Yesterday the birds had an excellent toss. At the end of the day, 680 birds clocked. This morning, another was waiting to come in.
We are doing hand inventory today using the trap , top pigeon and Wincompanion. There will be sporadic activity on these sites and not untill the end of the day will it be completed. Check after supper and you will have your list.
Thanks, Rick
By 12;00, 653 birds have clocked. Rick
Yesterday the birds went 43 KM. The sky was clear and the wind helped push them home. Total into the clock was 681. They were released starting at 9:15 am. Today the birds will be released at 50 KM. The sky is clear with very little wind. They should be up around 11 am.
Rick
The birds were taken for a 43 KM toss this morning. The weather was exactly the same as yesterday, including the head wind. The first group consisted of about 100 birds and after that, it was a mixture of small, about 40 birds and very small groups. The last group released had 100 birds in it and only 50 came on the drop. The rest that came home came one at a time. There were a number of strays that I had to remove from the loft. Just to let you know, I force them to have a drink then bag them and toss them into the air. They may turn to see who that guy was but not many ever come bck. The were three birds that did not go to the race. I thought they were on the clock, but now I just checked, and they are not.
Tomorrow, another toss with the weather deciding how far I'll go.
Today we managed to get the birds out to 43 KM.They were released in small groups and came home that way. The first group went out about 15:45. Traffic was a little slow. Some farmer was out with his manure spreader. The first birds home were out front and came from up high, dove straight to the board and went right in. All birds, except for a small handfull who we will eat next week if they don't smarten up, landed in front of the trap and did not mess around too much before going in.
We had a beautifull sky with high clouds. The wind was in their face and fairly strong. At bird 670, 2 falcons came streaking out of the sky and I believe one of our birds got smoked.
The first bird in the clock was the last one home from yesterday. The next 4 had the day off because of bruises and bangs. Bird # 6 was first in the clock from the toss.
Today is my birthday and I am going out for a beer and a bite with Linda, Dyann, John and Adam. With such a late toss, I am not running the birds out again to check on the piggy backers. Don't panic if we are short a few birds. More than likely they will show up on tomorrows toss. Back to the cemetery again Thursday. Linda and Dyann have been taking the birds out training and I get to stay home and snooze in my lawn chair waiting for the troops to get home. Almost like heaven.
I receive "de Duif", a pigeon paper from Belgium/Holland every week and when I finish reading it, I have a tendency to think in Dutch and sometimes, speak Dutch. Trying it on my wife gets me nowhere so I now speak it to the pigeons. The ones with Dutch and Belgium ancestors, listen and respond well. All the others with back grounds from around the world, can't seem to catch on, so I decided to also use sign language. The one fingered word works, the rest not so well. I need a lot more practise.
The birds went 29.5 KM today. The sky was bright with some dark clouds that were high and moving right along. The wind was on their right shoulder. The birds arrived in larger groups because today, we let 3 sections of the trailer go at a time.
The first bird in the clock was the last bird home from yesterdays toss. The second bird in the clock needed to go to the washroom in the worst way so he landed a bit quicker than the other 99 pigeons that were on his tail. Lots of birds hung around outside, some jumped into the tub and others checked out the lawn. THere are still a few birds that climb over top if a bird stops in the trap. We have reduced the flow coming in but some just panic and can't slow done. We let the birds back out at 5 PM and they go over the traps again. This catches the ones missed.
Tomorrow afternoon we hope to get another 30 KM toss then Thursday we'll head off to Havelock which is about twice as far. Three from Havelock and then we will step out. We will be doing hand inventory shortly. There are some birds missing e-rings and some have e-rings that read not assigned. We'll have all that done before the weekend that you need to pick your Master Breeder bird. We have a booster coming from Amazon that will boost the signal and speed of our clocking unit. The same set up is used in the Crooked River OLR so we'll be good to go.
The birds were trained today. They were released in small groups into dark, cloudy skies with a bit a rain falling and with a slight head wind. They came home in large groups and most came in good time. There were those that wandered.
The simm card came later in the afternoon and once it was installed, we let the birds have open trap and let them back out. Now that it is on, other tweeking needs to be done. The speed of transmission is the next to be solved. Apparantly we need a booster and a change of band width. Most birds are now on and will continue to be added as the night goes on. Soon it will be real time. The clock in the loft reads 721 birds.
Tomorrow we go 25 KM again. Wednesday I have an important appointment at 10 am in Toronto so we will try to do a short toss in the afternoon. Thursday we will go 50 KM.
We will be doing a hand inventory. Today we found 5 birds without ebands that were banded before. We also have several strays which are tough to spot in a crowd.
Bernie wishes to thank all of you who are participating in the Master Breeders series.Without your support, it just wouldn't be any fun. This year, Bernie has again donated an awesome mantel clock. Bernie just knows that again, he's going to win all your money and he feels just a little bit sad that you won't get any but he's not sad enough to stop smiling.
Todays not my birtday but I got a birthday present anyway. Today was one of most enjoyable training tosses ever. Eleven birds came two minuted ahead of a larger group and then it was bird after bird after bird. Small groups, larger groups, singles, doubles, birds strung out one behind the other, just like on race day. There were no happy wanderers today. It was get up and go home day.
First, the weather. We had lots of sunshine, high, wispy clouds with a stiff tailwind to push them south and to provide relief from the heat.{ I asked my wife how do you spell relief and she said r-o-l-a-i-d-s. Smart ass!} There were dark clouds over Lake Ontario that are to bring rain at the end of the day.
While the birds were quick to come home, when here, they continued with yesterdays game of drifting in the updrafts along the side of the hill. The birds gather in large flocks and fly along the tree line eventually drifting over the top and disappearing from sight. Count to four and they reappear coasting one behind the other and swinging down and around the valley to the other end only to do it all over again. Must be cool up there and must be enjoyable to just coast. Best I've ever done is go into a large curve on my motorcycle and go like lickity split into the wind. Maybe they get the same kick out of what they do.
This year we are using the products of Henk de Weert. This week, because of the heat and humidity, the birds received a preventative treatment for respiratory. It certainly helped. No open mouths or squeeks and rattles.
Tomorrow, hopefully a simm card and the birds will go 25 KM.
The following fanciers are participating in the Master Breeder series.
