COURAGEOUS BIRDS


COURAGEOUS BIRDS

By PEGGY WILLIAMS AKA Birdie of Mississippi



While watching a PBS episode of the British “Antiques Roadshow” I saw a lady who had brought a framed photograph of a pigeon which quickly caught my attention.  As she explained her story of coming to possess the photograph she shared that the pigeon was one owned by her father.  The pigeon’s name was Cologne and he had served with the National Pigeon Service and had carried out over 100 missions with Bomber Command.  Cologne had received a metal of bravery in 1947 called the Dickin Medal from the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals with a citation that read: “For homing from a crashed aircraft over Cologne although seriously wounded, whilst serving with the RAF in 1943”.  



The Dickin Metal is the size of a normal soldier’s metal and according to Wikipedia.com was given to the owner of the bird or animal for “conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving in military conflict.” The PDSA Dickin Metal was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honor the work of animals in World War II.  After watching the Roadshow episode I Googled to refresh my memory of homing pigeons being used as military messengers.  Apparently, homing pigeons have played an important part in wars for a long time and 32 pigeons have been presented with the Dickin Medal in the United Kingdom.  The Racing Homer breed of pigeon’s homing ability, speed and altitude helped them fulfill their missions.  Sixty-seven Dickin Metals have been given to animals such as dogs with 31 metals, three to horses and one to a cat, but the pigeon has received the most with 32 metals!



A homing pigeon can find its way home from as far as 1,100 miles away – traveling an average speed of 50 mph, but they can have bursts of speed up to 90 mph! These skills make them invaluable for the military and even in this time of high technology can still accomplish missions that people would not realize were even being done because who would suspect a bird?



The reason that a pigeon has such an ability to navigate its way home has gone unexplained for all these years, but on the site popsci.com (Popular Science) a USGS geologist John Hagstrum noticed in 2013 that the Concord’s sonic boom affected the pigeons’ abilities to orient themselves toward their home lofts and so the pigeon’s navigation skills may come from the pigeon’s keen sense of low-frequency hearing.



Everything that exists on earth has a purpose in our environment including the pigeon and as I continue to “look at the birds of the air” Matthew 6:26, once again I have discovered a Birdie that God created that has a “wow” factor that I didn’t know about! And this courageous bird saved many lives by fulfilling its duty during wartime.  


My photos may be viewed & “LIKED” on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest - “Birdie of Mississippi”.

E-mail: birdieofmississippi@gmail.com - Read my Blog @ http://www.birdieofmississippi.blogspot.com





Comments

  1. DianneJanuary 29, 2020 at 3:21 PM

    This is an interesting piece about homing pigeons. It was fun learning!

    ReplyDelete

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