Article May 17, 2010 Issue

A spiritual lesson from homing pigeons

BY PAUL AMES

PIGEONS FIRST FLEW INTO my life when I was about ten and living with my family in San Carlos, California. While I was walking home from school one sunny day, I saw a large flock of what I later learned were homing pigeons circling over a neighbor's back yard. I was fascinated that all these birds weren't flying away but landing as a flock on the pigeon loft he maintained.

I soon learned that most homing pigeons, which are used as racing pigeons, are released for an exercise flight at least once a day. Seeing my interest, my neighbor invited me to look at his birds. His loft was immaculate, and his birds were of almost every color pigeons come in: opal, indigo, yellow, red, and more. I was hooked, and within a year I had a pigeon loft of my own!

I began to discover the sweet nature of these loving birds by seeing how much they are attached to their home. At first, I just wanted to have them around to enjoy. With time, my appreciation of them grew, as I became more aware of their abilities and heard about their heroic contributions during both World Wars, saving many lives by delivering important messages.

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