It's Richards fast flying bird

Being an agent for 11 athletes is no easy job, let alone 24 of them, especially if you have to train them, feed them and take their “droppings” to the veterinarian for worm and bacteria analysis. Athletes! That’s how Richard Walker, top pigeon racing fancier of 30 years refers to his pigeons kept at his loft in Brazil, Brazil Village.

“They need sunlight, fresh air, good food, we worm them out once a month, treat them like yourself and give them necessary ingredients for them to perform,” he said. Not forgetting, “you have to educate them...you have to develop their mind and heart.” For a minute Richard’s regimented roster for his pets sounded like pigeon school, but racing pigeons in Trinidad and Tobago, he informed, is serious business, and costly too. Birds can cost up to TT$7,000 and where the sport is big business in Europe, up to US$1.5 million. The sport may not be as recognisable as cricket or football, but is fast growing among local enthusiasts. He is one of over 50 pigeon fanciers currently involved in pigeon racing and attached to the Trinidad Pigeon Club (TPC).

Not many of them could say they’ve been involved in the sport before television was  introduced to Trinidad. Not many of them could say that owning their first pair of birds at seven years old would result in wins too insurmountable to mention. His 50-odd trophies, some stored on his living room space saver and others he’s given away, tell the story. The drive to win, however, is no longer his. The 55-year-old said the drive “to teach somebody to win is always there... I don’t want to be the champion but a champion of the sport.” His love for pigeons is not newfound. Richard told People: “One Christmas I wrote to Santa Claus asking for a pair of pigeons. I was seven years old. It was 1955. I got up at midnight (Christmas morning) and looked under the tree and I saw a bicycle, skates, a gun sack and no pigeons. I was vex. That was my first item on the list to Santa. I cry man! I went to my father and he said Santa is a busy man. By 6.30 that morning my father woke me up and tell meh it have two pigeons waiting there for meh. I sit down and watch those pigeons whole day.” His friends in the neighbourhood (Port-of-Spain) had pigeons, so he thought why not get his own! “I started to check guys who had and raced them. I started to get books (on pigeons) imported from England and the US. I learned how to train them, how to feed them and not to leave food overnight in the loft because of rats and insects,” he said.

At 16, “young Walker” won his first race from Scarborough, Tobago. He entered five of his homing pigeons in the race. Five was the stipulated amount. They were let loose early in the morning, and while everyone was coolly playing the waiting game for the pigeons to return to their respective lofts, Richard was growing impatient. Then, one by one they flew in, all five of them in just over two hours. (Pigeons flying over long distances are not guaranteed to return to their roost because of predators — hawks, hunters — and overhead wires.) The rookie had made his initiation into the racing world. He’s participated in every type of race — derby, bunch, team, loft-by-loft races and the newly invented iron-man race — at every racing point in Trinidad and Tobago namely Icacos, Penal Coora, Toco, Scarborough and Charlotteville. This weekend, he’s entering his “youngsters” in the race from Barcelona, Venezuela. Races are also conducted from Grenada, St Vincent and aboard boats en route to Guyana. How a pigeon returns to his home, is inconceivable.

“Nobody knows,” said Richard. He teaches them a flight pattern and his method is simple. He gets up at 5.30 each morning, pulls his stool and sits outside the loft to observe his brood. “I spend at least an hour of quality time with them,” said the bird lover. His collection of birds also includes a canary, semp, picoplait, bullfinch and a singing angel. “I would talk to them, hold each one of them so they would be familiar with my touch. To check to see if they are healthy I look at their necks, which must be shiny; their eyes must be glossy and their droppings firm. I give them vitamins, minerals, yogurt and garlic once a week to clean out the system. I look to see if they have a cold and if they do, that would hinder their performance.” At nights he returns to listen to their breathing. “If they whistling that means they have a respiratory disease and I get rid of them.” After his period of monitoring, training begins. He releases them and allows them to circle his home three or four times. Next, he takes them on a trip to San Fernando, sometimes Icacos. “In the forest I let them go in bunches and then I single toss them. I have a map where I draw a line from Icacos to where I live to determine the flight patterns.” He then returns home, showers and is off to work at Marketing and Distribution where he is Operations Manager/Warehouse. Richard breeds birds for an average speed of 30 yards per minute. The widowing system, a clever “speed enhancing” method where the cocks’ wives are taken away from the loft just before they mate and just prior to a race is often employed. “It’s a form of tabanca because the bird is anxious to get back to his wife so that they can tread,” Richard said. In training, the “rod of discipline” — a three-feet long slender rod is used to hasten the pigeon’s trapping time. When the bird lands he must quickly get into the loft in order to clock his time. “When you teach them to trap as they reach, that will be in their mind for life.”

Richard has bowed out of “serious competition” after “Red Robin TPC 83 1212”, his champion pigeon of the 80s brought him 17 straight wins. “They used to call him the master blaster. When he win they used to say ‘he again’. He went on to win about 50 races, more races than any pigeon in TT. He flew 42 miles, from Toco to Woodbrook in 44 minutes,” Richard said. Red Robin’s rivals of that time were “Home Circle”, “Spotty” and “Venus.” Red Robin’s grandfather was a special gift from Japan given to Richard’s colleague. “When his grandfather was taken to the airport in Japan, he was driven in a limousine.” When Red Robin died (he is believed to have been killed by a cat) we had a wake for him. We buried him under a coconut tree and put the sign RIP, which meant ‘rise if possible.’ Another champion flyer, “754” given to Richard by fellow pigeon fancier Kenny Boodoosingh, has bred winners. 754 no longer races. While Richard still enters races, the real thrill comes from “seeing that pigeon come out of the sky and hit that rap board, dive and gone into that cage. That feeling, you have to be into this to understand how I feel whether the pigeon wins or loses,” Richard said. He’s focused on “getting all pigeon fanciers to work together with the same goal of making this a recognised sport in Trinidad.” Added to that, he’s glad to pass on all his experience to newcomers and help “the losing fanciers become winners.”