Tame Pigeons Over the Wild Pacific

About Pigeon Keeping

            It is believed that the domestication of pigeons is two thousand years old, and this group of birds are among the most intelligent. In Serbia, about twenty thousand people are involved in pigeon keeping, they work towards preserving certain species and they participate in contests. Although some keepers pride themselves with the aesthetic beauty of their pets, others focus on the elements pertaining to sport, since sport pigeons are known as excellent flyers, capable of achieving great altitudes, performing aerial tricks, and delivering messages. Recently we witnessed the tragic events in Argentina, where letter-carrying pigeons were killed, since a criminal group was discovered to be using them for transporting drugs…

            Even today, although science has made significant advances, no one knows exactly how a pigeon orients itself in the air or how it knows to find its way home, at distances as great as a journey from Japan to France. Competitive flying pigeons are driven to their starting mark, and their owners do not follow. Each pigeon has a anklet with a number, and when every pigeon in the competition is released at the same time, their flight is tracked with a computer. The pigeon who returns home first is pronounced the winner.

Pigeon Keepers Are in a League of Their Own

            When discussing our people, scattered around the world, usually the focus is on their careers and families. This summer, I met a family which lives on the Gold Coast of Australia and which, aside from all familial achievements, their ups and downs, visit their cages first thing in the morning. Yes, the Marić family, and the head of the family, Goran Marić, cares for his pigeons above all else.

            Besides every other quality that causes us to wonder at this intelligent bird, it is also very amusing how the so-called Serbian Highflyer has become successful in such a distant continent. Goran began his pigeon keeping hobby back when he was a five-year-old boy in his Bosnian hometown. During the last war, he and his wife first left for Serbia, where immigration took them to Vienna. They stayed there until 1994 when they journeyed to distant Australia. There, they raised their son and daughter, who are both very accomplished athletes and students at the University of Queensland. Besides his regular job, his diligent work raising pigeons, Highflyers, began in 2002.

            Goran tells us that our Serbian pigeon, the Serbian Highflyer, came to the continent of Australia with the first Serbian immigrants, and that the tradition of bringing pigeons is still maintained today. Searching for adequate, purebred specimens, Goran went around nearly all of Australia, peering into the majority of cages, from which he bought his initial flock consisting of a total of seven pigeons. “I had a vision to unite the lovers of Serbian pigeons across the world into one organization which would be directly contingent to the Serbian Pigeon Keepers Association (Golubarski Savez Srbije). First, I founded the website www.srpskivisokoletac.com/nova on which I was able to connect many people, both in diaspora and in Serbia.”

            Afterwards, with the help of other pigeon keepers in Australia, he organized the United Club of Serbian High-flyers in Australia and with the help of pigeon keepers in Serbia, he was able to unite the club with the Serbian Association as the first division in diaspora, registered under number 306, under which it still stands and is functional today.

A Serbian Highflyer Over Australia’s Gold Coast

            A large amount of hard work and perseverance were necessary to breed birds that would survive in the Australian skies, through careful selection. Queensland is a very difficult region for our pigeons, due to its sudden changes in weather, its severe storms, strong winds, and a large number of raptors. However, competitions are organized despite these difficult circumstances. Highflyer competitions are structured so that the pigeons are released simultaneously, and the length of their circular flight is timed, with the longest timed pigeon being pronounced the winner. In Serbia, Highflyers have attained results of up to 15 hours of non-stop flying.

            “After ten years of consistent work, I was able to achieve the first, and as far as I know the only, flying record using seven birds in Australia, which followed the guidelines of the Serbian Pigeon Keepers Association.”

            What we found out from Goran’s wife, Duša, is that Goran is also an excellent singer. What else can we say other than that the soul of our people flies high, even where the winds and storms are at their strongest. It flies high in those skies where the tame pigeons fight against the wildness of the Pacific Ocean.      

            Through this article we are also conveying a friendly greeting which Goran Marić sends to our pigeon keepers in Canada, in the hopes that they might get in touch with Serbian pigeon keepers in Australia.