Birdology: Adventures with a Pack of Hens, a Peck of Pigeons, Cantankerous Crows, Fierce Falcons, Hip Hop Parrots, Baby Hummingbirds, and One Murderously Big Living Dinosaur

by Sy Montgomery

How do you proclaim a winner when each loft is at a different distance from the starting line? The first bird to make it home isn’t necessarily the winner. The winning time is calculated in yards per minute. The Lesieurs’ J & J Loft is 182.4 air miles from the Ilion starting line, as determined by the Global Positioning System. When a bird lands on a rubber pad in front of the loft door, a scanner records the number of the band on the leg, like an item at the grocery store. The bird’s number, as well as the exact time of landing, is recorded on a special computerized clock. Divide the loft’s distance from the starting line by the time in minutes it took the bird to return and multiply by the number of yards in a mile to yield yards per minute. Only comparing this time with birds of other lofts—which is done at the pigeon club later that night when everyone brings in his calibrated clock—determines the winner.