I went out to look at it and could not see a problem with its wings, although it was a young bird its feathers were fully fledged and it looked perfectly capable of flying. We get flocks of wild pigeons in the countryside surrounding our house, but they fly off as soon as anyone goes into the fields they are in. This pigeon was very tame and it was a light brown and white colour instead of the much more common ubiquitous wild pigeon grey. It was quite happy to be a couple of feet away from me and it occurred to me that it might be a racing pigeon that had been blown off course in the recent bad weather and had lost its way.
Many years ago my uncle had kept racing pigeons and my grandfather bred fancy pigeons with fan tails and feathers on their feet, so I was aware that domestic pigeons usually have identification rings on their legs. I had a look and could clearly see that the pigeon had two rings one around each of its legs so my suspicions were confirmed.
Now I had established that it was a lost racing pigeon I had to find out how to go about tracing its owner and try to get the two of them re-united. I spoke to my husband and he found a U-tube video detailing what to do. It clarified that one of the rings around the pigeon's legs would have an identification number and the other the owner’s phone number. Interestingly enough sometimes the owner’s phone number can be imprinted on the pigeon’s wings much like a freeze mark ID on a horse. The most important thing was to catch the pigeon and put it in a cardboard box or pet carrier with some water and wild bird seed so it could rest and replenish its energy reserves. It was naturally also very important to keep the pigeon away from cats and dogs.
I found an old pet carrier box and we put some wild bird seed in a receptacle and tempted the bird to hop into the box. We then secured the box and took it inside where we examined the bird’s rings and took down the ID number and the owner’s phone number.
Next I called the owner’s mobile number and established that the bird was from Wellingborough, so not too far away from us. The owner was very glad to hear from me and arranged to come and collect his bird the next day. He told me he had another bird to collect but that one was much further away in Worcester!
We kept the bird in the pet carrier and made sure it had plenty of water and bird seed and when its owner arrived the next day he was very grateful that his bird was nicely full of food, safe and well. I was just happy to see the two of them re-united and the pigeon on his way home.