I flew for you today

My heart high in the sky right where yours was

I took your love, your tears, 

your hallelujah 

Up, up, your voice, your whisper, your prayer 

with me

From your lips, from your heart 

Through my strong wings 

To our Lord

Amen

Lisa Childs Harris 

This was a training flight with some new babies and my little baby helper!  Some of my little friends who were watching surprised me by jumping up and trying to grab them, so I had to politely ask "please don't!"

These long distance birds are coming home for the night.  Did anyone see "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"?  The scene where the face of his love was formed in the sky.......

This is my little helper!  She told me she turned into a dove too!  Today we started to train some of our older doves who were born last fall and winter.  I used some of the blue masking tape to tape one of their wings (five flight feathers) so they wouldn't get too excited their first day out and fly too far.  This way, they were able to just sit on the landing board and get a feel for the open space around them.  After about an hour, they came back in and had the tape removed.  We will do this with the eight of them the next three mornings, and then on morning four, one will get his tape off and go out with three of the new babies to keep him company and convince him not to fly too far.  The babies still just flutter and don't go far, but the older guy will most likely take off for a test flight.  Once he has flown once or twice up in the air and come back down to the loft, he will be good to go and we can trust that he knows where his loft is.  Thanks for joining us!

I can't help but think about how an old Marine and Coast Guard trial that used pigeons to find lost people and floats at sea might be used today during this terrible ordeal.
Here is a link to a page about how pigeons were trained to do this.  Although, it doesn't look the most comfortable for the pigeon, it is amazing what they are capable of.

What a difference in size!  Look how fast the babies grow.  If you look at the picture below, this is just one week later!

It snowed last night!  About 6 inches.  The babies are fascinated by it.  I am fascinated by them!