daylight, followed by darkness, only the Almighty knows what such pigeons will do.
They may pitch on some roof top, only a couple of hundred yards away, very briefly, before striking up again and returning to appear, equally briefly, over the area of the loft. In good daylight, of course, it would be more difficult for them to do this, without being detected, as long as and only if extremely experienced surveillance was being carried out. Now, even in good daylight, Tipplers are notoriously liable to fly rather low and drift out of sight. Under the rules, they are allowed to disappear for one hour, therefore if they put in an appearance, at least once per hour, they are reckoned to be on the wing. With experience, we know that a very high flying kit can easily be out of sight due to really excessive altitude, excessive range or both of the factors.
An awful lot of trouble and heartbreak has been caused by excessively high flying. Typically, the kit is observed -looking good at 5,000 feet, showing up as tiny specks only. Only a trained pair of eyes can possibly search for them and find them. There is such a wide expanse of sky and they are so notoriously liable to roam far away. At that kind of altitude and with that kind of ranging, such a kit could be unobserved for more than one hour, throughout the entire day. Disqualified, for being out of sight for more than one hour, even after initial extra allowance of two hours. A half hour after disqualification, the kit returns, still at great height. It is perfectly obvious, that such a kit cannot possibly have been down -but the disqualification still stands, even though the kit continues faultlessly for the rest of the contest. During the same contest a low flying kit will win. These low flying periods are notoriously liable to 'rest periods' on some building out of sight of the actual loft area. this means that absence during these low flying periods, is always suspect, but after dark, even more suspect.
I have always said that proper surveillance is a task for people with a lot of experience and a lot of integrity. Integrity on its own is not enough, because without knowledge, a kit of defaulters may go undetected. I will go further and say, that even with experience and integrity, many Tippler kits have managed to defect, only to be seen by other people, who may or may not have been hostile.
Reports of pigeons that have flown overnight are not all that rare. I've written about my own experiences. On investigation, the story is always the same. Pigeons, last seen at great height when the last threads of daylight leave the sky -are again seen up at great height - at the crack of dawn. They cannot possibly have been down so overnight flying is claimed. In Iran, USA and Europe, there have been claims of 24 hour-duration flights. Our Champion, 'Harry Shannon' seems to be in no doubt that in future the official record will extend to overnight times, yet I cannot tell you how suitable supervision can possibly be carried out . It certainly would be a task--a very difficult task even for an extremely dedicated and experienced person of absolute integrity.
Then, just once in my experience, I knew of a kit that vanished in the darkness and at 1,000 feet or more, altitude. At 11:45 PM a fellow-fancier observed three pigeons, that dropped on the old Ecclesfield Church. Later, he and the owner visited the Church and with the aid of a powerful torch, identified the kit, that had vanished from Wincobank a few miles away. However, at dawn, this kit was seen touring the Wincobank district in good order and at 2,000 feet high.
Therefore, it seems that they can take off again, either in the dark or at the crack of dawn and reach 2,000 feet very soon.
How long does it take high flying pigeons to rise to 2,000 feet? Well! My own rollers do it pretty often, in about five minutes - if the breeze is right.
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| One of Jack's Competition Roller
hens typical of the breed. |