Greetings

It was in 1968 in Suffolk Road lower Belmont, Port of Spain, where my parents had a small white wooden loft with pigeons. At that time at the age of five, I was fascinated by these birds.

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They came in all colours...blues, checks, reds, whites and blacks. Even grizzles. That was just the beginning of my interest in pigeons. In 1970, we moved further up the hills of Belmont, Valley Road, so it was exciting times ahead where pigeon-keeping was concerned.

 

Most of the pigeons my step-father had caught at the wharf where he worked as a watchman, got away and went back to Suffolk Road, some of them died when cats got into the loft he built. Eventually, we remained with just two pigeons. A blue white-flight cock and a slate blue hen. Out of this pair, came a decent size flock of eighteen or so pigeons.

 

At the age of fourteen, I could remember trapping a homer pigeon with no ring...a very big blue checkered cock that I named, "Spotted One". Of course, I didn't know the terms used to differentiate the patterns and colors of pigeons. I liked how the off-springs flew from the cross between my common pigeons and the "Spotted One", that's when I decided to purchase my very first pair of homing pigeons. 

 

Not very far from where I lived, there was this cool guy that goes by the nickname of Boo-Jay, who was an auto mechanic, and a welder had some pigeons. I saved up my school allowances for almost a month and I bought my very first pair of homing pigeons from "Boo-Jay" of St. Barbs.

 

The cock that I bought was a medium to large red checkered and the hen was a very pretty well balanced black check pied hen. I didn't know the strains Boo-Jay had, but I was happy with the pair I bought. As time passed, I mated the "Spotted One" with the check pied hen and got some really good flyers from that union.

 

The red checkered cock was mated to a blue checkered hen that I got from a fancier from lower Belmont, on Norfolk Street, who was leaving the country, and they too produced some flyers. Eventually, I got rid of the common pigeons which was mainly blue bars by tossing them, and that is how I ended up with my new team of homers.

 

It wasn't until the start of 2001 that I joined a local pigeon club. From then on, I've been racing pigeons. Gone are the days when I missed my old strain of homers descended from the 'Spotted One'. He was truly missed as he was no more.

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