Broader Horizons

Pigeons and doves have been around for a long time—long before humans. Pigeons have been on earth for more than 20 million years, according to fossil records.  Rock Doves, the species (Columba livia) to which White Wedding Doves belong,  are thought to have originated in southern Asia several million years ago. Compare this to modern humans that first appeared about 120,000 years ago.  There are approximately 255 +/- different species of Pigeons worldwide, mainly in the tropics.  In future issues we will explore many of these different types of pigeons and doves.

The Common Pigeon or Rock Dove began an early association with humans, and it has been bred and raised by humans from as early as 1000 BC. Their caregivers have been from all levels of society ranging from emperors to peasants, from old to young, members of all races, creeds and types.  These fanciers have loved, cared and provided their charges with accommodations ranging from palatial status to just a few simple holes in a roof. The birds don't care. They are easy to please and thrive well for their breeders, provided they are allowed their few basic necessities:  clean water, clean food, and a dry living space. The first pigeons were undoubtedly used as food primarily.

Over the years, hundreds, if not thousands of breeds have been developed for many purposes: large pigeons for the table, many types of fancy pigeons for competitive showing, homers for racing and messaging, and rollers and tipplers for their aerial acrobatics. Visit any fair or bird show and take a look at many of these breeds. 

The breed from which White Release Doves originated is Homing Pigeons.  Very early, it was discovered that one amazing trait of pigeons is their ability to return home over from strange areas and over long distances.  This trait was developed and bred for, and became very refined.  It has been put to use many times to aid in communications.

When the first Olympic games were held in Greece in 776 BC, how did people find out who the winners were? Pigeons carried the news! Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome more than 2,000 years ago, used birds to send messages back home from battle.  In 1850, Paul Reuter, who later founded Reuters press agency, used a fleet of over 45 pigeons to deliver news and stock prices between Brussels and Aachen.  Possibly the first regular air mail service in the world was Mr Howie's Pigeon-Post service from the Auckland New Zealand suburb of Newton to Great Barrier Island, starting in 1896. Certainly the world’s first 'airmail' stamps were issued for the Great Barrier Pigeon-Gram Service from 1898 to 1908. Read more about this memorable piece of history and see what the stamp looked like at the website of the Museum of New Zealand.

The modern racing pigeon was developed in Belgium in the 1800's and the sport of racing soon spread north to Great Britain and throughout Europe.  Wonderful strains were developed and then improved as the racing pigeons spread to Canada, the United States and across the world.  It is from these racing pigeon strains that White Release Doves were bred.  Top quality racers can be very expensive, in the tens of thousands of dollars. Racing champions may sell for a quarter of a million dollars, but good quality, banded White Release Dove usually sells for about $30. 

Many different color varieties have developed over the years.  The color white may be obtained with an albino, but albino birds are not as hardy and their feathers wear quickly.  Bright light hurts their eyes, and while they make fine pets, they are not sufficient for a white dove release business.  The "Bull-eyed Whites" are much better. The genetics of the color white is scheduled for a later edition of the IWDS journal.

We have all heard of the use of pigeons in wartime.  Messenger pigeons were used as early as 1150 in Baghdad and also later by Genghis Khan. Pigeons were used by the Roman Army and many other armies, including during World War I and II as they carried valuable messages. There have been many winged wartime heroes. Read about Cher Ami...  And today, pigeons were still used by police departments in India in 2002.  They were also used as recently as the Gulf War, and the Swiss army has messenger pigeons currently working. Sometimes their use has been quite creative.  For example, in the Grand Canyon, pigeons were used by a white-water rafting outrigger in Colorado to ferry undeveloped film canisters in special backpacks down a mountain so that printed photos can be purchased by the outrigger's clients by the time they arrived back home.