My Italian grandmother raised pigeons in NY City. He had over 1,000 birds at one time. We used to eat pigeons all the time. Young birds were used in the pasta sauce, middle aged birds went into pigeon pot pie, older birds into soup. He had both racing pigeons and fancy show birds
I’ve kept white homing pigeons which were quite adept at homing. My interest in the birds was peaked while living in Belgium where pigeon racing is very popular with sizable bets being placed on race results. Just as with horse values in horse racing, some birds will change hands for considerable sums of money. It’s a hobby where the common man with a good breeding program has the chance of owning the equivalent of a Triple Crown winner in the pigeon racing world. As far as intentionally shooting down a homing pigeon in warfare, from my experience I think that it would be difficult and a somewhat lucky shot. They can take off like a little rocket when homing, quickly climbing to or above any effective shotgun range, plus they fly at considerable speed. Remember, birds bred for these traits.
Now feral birds roost under bridges, on buildings, and some barns and homes, where they poop, drop feather, get sick and die, leaving a general mess. 😬
@@tomtheplummer7322 true, yet it is a saddening thing to see mall birds flopping all over the parking lots bc they have been poisoned. A cruel and total waste.
There is an episode of the TV show "Combat" (Season 3, episode 9, aired 11/17/1964, set in WWII after D-Day) that focused on the use of pigeons who carried small cameras on their legs to photograph the Germans. The American sergeant in charge of the pigeons is more concerned about the pigeons than about his fellow soldiers.
Great episode with very interesting information. You guys sound (your voices) so similar. I really enjoyed your conversation regarding the animals involved in wars. I'm listening in the new year, so have a very safe, prosperous and Happy New Year!!
I once lamented that we dragged animals into the insanity of war. Someone was puzzled that I characterized war as an insanity. I thought, "Really? You're going to argue that it's not?"
In Baghdad different neighborhoods had different color pigeons brightly dyed that they would flush up n have fly around when we were in the neighborhood letting everyone know where we were
I have a deep seated hatred for pigeons. They crap on the hay and straw in the haymow, making it in many instances unusable. They also fly into open air restaurants and crap on food or people.
18:00 Doves and pigeons, sheep and goats, dogs and wolves, kale and broccoli (and cabbage and asparagus and mustard seed). Genotypically identical but phenotypically different.
My grandfather gave have his dog in Finland. Arnold kaasalainen. Bruno served in his artillery regiment. Any amount of distractions and a sense of normalcy was craved. Just a human touch or animal. They loved the horses also.
