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 Tales and Trails

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

How fast can a racing pigeon travel? Between 65-70 miles per hours when they’re in a Mercury Tracer!

Several weeks ago Sterling Middle School contacted the park about a pigeon they had found near the school. They were concerned because the bird had an identification band on its leg. They called us thinking it might be one of our birds and we had them bring the bird out to the Park. (Our pigeons aren’t free-flighted). After checking the internet and making several long distance calls we learned that the bird was one of 500 that had been released for a special race.

Unfortunately only nine of the 500 birds had so far returned home, so we were determined to make sure number 10 got home. We kept her and fed her for a couple of weeks until we could make arrangements for her trip. On Friday 11-06 one of our volunteers drove to Chicago and completed our part of getting #10 to her rightful owner. Hopefully when she’s entered into another race weather conditions won’t be so bad that she gets lost. However, if she or a friend of hers ends up down here…we’re ready with the pigeon feed!

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