It’s a muggy Monday morning and Aurora resident Robert Van Overmeiren is getting testy.
“I’m beat. I’m not going to win the race,” said the 57-year-old route salesman and driver for a local ice cream company.
On this day, Van Overmeiren can be found in his back yard, peering into the sky, grousing each time a bluish-gray or reddish-gray pigeon lands on a ledge near his garage.
With a quick grab, Van Overmeiren takes each bird as it arrives and removes a green rubber band from its foot. He then puts the rubber-band marker into an odd-looking box that records each of the 20 pigeons’ race times on a piece of paper within.
“They kind of faked me out,” he said, alluding to the fact that he thought his feathered friends would have arrived the day before. “They couldn’t be released yesterday because of the thunderstorms in Iowa. You never know when they’re going to show up.”
The arrival of the birds is a crucial point in Van Overmeiren’s weekend hobby of racing pigeons. Once he’s clocked the pigeons’ arrival times, Van Overmeiren and the odd-looking box will travel to the Aurora-Batavia Combine clubhouse in Batavia. It is there he and several dozen fellow club members will compare racing times marked by their unusual clocks with the results of the others who have spent that Monday morning doing the same thing.
Nearly 1.5 million people worldwide, most of them in Germany, England and Ireland, participate in the rather low-profile sport and hobby of pigeon racing.
In the Chicago suburbs, several clubs have sprung up over the years as pigeon racing enthusiasts moved from the city, bringing their old-country pastime with them and generating new interest in the hobby among young people.
More women are also getting involved, as are a growing number of young professionals, who often spend big money on the pedigreed fliers. (No, those who race pigeons don’t train the same pigeons that roost under the elevated tracks or on building ledges.)
“About 25 percent of pigeon racers are youths or women,” said Bob Kinney, owner of Thoroughbred, a twice monthly magazine published in Belvidere, Ill., and devoted to the hobby of racing pigeons.
“Parents have found that it’s a great hobby for the kids because of the competition and the dedication you must have,” said Kinney, whose magazine has a circulation of almost 6,000. “We’re seeing that our biggest appeal is to professional people . . . who have a natural tendency to be competitive. And it’s a great release for them.”
When 45-year-old Terry Kaye of Roselle finishes his teaching duties at Medinah Junior High School in Medinah, he finds solace in the pigeon lofts he has built on the back of his garage, the place where he trains his 40 birds.
“What’s nice is after a tough day you can walk into the loft with the pigeons and you’re in another world,” said Kaye, a computer and industrial science teacher. “It’s really a challenge. You really have to work at it. It’s always excitement.”
Kaye has been raising pigeons since childhood and belongs to the 30-member Elgin Homing Pigeon Club.
While women, youngsters and younger professionals are among the new breed of pigeon racers, a good 50 percent of bird fanciers tend to be retired men who have been racing pigeons for years.
This October, the Greater Chicago Combine will host the American Racing Pigeon Union’s 83rd annual convention, which is expected to attract nearly 2,000 fanciers from around the world to Rosemont, according to club officials. The American Racing Pigeon Union, based in Oklahoma City, and the International Federation of Racing Pigeon Fanciers, headquartered in Bala-Cynwyd, Pa., are the two racing pigeon organizations that hobbyists tend to join.
In pigeon racing’s heyday, in the 1940s, Chicago’s pigeon fanciers numbered about 600. Today, many of those members still belong to the city-based organizations but have moved to the collar counties. Indeed, the suburbs between Aurora and the Wisconsin border boast about 1,800 pigeon-racing enthusiasts who belong to organizations like the Aurora-Batavia Combine, the Lake County Racing Pigeon Club and the Wisconsin-Illinois Racing Pigeon Club. Interest, they say, continues to grow.
“When our combine started in 1968, we had three clubs and 50 (individual) members. Today, we have eight clubs and 141 members,” said Cary resident Cecelia Katalba, secretary-treasurer of the North Valley Combine.
Those involved with the hobby hold the same affection for the bird as one might for a thoroughbred horse or dog, welcoming pigeons to their homes by building lofts, often wood-and-wire structures attached to garages, and providing them with expensive food. Some even give them names.
Wood Dale resident Mitch Dejlitko has been a member of the Greater Chicago and North Valley organizations since 1984, when he moved to the suburbs from the city.
“I was interested in pigeon racing since I was a kid in Poland,” said Dejlitko, an auto parts buyer who came to the United States in 1966. “I like to win. Competition is the whole thing.”
Not to be confused with the carrier pigeon (one that flies round-trip as opposed to one-way), the homer has served as a message carrier for more than 5,000 years, according to the American Racing Pigeon Union.
Julius Caesar not only amused himself by racing the birds, he used them as a fast and reliable means of communication during his rule of the Roman Empire.
The homing pigeon also played an important role in 19th Century European commerce. Belgian traders sent stock exchange information from London across the English Channel to their home offices via pigeon, a practice that continued into the 1900s.
From ancient battles through the Vietnam War, armies have sent messages via homing pigeon when other communication methods failed or during radio silence. Historians have credited the birds with saving thousands of lives as a result of those communications. In Vietnam, pigeons were also trained to spot and warn of booby traps.
One example of wartime heroics by homers is the story of G.I. Joe. In 1943, Joe flew 20 miles in 20 minutes to a U.S. air base command to relay a message that stopped American planes from bombing allies who had taken over a site. Joe received the Dickin Medal for gallantry, the only animal ever honored with the award. In fact, 32 pigeons received medals in World War II.
Heroics aside, the sport of pigeon racing has always been popular in Europe, second only to soccer, according to Kinney. Members of the British royal family have for centuries been major pigeon racing fanciers and still keep a loft on palace grounds. “The Kings Cup is the highest award in England,” said Kinney. And in Japan, where the sport has become very popular, there are about 500,000 people who race pigeons.
And just as U.S. radio reports the daily sports scores, European broadcasts include pigeon racing results. And weather forecasts are essential for pigeon racers because of the challenges of wind and rain.
In Europe, races take on the grandeur and high stakes of Triple Crown horse racing here. Each year in Barcelona, the Kentucky Derby of pigeon racing, called simply The Barcelona, is held, the winning purse totaling up to $250,000. The winner of last year’s competition, a pigeon from Holland, was later sold for $225,000, according to Kinney, who has been to the event. While that price might seem steep, stud fees will recoup that investment easily, he said.
When immigrants came to the United States, they brought along their foods and culture as well as their love for racing pigeons. In cities like Chicago, rooftops were outfitted with lofts, and racing clubs sprouted.
“This is a European hobby,” said Boston resident Russ Burns, who is secretary-treasurer of the American Racing Pigeon Union. “It used to attract blue-collar (immigrant) workers from Poland and Germany.”
Today, there are roughly 100,000 hobbyists nationwide, with about 20,000 of those dedicated to the sport of racing, according to Kinney. The remaining pigeon hobbyists raise fancy-looking show pigeons, he said.
And while the purses in this country may not be as large as those in Europe, races here are popular not only among members of a particular club but in larger meets, pitting several clubs against one another.
Preparation for a typical race, which is usually held on a Saturday, starts the day before when club members mark their pigeons (from six to several dozen) by placing rubber racing bands on their legs. The marked birds are then placed in cages that are transported to the racing club. Members’ cages are loaded onto a large truck and driven to the starting point, which can be between 100 and 1,000 miles away from their home loft.
For Holmes, his birds often take off from Des Moines.
To begin the race, the pigeons are released at the same time, looking not unlike a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” Up to 1,400 of them can pour out of their crates, then swarm into the sky. The time is recorded by the truck driver, who calls into the club collect so that the time is also recorded on a phone bill for a later comparison. It’s one way to prevent cheating.
The pigeons make a circle or two in the air and then jet off.
The homers, no matter where they’re let out, find their bearings and fly back to their lofts. Through selective breeding methods, the flight range of the bird has increased from 40 miles in early times to 1,000 miles today, according to Kinney.
The homing pigeon’s ability to find its way home over unfamiliar territory is attributed to the bird’s strong senses of sight and hearing, according to Nancy Bent, who is an assistant librarian at the Brookfield Zoo and has worked in the zoo’s bird house for nine years.
“They orient by the sun,” said Bent, who has a master’s degree in ornithology from Rutgers University in New Jersey, “and they compensate for the movement of the sun. On cloudy days, they use landmarks along routes they’ve already flown.”
Pigeons also have a magnetic component in their brain, which gives them an acute sense of direction.
In spite of their natural abilities, some pigeons don’t always make it home.
The birds can get lost in severe storms, or following volcanic eruptions and earthquakes-even if they occur thousands of miles away-that tend to upset the earth’s magnetic field, Kinney said.
Predators also claim a fair share of the birds, he said.
“Hawks are their biggest threat,” Kinney said.
The anticipation and preparation during the week give way to the race and the fancier’s finest moment: the arrival. “If you have never seen race birds return, it is a sight you should behold,” said Kinney, who belongs to a Rockford-based club.
Because a speedy landing is the most crucial part of the race, the owners try to attract the birds’ attention and get them to fly to the landing area as quickly as possible. That’s why Holmes throws a fancy-looking female pigeon into the air. His is white to attract the leader. And his coffee can containing corn is a familiar audible signal that helps, too.
Once they’ve landed and walk into the coops, the birds’ bands are removed and placed into a special, tamper-proof clock, which was synchronized at the club earlier. It records the time by stamping it on an internal piece of paper or recording it on computer disc, depending on the instrument.
Winners, tallied later at the club, are determined by the best time. Their speed is calculated by using a formula. The birds usually fly between 65 and 85 miles per hour. Most regional competitions award purses that range from $50 to $12,000.
While the bird has the innate ability to find its home, some training and conditioning are required. Initially, young birds must become familiar with their lofts and surroundings. When the birds begin to race, the owners will take them to sites along the race route-sometimes 100 miles away-to condition them to take the quickest route possible. Then during the full race, when the pigeons reach that point, they can adjust their travel pattern, improving their times.
During the summer, Van Overmeiren takes his pigeons to a field about 30 miles away and lets them fly back home as part of their training.
During the week, bird owners allow their racers a daily workout to help them build and maintain muscle. It’s also a time when the cages are cleaned, up to twice a day. In the northern climes, racing is limited to the warm months, with winter and early spring serving as breeding times. Racing starts at the end of April and continues through October.
In warmer parts of the country, competition is year-round.
The cost for keeping pigeons can run into the thousands. Specially equipped buildings, purchase of new pedigreed birds, food and routine medical care can cost a small fortune.
Kinney’s two lofts, one outfitted especially for breeding, are top of the line. Each bird has a 24-by-18-by-14-inch compartment, which is its home for life. The bottoms are made of screen, so that droppings pass through, keeping conditions sanitary. His bright and airy buildings have automatic watering devices for the pigeons and alarms to alert him when the pigeons return.
But for beginners, keeping a few pigeons is not cost-prohibitive. Most local clubs have programs to get novices going by providing a breeding hen and by letting them use the clocks. The price of building a small coop runs about $200.
One reason pigeon racing has not attained the sort of mass appeal it has in Europe is that Americans tend to favor pastimes with a little more action, according to 76-year-old Ray Zotti, an Oak Park resident who has been racing the birds since 1936. “We’re geared to sports like football and baseball,” said Zotti, secretary-treasurer of Greater Chicago Combine, an umbrella group for four city clubs.
Pigeons also suffer from a public relations problem, perceived by some as that city chicken with a dirty reputation for soiling unsuspecting pedestrians and carrying disease.
Zotti blames “the pesticide people” for spreading nasty rumors about the winged ones. Pest control companies “got people thinking that pigeons are flying rats. They got everybody scared. Pigeons are no more diseased than any other animal,” he said.
That’s an accurate assessment, according to a veterinarian who worked in the Brookfield Zoo bird house for a few years in the early 1980s. “You don’t hear much about people getting sick from pigeons,” said Dr. Scot McDonald of the Midwest Bird and Exotic Animal Hospital in Westchester.
If pigeon lovers have one other wish, it is that other people look at some of the factual information that might serve to change the bird’s dirty image, Kinney said.
“Facts that the pigeon is not dumb and probably has the visual intelligence of any animal,” he said, “(and) that the common house cat is more of a disease threat to us than the pigeon.”
