Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 8/19/2007

Question
We have pictures of a white homing pigeon?? with a yellow band. I only got part of the numbers but we have fed him and he is still coming back to our 20 acre clearing . He's very tame and comes within 5-6 ft of us. The band numbers I can see are NC 8 (05)1 the 05 is in the vertical orientation. I have photos that I can upload. We are in Eastern KY near Yatesville lake 41201.
Carl

Answer
Hi, Carl,

This bird is probably someone's racing homing pigeon that has gone astray either as a result of training or during a race.  The 05 means the bird hatched is 2005.  You can go to www.pigeon.org.  This should be the American Racing Pigeon Union website.  There is a link on the home page titled "Lost Birds" or "Finding a Lost Bird" or something similar.  You can go here and using the information from the band, search under year 2005, and see if you can locate a Club on that listing with the initials "NC."  If so, you can call the individual identified for that Club to try to locate the owner.  Otherwise, you can also use that listing to find a Club near you where someone might be interesting in keeping this bird or helping you find the owner, etc.  This bird is likely fairly tame because s/he's been handled by its owner to be basketed, raced, trained, etc.  Racing pigeons are usually fairly used to people.  The ARPU can also be very helpful in helping you locate the proper owner, at least to let the person know the bird has been found if nothing else.  

Chrys