THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511100216
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: COASTAL JOURNAL
SOURCE: MARY REID BARROW
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
An unexpected visitor strutted into Lisa and David Forester's Kempsville garage recently.
``It was Sunday morning after a big rain storm,'' Lisa Forester said. ``My husband was out working in the garage and a pigeon just came walking in. He called me, `Come here, come here, you gotta see this!'
``I said, `David, that looks like someone's domesticated pigeon,' '' Forester continued. ``He put his hand out and the bird jumped up on his hand.''
So they closed the garage door and then discovered the big pigeon had a band on its leg that said ``James River 550.'' The Foresters, who once kept mourning doves as pets, still had a cage on hand. So they put the pigeon in it and then fed their hungry visitor.
``She went through food and water like crazy for a whole week,'' Forester said.
Their Sunday morning surprise, it seems, was just the beginning of the couple's adventure. ``We started our quest to see who it belonged to,'' Forester explained.
For the rest of the week the plump pigeon with its soft gray head, iridescent green neck and silver gray back, flecked with black, would live with the Foresters. Cooing contentedly in its cage, it kept Lisa Forester on the run to the pet store for more bird seed, in between her bookkeeping jobs.
At first the bird's leg band was no help in tracking down its owner, because no listing for racing pigeon clubs or associations is in the phone book, she said. Resources such as the Norfolk zoo, the Virginia Marine Science Museum and the Virginia Beach SPCA had no numbers to call either.
Forester then called a wildlife rehabilitation worker for advice. She was advised to take the bird to a person who had worked with returning domesticated pigeons to the wild. Most pigeon fanciers don't want to pick up a lost bird but want you to let it go to return home on its own, Forester was told. The rehabilitation worker explained that racing pigeons are too domesticated to forage for food on their own and if they have gotten lost, are usually too tired and hungry to make it home.
But Forester said she felt obligated to try and find the bird's owner. She was given the name of Benjamin Sikes, president of the Seaport Fliers, a racing pigeon club in Norfolk, who gave her the name of a Newport News woman with the James River club, who gave her the name of the bird's owner.
Sure enough, when she finally reached the owner in Newport News, he said to just let the pigeon go. It seems the bird had been on a 300-mile race back to Newport News. Along with several others, the pigeon got off course during heavy rain two weekends ago.
``He said to let it go and he would hope it would come home,'' Forester related last week. ``But I couldn't do that since I felt slightly responsible for her since she was in my possession.''
The Foresters would be traveling through Newport News on a trip last weekend, so she offered to carry the pigeon in person back to its owner. When they reached the owner's home, Forester asked to see the pigeon loft where the bird lived. She wanted to be sure she was right to give the bird back, Forester explained, after she had returned to Virginia Beach.
``The loft was quite large and interesting,'' she said. ``There was lots of room for them to fly around and there were little pigeon holes for them to sleep in.''
Then something happened to persuade her that returning this pigeon to its owner was appropriate.
``When he put the bird in the loft, she just sat there for a minute,'' Forester said. ``And one by one, the pigeons came up to her, with their little chatter chatter as though they were saying, `hello.' She looked happy to be back.
``David and I both got choked up,'' Forester went on. ``We knew we did the right thing.''
P.S. IF A LOST PIGEON WALKS into your life, it may have a leg band with initials and a number on it. If you want to contact the owner, call Benjamin Sikes of the Seaport Fliers, 855-4397. He has a list of the various clubs in the area with their leg band initials and the telephone number of their president.
AMAZONIAN ETHNOBOTANY is the program topic at the Herb Society of America meeting at 1 p.m. today at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. Vickie Shufer, editor of the Wildlife Forum, will speak.
WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST Florence James will give a short presentation on Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge's mission and lead a walk along refuge trails at 2 p.m. Saturday. Call 721-2412. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by MARY REID BARROW
With a little fancy detective work, Lisa Forester was able to find
the Newport News owner of this racing pigeon that had made itself at
home in her Virginia Beach garage.
by CNB