NELSOOOOOOON (labnote sidenote)
if you have read my last lab note ( farm fun time part 1, Arundel MD) you read about how I'm trying not to anthropomorphize or get attached to pigeons too much. However, I completely failed at this at my most recent New Jersey trapping site.
Cherry Grove Farm is a small meat, dairy and egg producing farm in central New Jersey. The farm's pastures are home to far more than livestock, and the farm's birdlife includes belted kingfishers, peregrine falcons, merlins, golden crowned kinglets and some interesting geese....
Anyway, back to the pigeons. before I get into the star of today's show we need to go over a Bit of context.
there are four "classes" of domestic pigeon.
Racers:
One of the most popular pigeons, includes racing, homing and carrier pigeons. valued for speed mostly, but also intelligence, endurance and color. usually look like typical "street pigeons"
exhibition flyers:
includes rollers, tumblers and tipplers. pigeons bred not to fly fast, but to fly "special". some exhibition flyers flip, others stay in the air for a long time. Can look either very plain or very exotic.
Fancy pigeons:
pigeons often kept for show or as pets. Many of these pigeons are heavily modified through selective breeding and look nothing like wild-type rock pigeons.
utility pigeons:
pigeons bred for meat production, but often kept as pets. large and heavy. chicks are harvested at a few weeks old to make "squab".
when scanning through a flock of pigeons before study, I look for all four of these varieties. racing pigeons can usually survive for a while in the wild, and a free flying racing pigeon seen with a wild flock might just be taking a "pit stop" during a race.
the other three classes are of more concern, as it is believed that some exhibition flyers can not survive in the wild, as well as almost all show and utility pigeons.
in Boston, I found some free-living roller pigeons, however at other sites, domestic pigeons where not found.
however, on my visit to cherry grove farm, more of these birds where found.
And then there was the tippler. A tippler pigeon is a type of exhibition flyer, but instead of doing somersaults, the tippler can stay aloft for up to 22 hours of non-stop flight. the tippler was the first domestic I spotted, and was VERY hard to miss.
however, things got even more interesting when we caught this bird in one of our walk-in traps.
once in- hand we decide to read the pigeon's leg band, printed on the band was the following:
NELSON 2019 48
And to make things even stranger, the Puerto Rican flag was printed on one side of the band.
Usually, a pigeon's band has the phone number, or email of it's owner. it may also have the owner's name, the bird's hatch year and sex. based on this. I could infer that the pigeon's owner was named Nelson, and the bird was hatched in 2019. however, this didn't help me figure out who this pigeon belonged to, or what it was doing on a farm in New Jersey. Because of the flag, a sneaking suspicion ran through me that this bird might have flown from Puerto Rico to New Jersey..... things like this have happened before, as Central American birds such as the fork-tailed flycatcher have been reported living in New Jersey, most likely having flown here on their own, but possibly hitching a ride on a boat.
the idea that this pigeon made a 2,540 mile flight was fun but rather improbable, so I decided to seek out a more likely explanation for the bird.
thankfully, I have a secret weapon when it comes to confusing domestic pigeon situations. a facebook group called "%100 pigeons". this group has the motto of: "Please do not post any political crap on here. Let's keep this a friendly, pigeon only group"
thankfully, someone in this group knew of this pigeon's band, and knew who the mysterious Nelson is.
The man's full name is Nelson Garcia, and is from Puerto Rico. however, he currently lives in new Brunswick. his pigeon lofts, are well.....
Simply extraordinary:
even in the few minutes scene we caught the tippler, I had gotten attached. The little bird was held in the dog crate we use to queue up birds for measurement. This was to check for for any illness or injury the domestic bird may have aquired during its time in the wild. however, this bird was healthy, and sat calmly and quietly in its crate, watching me the entire time.
We now had a domestic bird on our hands. this would usually mean taking the bird home and trying to return it to it's owner. However, my mom has been grappling with a series of autoimmune issues recently, and is in result hypersensitive to many potential allergens. it's no secret that pigeons are especially heavy dander-producing birds, and can easily set off a down allergy. because of this, we could not bring this pigeon ( now informally dubbed "Nelson" after his owner) home with us. Nelson appeared in perfect health, and the best option for us and him, was to let him go back to the flock he was living with.
So, with a little tear in my eye, I let Nelson go.
however, this was not the I would see of this little fellow.
upon my next visit to the farm, I saw the little brown headed pigeon flying by, and I shouted NELSOOOOOOON up to the bird. I don't think he understood me, but Nelson would not be forgetting me any time soon. Just like before, the pigeon trotted right into the walk-in trap.
oh nelson, you did it again!
because nelson is a domestic bird, I can't use him as part of my study, so it was right back to the flock for nelson after capture.
of course, I took a few photos first.
as of writing this lab note, I am not finished with trapping at Cherry grove farm, and I might still catch nelson one more time.
maybe, if my mom's autoimmune problems clear up, some time in the not too distant future, we can catch Nelson the pigeon for real and bring him home to Nelson the human.
until then, have a few more photos of nelson and friends
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