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