Pigeons
We have started working more intensely on our projects, which I am not going to write much about today because it has been a frustrating process and would probably bore most of you. Instead I will write about the fascinating world of pigeon training. There are weird structures on top of buildings that look like little houses. Some of them are quiet interesting, while others look like they are about to fall apart. They are pigeon houses, and the pigeons are being trained to race. The picture shows the pigeon house next to our studio. The pigeons in the top house are the best, and they go out every day. The building below is filled with pigeons as well, but apparently they are either too young, or not trained enough to fly with the big boys.
When the pigeons are let out to fly the trainer stays on the top of the house and watches them. Sometimes they try to come back to soon, and he waves them off with a flag. The other trick is to launch bottle rockets at them, only the bottle rockets are much louder than the ones we have at home. Apparently this teaches them not to be scared off course by competitors or thunderstorms, etc. At first the sound of exploding fireworks at any time of day was unsettling, but now it doesn’t bother me. I wonder if it even registers with people who live here. When the trainer wants the birds to come in he blows a whistle and they all come back. I don’t understand how the actual racing works, but I imagine they are taken out of town and are timed how long it takes to get back to there roost. Of course that means there is no common finish line.