Here's another quintessential story I like to share with my students, especially if the conversation ever turns to spies (and with me, that's a distinct possibility):
My dad has always been really into birds. He's kind of like a bird in some ways, because he has a very jumpy, flitting way of moving like birds do. Also, he inherited a common family trait which is a prominent, slightly pointy upper lip. I got the bird-lip too, and so did my son! So I guess my dad was just meant to be a bird-keeper.
He could have kept any kind of bird, but for some reason, Dad really latched on to the idea of pigeons. Specifically, homing pigeons. Now, homing pigeons are famous for being able to find their way "home" from long, long distances. No one knows for sure how they accomplish this amazing feat, but it likely has to do with using the sun as a guide, and maybe even the magnetic fields of the earth! Simply put, there is some kind of internal compass inside of them that helps them find their way back to home base.
So what do spies have to do with pigeons? Well, they used to bring their trained homing pigeons out into the field with them, and then attach secret documents to the legs of the birds and release them to fly back "home." The other spies waiting at the secret camp where the pigeons lived would receive the birds as they flew into their coops, retrieve the secret messages, and then they could use the stolen information however they wanted! It's ingenious, really. The possibility of the classified document being intercepted was pretty slim.
Of course, one of the birds could get caught, especially if the sender was being a little too greedy. See, homing pigeons have historically also been used to transport stolen goods like diamonds, and you can imagine how heavy those packages can get. There's been documented cases where thieves would attach a pouch of stolen gems to a pigeon's leg and try to send it home, but the weight would be too much and the bird would give up flying and just wander around town until some lucky person relieved it of its burden. I wonder how many people struck it rich, just by helping a poor little pigeon out one day?
Anyway, Dad created a super awesome coop and filled it with some high-quality homing pigeons. He trained them carefully, and eventually they were reliable at great distances. He would bring one of his birds when he went hiking, and then send it home to us with notes and little seed-pods and things from the top of the mountain.
Dad got his students involved in sending mail via pigeon. At one point, he was the only working pigeon post in the US, and one of the very few in the whole world!
It was thrilling when the Pigeon Post would arrive. Here are a few letters I pulled off a bird's leg:
Jessie- I hope this pigeon makes it home safe and is not shot out of the sky. If this message were ever to be intercepted, I feel that our mission would be unsuccessful. I guess the next step in completing our mission would be you kissing T--. I shall conclude my first letter by PP. Love (Stacy)
Hello Daaaaaaaarling! This is so cool. I feel like Harry Potter... writing letters and sending them with my "owl" if you will! If only I had a feather pen and some old-fashioned parchment! (Midge)
Jessie, I fear lest I must keep this short and simple because, if you failed to notice, it is being delivered by... pigeon.
Do your parents have any strange hobbies? Write about it in the comments! WBS- Jess
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