The Vancouver Poultry & Fancy Pigeon Association is
dedicated to the promotion and facilitation of the breeding
and exhibition of fancy pigeons in the Pacific
Northwest.
Classifieds
Classified ads are provided free of charge to our
members. If you are a current member of our club and would
like to advertise here, please contact our webmaster,
to have your sale details included
here.
The
show report is now available on-line for our recent Winter Show, held last
November. You can read more about the show, and download the complete show
report, from this link >>>
The complete show report includes
the award winners, best of breed winners and individual placings. I have
also included pictures of the award winners, courtesy of Gary Owen, our
show photographer.
For
our local members, be sure to attend our Annual General Meeting to elect
the 2008 Board of Directors, which will be held February 17, 2008. See the
notice at the end of this newsletter for details.
Regards,
Keith
Biggs
A pigeon show perspective
by Dave Williamson
I've just finished reading an article on a local pigeon show
in the Sheboygan Press. For those of you who don't know where
Sheboygan is, which included me until I read the newspaper, it's a
town of around 50,000 on Lake Michigan, in Wisconsin. What struck me
about the article was how similar their pigeon show was to ours and
presumably to the hundreds of other pigeon shows held across Canada
and the U.S. each year.
The show, sponsored by the
Sheboygan-Lakeshore Pigeon Club, had 400 birds from 35 exhibitors
and has been going on for more than 70 years. But it's the comments
from the participants that tell it all:
Bob Vercouteren, age
62 and club president has been raising pigeons since he was 8. "It's
a sense of accomplishment...it darn sure isn't for the money. I've
made a great deal of friends over the years, I go to the bigger
shows, it's more to see the people than to show birds." Steve Yonke,
age 59 and club secretary treasurer raised pigeons as a boy and then
picked it up again nearly 30 years ago. "Basically I'm just a
birdbrain, once it's in your blood it's always there." Jerry Lorenz,
age 50, a carpenter who has been raising pigeons since he was 12. "
My father had pigeons, my grandfather had pigeons." Ed Novak age 55,
a truck driver who raises old frills. "Owning pigeons is a good way
to relax after work." Brian Helmer, age 33, who learned to raise
pigeons from his father and has been involved in the hobby his whole
life "hopes his son, Barret, now 7 months old, will be a
third-generation pigeon guy."
Sound
familiar?
EVENTS
Pigeon smugglers
On December 31, 2007, U.S. Customs officials intercepted two
Uxbridge, Ontario men who were attempting to smuggle four pigeons
across the border for trade or resale in the United States. The men
were arrested at the Queenston Lewiston Bridge border crossing when
their suspicious behaviour caused a secondary check resulting in the
discovery of two birds in each man's jacket pockets. One of the
individuals allegedly claimed he belonged to a pigeon club and was
taking the birds to trade or sell to his uncle in New York. U.S.
Officials say they're concerned about possible diseases the
undeclared birds can carry. The men were each fined $500 and the
birds were seized.
Wood Pigeons
In a complete turnaround to the usual state of affairs a
recent bird census has shown that a native wild pigeon now
outnumbers the feral rock dove in most urban areas of the U.K. The
European wood pigeon (Columba palumbus) is a large native species
generally considered a bird of the country. But over the last ten
years it has undergone a population explosion to become the fourth
most common bird in the U.K. and has invaded suburban gardens and
city streets to the point where it has become a familiar sight in
downtown London and Manchester where they outnumber the feral rock
doves almost two to one. The bird census estimated there were 3
million breeding pairs and a total population of 10 million wood
pigeons in Britain compared to an estimated 300,000 breeding pairs
of rock doves.
Kulkulbaji
At the end of the year pigeon fanciers in Agra, India
congregate for the annual event of Kulkulbaji in which flocks of
thousands of pigeons compete against others by following the
whistled commands of their owners. Kulkulbaji is a game that draws
its roots from the Mughal era in the 1600s and Agra, site of the Taj
Mahal, has been the home of the competition for generations. The
event has two clubs Shehari Akhara and Mandi Akhara which compete
against each other. About 8,000 pigeons, colour marked to identify
their owner's club, are transported by 18 vans to different areas
and released to race back to a sheet spread on the ground. The
winning team is the one which has the most birds land on their
respective sheet after covering the longest
distance.
Next Meeting...
The Annual General meeting of The Vancouver Poultry &
Fancy Pigeon Association will be held on Sunday, February 17th, 2008
at the office of Ernie Silveri, from 2:00 - 4:00 PM.
Nominations and elections for the 2008 Board of Directors
will take place at this meeting. Bring your "big idea" on how to
help the club. Let us know what can the club do better and what
ticks you off about the club.
Address: Western Hatchery, 565
Hamm Street, Abbotsford, BC (off Huntingdon Road (8th Avenue), just
south of Abbotsford Airport)
