I’ve often thought that there should be more stories, just plain interesting stories, of our birds and the wonderful things they accomplish. The inclination for a new person to keep racing pigeons as a hobby would start from there rather than from a lot of technical jargon or boring food mix ratios. For that reason I will try to tell “The Story of S P Challenger”.

This pigeon was hatched in September of 1996. Now in pigeon racing circles September is too late to be thinking seriously about raising baby pigeons, especially in Canada. But S P’s father was a special breeder and even some of the elite flyers in pigeon racing would recognize the family tree.

From the very start S P was a beautiful pigeon. He is a “blue Pied” which means he is blue with lots of white thrown in. S P happens to have a nearly all white head, and when I asked my daughter, a nine year old, which one should I keep, S P had won her favor. S P ‘s brother was given to a friend and has become a very good breeder.

S P had his problems. My daughter would take him out in the yard and instead of fluttering to the landing board like most other young birds would do, S P would fly under the stairs or into a bush and try to hide. He also took several days to learn to drink by himself. I would have to help him find the water by sticking his head in it. These are not hopeful signs for a racing pigeon. Later when he did learn to fly, he had trouble flying out of the open part of the window and would hit the screened side instead. He soon earned the nickname “Stupid”. However, he did learn to fly and my daughter still had faith in him, even though I offered to trade her much better birds for stupid.

In 1997, Stupid didn’t race. He was used as a foster parent for his smarter loft mates babies. He did turn out to be a real good father to them, and he did turn out to be a real fighter, he just never gave up. In July of 1997 when I started to train young birds, I decided to take Stupid along. By this time in pigeon flyers talk, Stupid was a “yearling”. Stupid trained well with the young birds, and had many flights of up to 55 miles.

One day at the fifty mile training station, I decided to keep Stupid from flying with the young birds. The young birds cleared the area real soon and I let Stupid go all by himself. This is called a "single toss."

Stupid lived up to his name immediately. Home was northwest- he went southeast: as far as the eye could see. He did eventually make it home, 7 days later. When he hit the landing board he was skinny and dirty but puffed up with pride at his solo effort. He spun and cooed with happiness.

After a few days of recuperation and more food wasted on this dummy, I tried it again. 50 miles, single up. Straight in the wrong direction again. 4 days to get home. "STUPID" I offered my daughter a car for her 16th birthday but no, we still had to keep the bird.

Two days later another try, dead wrong on his direction again. This time only two days to get home. A remarkable thing about Stupid was his exuberance upon arriving home. He would do two or three victory laps around the area, wings up and sailing and then land and strut even when there was no one to impress.

OK Fourth try from 50 miles, all alone. One day to get home, 24 hours this guy was speeding up!

Fifth single from 50 miles: ONE HOUR! Wow!

"See Dad" says Sharla.

For the rest of the 97 season Stupid flew 50 miles all alone for three times a week, always about an hour airtime and always so happy to make it home.

In 1998, Stupid flew his first race. Not a long one, only 127 miles, our second race of the season. 37 loft's and 752 birds. Stupid Wins by 12 seconds at 1,461 meters per minute. He would have won by more but the three victory laps slowed him down, nearly giving me fits at the time.

My daughter made a name change for S P effective immediately. He is now in our loft records as S P Challenger. We never tell anyone what the S P stands for.

S P has gone on to score in more races, and has flown up to 414 miles in decent time. His children are turning out to be remarkable flyers. At this writing, EDM 92913 CU 99 is leading the "ALBERTA CLASSIC" futurity after two races out of Four. 92913 is a grandson of S P and also a grandson of S P 's nestmate brother.

S P's daughter was second at our yearling Gold Band derby at 369 miles in 1999 and (added in 2005) in 2000 S P and his daughter both score at the 500 on the day, my first ever two bird drop from 500 miles.

Some birds are like some people, slow learners. Have patience with a bird that looks good. If you have a girl or boy around, a grand child, or a neighbor kid, have patience with them too.

I hope you have enjoyed the story of "S P Challenger".