 Billy, the errant racing pigeon, on his way home to England.
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July 3, 2003 — A racing pigeon that took a wrong turn on his way from France to Liverpool, England — ending up in New York City instead — arrived back home in Britain on Wednesday, looking none the worse for wear.
Billy the pigeon was only supposed to fly 685 kilometers (425 miles) from Calais, on the French side of the English Channel, to his home in the north of England three weeks ago.
But he took a remarkable 4,800-kilometer (3,000-mile) detour, ending up on New Yorker Joseph Ida's terrace among his flock of 100 racing birds.
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"You could see that he had been out," said Ida, who added that Billy looked a little tired, thin and run down.
Avoiding another marathon journey over the North Atlantic Ocean, Billy returned Wednesday in the cargo hold of a British Airways flight from New York to be reunited with his owner John Warren.
"He had a pleasant flight. It was a pleasure to have a VIP — 'a very important pigeon' — on board," an airline spokesman said, adding that Billy looked "very perky" upon arrival.
Not that he'll be flying anywhere soon: under British law, he now has to spend a month in quarantine.
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Name: Rock Dove, aka Town Pigeon (Columba livia)
Primary Classification: Columbiformes (Pigeons) Location: Worldwide (though native to Europe.) Habitat: In the wild, nests on sea cliffs and rocks close to agriculture and open shrub vegetation. Also found in rural and urban areas. Diet: Mostly seeds. Size: Up to 13.5 inches in length and 11 ounces in weight. Description: Generally gray in color; iridescent feathers on neck; black bars on wings; bare skin around eye; small head; small bill; plump body; powerful breast muscles; broad wings Cool Facts: It has been used extensively in laboratory studies on thermoregulation, Darwinian evolution, flight mechanisms, water metabolism and the genetics of color patterns. Conservation Status: Common |
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