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Continuing a tradition started by his father, Noel began keeping pigeons at the age of ten. |
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The racing of pigeons is possible because of the birds' uncanny abilities to find their way home over unfamiliar territory hundreds of miles away. | |||||||||
The homing instinct remains a mystery despite extensive research performed worldwide. The modern racing homer is the result of 160 years of selective breeding. | |||||||||
This breeding places the racing homer as far from the common street, or feral, pigeon as the thoroughbred racehorse is from the common plowhorse. | |||||||||
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"You can have birds of different colors, huge crests. You can have birds that swoop or birds that tumble through the air," said Noel. "Man has taken advantage of the mutations. Hidden genes come out to give the bird a different wingspan and the feathers line up better to give the bird a stroke more conducive to speed." | |||||||||
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