Australia National Racing Pigeon Board Incorporated

Keep a watch on the sky Saturday afternoon and you might just see flocks of pigeons returning home to their lofts. Liberated at Milton at 1pm the pigeons will be flying over the Illawarra after a 110 km race for the first meet of the season of the South Coast Pigeon Federation, now in its 91st year. Most fanciers will be out to beat  Graham Davison, one of Australia’s best racers who has dedicated his life to racing these athletes of the sky. In the past few months Davison, 76, keeps a tight watch on his team’s training schedule and feeds them a hand-mixed special blend of grain, wheat and seed.  His elite A-team of birds has already completed their morning training and now it’s the B-team’s turn to spread their wings. Shooting up into the blue sky the pigeons circle the backyard a few times before flying off. The sport gripped Davison at the age of 10 when he received his first pigeon as a gift. After that, he began working as a loft boy for a well-known racer at Gwynneville. He began racing himself in 1953 building himself a loft in his backyard at the age of 15. The champion pigeon Davison is most proud of by far is called simply the Record Hen. She flew from Bundaberg to Mount Ousley in 14 hours, 23 minutes. In 2000 he was offered $6000 for her by a Japanese flier. Davison refused to sell. Record Hen turned 20 a month ago – already living eight years longer than the average pigeon. Davison has an entire room dedicated to the trophies he’s won over his long sporting career. For the past 35 years, he has taken out at least one of the categories in the South Coast Federation point score. Last year he won all of the categories. But age is catching up. Racing pigeons are hard work and Davison thinks he’ll only be able to stay competitive for another four years. By then he’ll be 80.

                   Courtesy of ABC