Horst

A homing pigeon stranded at Joke and Peter's place today.
When I arrived there with my parents this morning it was sitting at the terrace. It looked exhausted and hungry. I had some birdfood with me and it immediately started eating and drinking.

When I was a kid I had pigeons myself for years, so I was concerned with the animal immediately. It looked very tame so I tried to grab it. That was easy. Together with Peter we checked the number on the ring on it's paw. It also had a race ring on as well. I also checked the wings, and couldn't find anything wrong with them. Fortunately.
My conclusion remained: exhausted and hungry. It's a very young bird, born this year (2020 was on the ring). Probably on it's first race.
We found out it was a German pigeon. We discovered the club it belonged to and got in contact with the chairman, mister Horst Uhlmann from Emden.
Emden is very nearby, on the other side of the Ems/Dollard. For this bird (probably released in France of Belgium recently, Emden was just a bit too far. Maybe bad weather got it out of its course, who knows).
Via mr Horst, we got the name and number of the owner, Gerd Wibben in Emden. I contacted him via Facebook messenger but didn't get a response.

Just now, around 20pm I got a message from Peter that the bird was gone. The best solution for all! Horst (we named it "Horst') was probably almost home by now. The direction of the wind is very good right now and the distance is not far. After a day of resting and eating this distance shouldn't be a problem for Horst anymore.

I hope that Gerd, the owner will accept the late arrival of Horst! Fingers crossed.

Bye Horst!


(This photo was made by Peter.)