Dave B's racing pigeon

At my last market a customer was interested in my bird photography. She asked if I’d be able to take a portrait of a a bird, which she wanted to give to her husband as a birthday present. I said more I’d be happy to in principle, but would need to know more. Two days later I popped round the corner, or should I say three hundred yards away to their house in the next road to meet her husband. 

It turns out that Dave has been racing pigeons for many years and two weeks ago one of his birds won a prestigious national race over a distance of more than three hundred miles. Within a week another of his brids had won a similarly important race! I assume it is a bit like winning the Grand National. He is extremely pleased and it is a highlight of his hobby life. He showed me several of his birds including the winner!

The pigeon’s portrait has to be in a certain traditional style and includes the separate close-up detail of its eye, which can somehow show an expert a great deal of information about the bird’s innate qualities, which are important fro breeding purposes. I took a few shots as tests for me to examine and to show them.

Dave also showed me his wife’s small collection of special birds called pouter pigeons, which do not race but are ‘shown’ in competitions. Apparently they all have evolved from Rock Doves. I've added an extra showing one of the Pouter pigeons displaying its inflated crop.


The Pouter pigeons are domesticated varieties of the rock dove, Columba livia, characterized by a very large, inflatable crop. They are kept as ornamental or fancy breeds, valued for their unusual appearance. There are many varieties of pouter with little in common except for the nature of the crop. The origin of the breed group is unknown, but Pouters have been bred in Europe for at least 400 years.