Loft of gipsy homing pigeons painted in the colours of Spain and Andalusia

Snapped by SG on a lovely clear day last week on a variation of this Barcelona city walk. The birds belong to three tired-looking gents who one would have said were hippophiles pertaining to the kingdom of Dionysus, so we didn’t enquire as to the whys and wherefores.
Birds are often painted for ceremonial or magical purposes. For example,
- 1,500 painted pigeons were released when PerĂłn met Dutra to swap diamonds and chitchat in 1947.
- Red and yellow pigeons helped Victory obliterate Valencia in the final of the 2002 Maldives National Tournament.
- John Huston and Shelley Winters starred in a Ovidio Assonitis flick, which has John Huston as an extra-terrestrial pretending to be a Polish tourist who can’t pronounce his own name and who grows bald men in a box, and which ends with a battle between hawks and
dovespigeons painted white. Franco Nero is Jesus Christ, both here and elsewhere.
Why hasn’t Zapatero banned it?
RSS: post comments, blog comments, blog posts
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
FollowTheBaldie.com provides guided tours of Barcelona and various other cities in the Western Mediterranean, as well as country walks and hikes in the Barcelona region.
More photo-posts here.
I share other stuff over here.
If you're feeling generous, check out my Amazon wishlists for Deutschland, France , and the UK, or use PayPal to
My 5% bookstore - new stuff
Spanish history
- EL DISCURSO BOLCHEVIQUE: EL PARTI COMMUNISTE FRANÇAIS Y LA SEGUND A REPUBLICA ESPAÑOLA (1931-1936)
CEAMANOS LLORENS, ROBERTO
20.00€ - LA HUELLA MORISCA: EL AL ANDALUS QUE LLEVAMOS DENTRO
RODRIGUEZ RAMOS, ANTONIO MANUEL
19.00€ - CASTILLA Y EL MUNDO FEUDAL (3 TOMOS): HOMENAJE AL PROFESOR JULIO VALDEON
VAL VALDIVIESO, MÂŞ ISABEL DELMARTINEZ SOPENA, PASCUAL
90.00€
Modern Spanish fiction
- EL OFICINISTA (PREMIO BIBLIOTECA BREVE 2010)
SACCOMANO, GUILLERMO
18.00€ - LA ENMILAGRADA
GOMEZ-ARCOS, AGUSTIN
18.95€ - DIAS DE HIELO Y FUEGO
ORDOÑEZ, ROCIO
18.00€
Spanish classics
- TRAGEDIA DE NUMANCIA
CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, MIGUEL DE
33.00€ - LIFE IS A DREAM / LA VIDA ES SUEÑO (ED. BILINGÜE INGLES-ESPAÑOL)
CALDERON DE LA BARCA, PEDRO
16.64€ - INGENIOSO HIDALGO DON QUIJOTE DE LA MANCHA (FACSIMIL) ESTUCHE 2 VOL.
CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, MIGUEL DE
39.90€
On this day
Barcelona
- March 22 1460 El prĂncipe de Viana alcanza por primera vez el perdon de su padre, y se viene de Mallorca á Barcelona.
- March 22 1848
En obsequio del beato José Oriol, cuyo fiesta se celebra mañana en la parroquia de Ntra. Sra. del Pino, se cantan en la misma iglesia solemnes maitines á las 4 y media de la tarde de hoy.
Josep Pla, Palafrugell (1918-9)
- 22 de març de 1919 Alta cultura. Les coses, Ă©s clar, haurien pogut Ă©sser diferents… En acabar el batxillerat, la meva intenciĂł no fou pas d’estudiar per advocat. M’hauria agradat mĂ©s d’estudiar quĂmica, i per tal de servir el que jo creia que era la meva vocaciĂł, vaig matricular-me al preparatori de Ciències. Matricular-se! Prenguin nota de la parauleta! El [...]
The peepul's choice
- Bloody Galicians
- Binding referendum on the future of Catalonia, hosted by Kalebeul
- How not to win la Guerra de los Toros, or The Cattle Raid of Cooley revisited
- Tour guide learns routes from Google Streetview
- Photos and video of snowstorm in Park GĂĽell
- Kalebeul’s 5% bookstore
- The Two Gardeners
- Why less democracy is better for Europe
- Administrative note
- Kalebeul, voice of the voiceless
- Follow la quiniela live with PHP data import to Excel
- Man combing Vietnamese pot-bellied pig in Cuenca courtyard
- The naming of El Picazo
- What’s your ex-pat blogging style?
- The coming and going of the gypsies
- The green of the louse/Lo verde del piojo
- Fiesta mayor programmes and Zapatero
- Barcelona and the great European fire sale
- Lipoplasty loaf
- Interactive electronics/dance performance
- Windows Vista: Error en el servicio Servicio de perfil de usuario al iniciar sesion. No se puede cargar el perfil de usuario
- New Abramovich yacht pictures
- Some more sun goddesses
- Traductor castellano-andaluz
- Dogs’ bollocks
- Follow la quiniela live with PHP data import to Excel
- How regional language policy in Spain is pissing off foreign investors
- Sagrada Familia mural
- Jaws is not a feminist shero
- Forum auction not to include mayor Clos

February 27th 2010 06:36
These birds are actually Modern Spanish Thief Pouters. In fact, if you look closely you can see some of the males are flying with inflated crops. They aren’t colored for magical purposes or otherwise. They are colored because of the game being played. The birds are in the colors of their individual owners so that they can be recognized at a distance. Birds are put up and chase a hen bird which has a white feather attached to her. The male birds are judged on their “wooing” abilities.
This breed is very popular here in the States within some of the Cuban and Spanish communities and also popular in some parts of Mexico and S. American countries.
February 28th 2010 09:03
I thought that this was going to be a very sophisticated wind-up, but it’s true! Thank you!