THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 6, 1995 TAG: 9512060027
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
GEORGE WALTERS MUST have been a sight to see when he pulled into the parking lot of Tower Mall in Portsmouth on Saturday.
In the rear of his pickup truck, he carried 40 pigeons.
At about 12:15 p.m., he opened the doors of the wooden coops housing the birds. The birds whooshed from their coops, flew into the air, made a wide circle above the hundreds of cars in the parking lot and headed for the Elizabeth River and their home.
Home was the pigeon loft of Benjamin Sikes, who lives in the Norview section of Norfolk. About 50 members of the Seaport Fliers racing club had gathered in a large garage next to Sikes' dovecote, which houses about 100 racing pigeons.
On a large board the prizes were painted in red letters for all to see. The first pigeon to arrive would win $90 for the person holding its number. The sixth pigeon to arrive would win $15 for its number holder.
The club membership had put up the prize money. Each of the 40 birds had a number strapped to its leg. And the members had drawn the 40 numbers from a hat.
``Nobody knows what bird they have,'' Sikes said. ``They are all my birds.''
It was the last pigeon race of the year for the club. And the affair had the flavor of a mini-carnival. Hot dogs and hamburgers sizzled on the grill and soft drinks nestled on ice.
Owners exhibited their birds for the judges, with prizes given for best cock, best hen, best old cock, best young hen, etc. The pigeon owners had come from around Hampton Roads, some from as far as Richmond.
Sikes, wearing a ball cap and jeans, said he got into pigeon raising and racing because as a boy he had to get rid of a pair of fan-tailed pigeons. His father refused to allow them in the yard because he feared they would give lice to the family's chickens.
``So when I grew up, I gave my boys some pigeons when they were in the Boy Scouts so they could earn a pigeon-racing merit badge.'' His sons gave up the sport, but Benjamin Sikes is as keen on pigeons as ever.
He spends about $70 a month to feed them. The birds live in a white, wired dovecote not much smaller than his garage.
While scientists have proven that pigeons use the sun for a compass, nobody knows for sure what gives them their homing instinct.
It's not uncommon for pigeons to make flights of more than 1,000 miles to their roosts. But the longest race in which Sikes' pigeons have been involved was in June of 1990 when some local pigeons were released in Holland, Mich., - 664 miles from Norfolk.
``The birds were released at 6:15 a.m. and arrived in Norfolk at 8 p.m.,'' Sikes said. The first pigeon to arrive was owned by Steve Jenkins, beating Sikes' bird by about one second.
Usually the birds fly nonstop unless it is summer and they become thirsty.
Racing pigeons often fall prey to hawks and owls, their natural menace.
``There's a hawk up there now!'' Sikes said, pointing to a circling bird above the distant trees.
At about 1 p.m. the pigeons appeared overhead, circling above the red and yellow leaves of tall oaks beyond the yard, like flapping gray and white scraps of paper caught in the golden light of the sun.
The pigeons flew together, circling lower and lower, until the first made its way into the loft, winning $90 for the pigeon fancier holding its number.
Pigeons have been a tradition in Hampton Roads for about as long as anyone can remember. In 1901 the Navy established dovecotes in Portsmouth. In the old days pigeons were also carried aboard steamships based here. While far at sea, a crew member would release one of the birds, after fastening a message on its leg indicating the vessel's estimated time of arrival. by CNB