The nerdiest day of my life

I feel like this photo might need some explanation.

Remember how my family raises homing pigeons? Well it turns out that along with racing pigeons people also breed hundreds of kinds of fancy breeds, and they meet for big competitions.

Think of it like a dog show, but instead of golden retrievers and Rottweilers, there are cages and cages of different pigeons.

Cages and cages and cages and cages and cages.

This year the National Pigeon Association's grand national show (the Westminster dog show of the pigeon world) took place in Vancouver.

Here's the rundown on the event: Three days, 3,500 birds from 200 species. For free.

There was no way I'd miss this.

So I dragged Katie from bed this morning, threw her in the car and drove her to Vancouver where I forced her to feign excitment at the sight of hundreds of near-identical birds.

The convention center was packed with cages, spilling into several side rooms. There were birds of every size, every shape, every color.

Unfortunately, my camera is currently in the shop getting fixed, but Katie's fancy phone took some great photos of some of the day's stranger sights.

Here's a few of the specimens that were on display this afternoon.

There were fancy fantails...



Puffed up pigeons called Pouters and Croppers



 Bug-eyed weirdos and tiny doves



Fat chickeny ones


Fur coat wearing Jacobins (one of my favorites)



And a lot of other strange pigeons



Next year's grand national show is in Oklahoma, but there are smaller local shows throughout the year. With any luck I'll be able to pack up the car and drag Katie across the state.

(NOTE: My secret goal is to eventually convince Katie that pigeons are cool so she will let me have a few dozen. My thinking is that if I can find a breed she likes we can build a loft, stock it with some pretty ones and then she won't mind if I sneak in one or two or 50 racing pigeons of my own).

I know. It's the perfect plan.

See you later.

---Geoff

Oh, before I forget, if you want to see more photos from the Vancouver grand national, you can click here, here and here.