Release Dove History
by Wynn Smith
My birds begin with the pairing of a Silver Dun racing homer and a
pure white Pletincx from the flock developed for the opening ceremony of
Disneyland. I crossed one of their offspring with a Russian Star
Tail and created a bird with unusually large eyes and friendly face.
When I saw the reaction of my daughters, I knew that I had created a
bird that even non-pigeon people could love.
I enjoyed flying my birds and taking them to my daughters' school to
release as large groups of children counted down toward blast off at the
top of their lungs. Often, I would hand each bird to one of the
kids to release.
One day I noticed that the best releases were the ones where the kids
could continue pointing at "their" bird as it circled over head.
It began to feel disappointing when a bird, with too much racing
homer influence, would quickly dart away like a scared animal and
disappear over the roof tops. Clearly, the birds who circled for a
moment were more fun to watch.
That's when I began releasing my birds in small kits and timing them.
Eventually I developed a way to calculate a score that seemed to match
the "amount of fun" we had.
After a few years of breeding for flying scores, I noticed the birds
lost some of the friendly look and most of the white color of the
original birds.
In 1998 I sketched a picture that became my goal for developing a
better look for this new breed. I feel very excited at the
prospect of developing a truly new kind of Release Duv that appeals to many people
and provides comfort or assurance to those marking an important
milestone in their lives.
contact: info2@oregoncity.com
Wynn Smith
(503)650-9496
Ceremony Dove is a trademark of Wynn Smith.
© Wynn Smith, 2005
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