Art Kehl’s hands are wrapped firmly around a pigeon — a West of England tumbler, to be exact. He drops the bird into a cage, one of many cages in many rows.
Kehl, of Hill Point, Wis., was 10 when his father began to teach him the hobby of raising pigeons.
“That was 57 years ago,” Kehl said. “I’ve never been without them since.”
He’s come to Louisville each fall for nearly as long.
Kehl was among about 460 exhibitors Saturday at the Kentucky Exposition Center for the National Young Bird Show, which was celebrating its 40th anniversary.
The exhibitor brought more than 4,400 birds — Jacobins with their feathered hoods like an angry rooster and Chinese owl pigeons with their frilly feathers and fantails, among dozens of breeds.
The National Young Bird Show was for pigeons — and some doves — that were born in 2011, said Marvin Bohannon, president of the Louisville Pigeon Club, which organized the show.
The hobby isn’t quite as popular as when he began raising pigeons as a kid, but Bohannon said the show has loyal attendees who enjoy the camaraderie of bird enthusiasts as much as they enjoy raising pigeons.
“It brings people together to have a good time,” Bohannon said. “And people like to show off what they did for the year.”
Just as dogs are at dog shows, the birds are judged on their conformity to the standards of their breeds, said Rita Courtney, secretary of the show and a member of the Louisville Pigeon Club.
“It has to be exactly the way it’s supposed to be,” Courtney said.
Judges in white jackets inspected the birds while bird enthusiasts hunched over to get a closer look into the cages.
Mike Gosine, 53, of Port Charlotte, Fla., is a Chinese owl man. Gosine stumbled into raising pigeons more than 20 years ago after a neighbor gave him a pigeon he’d found. After studying the birds, he became a devotee of the Chinese owl, a pigeon with a ruffly chest.
He’s come to Louisville for the National Young Bird Show for years, to show off his work and to barter for fine specimens to breed with his own.
“It’s quite the challenge with the Chinese owl because the feathers go in different directions,” said Gosine, who is showing some of his pigeons. “It’s very hard to get a perfect bird.”
Gabrielle Dees, 5, of Paris, Texas, said she just likes the feathers and playing with the birds when they’re small. Gabrielle has begun raising fantail pigeons with her father, said mom Angela Dees.
“It’s something she and her dad can do together,” Dees said.
That’s what raising pigeons used to be for Kehl, but it’s evolved now that he’s 67.
Raising pigeons is an art — like Gosine, he’s on a never-ending quest for the “perfect bird,” Kehl said.
It’s a way to compete. Kehl said he can’t play ball or race anymore, but he can still raise a West of England tumber, which has feathers covering its feet.
Even when the competition fails, though, Kehl said he takes comfort in his West of England tumblers. They’re therapeutic, he said.
“Forget about your job,” Kehl said, “and go out and look at your birds.”
Source: Courier-Journal
