And therrrrre they go!

Adrian Buturoago brought his winged athletes to the parking lot at the
Hoodland Shopping Center. But not for long.

It was one of those: “You had to be there.”

It was training day for Buturoago’s homing pigeons – sleek birds with an
innate ability to get back home that no one truly understands.

“They have good memories, it’s just that simple,” Buturoago said. “It’s
permanently embedded.”

The feathered speedsters burst from their cages – five at a time and at five
minute intervals – quickly caught their bearings and flapped off to their lofts
in Boring. After the fourth flight was in the air, Buturoago pointed out the first
flight had already reached its destination.

“They average around 1,200 to 1,400 yards per minute, but the good ones go
faster, more than 1,800 yards per minute,” he said.

For the math impaired, that’s breaking the speed limit as they winged over
Hwy. 26.

Buturoago was introduced to these unique pigeons by a friend when he was a
young boy growing up in Rumania. He came to America in 1979 with his
immigrant parents, and later picked up the sport again as an adult.

He is an electrical engineer in Boring, and races his birds throughout the
states as well as South Africa.

And you don’t pick up a homing pigeon with pigeon feed. Some exceptional
breeders have been sold for $200,000. Buturoago has a $12,000 model of his
own.

“But I don’t raise them to sell them,” he said.

“I raise them to race and win. In fact, I give pigeons to people who want to
get started.”

The training period starts early, three to five months after hatching. At that
time they venture out onto their landing boards in the loft and begin to
“locate,” according to Buturoago. Not long after they turn on their locator
radar, they’re off to the training runs and the races.

The Mount Hood Pigeon Club – of which Buturoago is a member – had several
entries in the Oregon Trail Combine races held Aug. 28 in Prairie City. Winners
are determined by computer from the chip banded to the pigeon’s leg which
determines when the birds broke the finish line (at their respective lofts).