Pigeons on the Hudson River

Over spring break while lying in bed trying to close my mind off to any Hamilton related content, the last program I expected to see on TV was a segment on pigeon racing in the Hudson Valley. The topic of pigeon breeding spotlighted by Charles Osgood on CBS Sunday Morning shook my prolonged vacation snooze into a wake-up mode. Osgood, with his low, monotone voice often finds the strangest, most unique stories that offer content interesting enough to hold attention, but at the same time totally irrelevant to any useful information for a person’s life. The quirkiness of this segment can be demonstrated by one Hudson Valley pigeon lover’s comments. He compared pigeons to homeless people! Explaining that pigeons, just like any other bird, are beautiful and unique, this advocate of feathered friends claimed that once removed from the streets and cleaned, pigeons join the ranks of attractive, intelligent birds.

The Hudson Valley Pigeon Association offers a program that encourages people to appreciate, protect, race and breed pigeons as a hobby. The Association presents a show every year where people bring the different types of pigeons to be judged and awarded prizes. On their website http://www.pigeonclubsusa.com/hvpa.htm pictures of the varieties and subgroups of pigeons abound. Although pigeons seem like a worthless, unappealing and even annoying bird, in the Hudson River area, these birds are highly esteemed as the center of these hobbyists’ worlds. So next time you see a pigeon, don’t run straight to scare it away, but take in the beauty of these creatures (and if you really want, to give it a bath!)