BUT I believe a good Flyer can in a few years turn an average group of birds into a winning family. JMHO The book's first thing that stands out is the humour laced into every paragraph. This begins with the introduction itself. The author enjoys the topic, or that is what shines through the entire book. My only criticism is that I thought it presented (in)breeding in a very neutral way even when describing certain breeds as literally incapable of feeding their young or flying. I would have liked an explicitly critical approach to some of the more clearly iffy aspects of the selective breeding of sentient animals, but still, based on the general tone and some comments about us having a moral responsibility to treat animals humanely, especially those that exist because of out domestication and breeding, I think the author’s ethics would align with mine there. I’m so used to naturalists being dismissive about or downright hateful of urban wildlife that the author’s tone, enthusiasm and compassion for pigeons was very welcome and refreshing, especially when it’s clearly in no way incompatible with her scientific approach. Mosco's interest in pigeons, bird watching, and nature were infectious. The writing was aimed at readers who might only have vague memories of their high school science classes, so some of the explanations of things like pigeon genetics were a bit simplistic for my tastes, but overall this was an enjoyable and interesting read. I very much appreciated the annotated "Further Reading" section and would like to try out several of the books Mosco mentions. I will first pay attention to Homing instincts alone, after training out i will do tough single tossing, As I used to do.

An unexpectedly fun read. Pigeons. That's what the book is about. Pigeons. Of those things that live out there *waves in a random direction*, I can't say that I've developed much in the way of love or hate for pigeons. They are just there. Cooing. Pooing on me (once). and many other crop planting books should be read by breeders of racing Pigeons as you will find valuble imformation inside.as many..racehorse breeders have themselves. That being said, if you're not interested in pigeons, you might not find it interesting. Rather, take this as an opportunity to learn something new. Maybe not just about birds, but about yourself. According to behavioral ecologists, Zentall recounts, animals should never gamble because evolution has honed them over many thousands of years into optimal foragers. That is, animals should expend the least amount of energy and time to consume the greatest number of calories. Yet this is not always the case. In a recent series of experiments Zentall and his colleagues have found that pigeons make some of the same common reasoning mistakes as humans do. For example, they exhibit a strong tendency to select a riskier option over a smaller, safer reward. In one avian version of a casino, pigeons had to choose between a low-probability payoff of 10 food pellets (versus zero) and a high-probability payoff of three pellets. (The expected value is two pieces of kibble in the first case and three in the second.) Although at first the birds chose the more profitable three-pellet option, over time they switched strategies and went for the suboptimal 10-pellet gamble again and again. Research on human gamblers reveals a complementary trend. Compulsive gamblers pay little attention to their losses, tending to remember when they won but not the frequency of winning.

Zentall suggests that across species, quality may be easier--that is, faster--to judge than quantity. In the wild pigeons typically face competition from their fellow birds, so the bird that reacts the fastest to the sight of food is most likely to snag the morsel. Our ancestors likely faced similar pressures. Here in "USA" ,in YBS. and OBS. we fly race season ( YBS. 100-350 miles) (OBS. 100-600 miles) . I feel you are best suited to find birds that will compete from 100-600 miles. Yes ,their are families of birds that have that ability.

Thank you very much for that Eric,and to be honest mr bishop was a suberb writer,and his magnificent stories about"pinkies" hatch on the moon cicle are nothing less than a beautifully witten fable...funny thing "Planting by the Moon" (authors name escapes me at the moment)Thanks to the power of the internet it's hard to keep a secret. I am interested in his writing and it doesn't matter if the book says "Old Hand" or " Bishop" I chose to read this because of this topic. I have seen pigeons around (who hasn't?!), and if someone recommended I pigeon watch to pass the time, I would not have taken them seriously. The title of this book, therefore, was very intriguing. To look more closely at this surprising behavior, the team divided the pigeons into two groups to see if the birds' level of hunger might play a role. When the pigeons were hungrier,* they made the optimal choice, going for the pea and the milo seed. When the pigeons were only somewhat hungry, they suddenly behaved like humans and chose just the pea. "If it's really important to them they go for quantity," Zentall explains. "If they're not so hungry they go for quality." True it will dramatically speed up the process, but with time any group of Racers can be bred to be a top Racing family. It just takes a breeder with the patience, and the judgement, and instincts to do it. My quibbles are that it’s all just a little too cutesy. The cute parts are funny and appealing but it feels just a bit dumbed down. Or perhaps young adults are the target audience and I’m judging unfairly. The illustrations are also cute but not as informative as I might’ve hoped, and I spent a lot of time on Google Images marveling at the pigeon variety and beauty.