The Skin of an Alligator

Or

Reflections on Liberating

By: John Marles, Sylvan Lofts

I have been asked on several occasions what aspect of the sport that I regard as “the most important". Unequivocally, I have always said, “GOOD LIBERATING “.

This area of responsibility should be one that each Club, Federation and Combine considers seriously but generally does not. If poorly handled, indiscriminate liberating can in one year wipe out a new fancier, destroy any plans of testing the progeny from new stock, shatter a young or old bird team or ruin a well established loft.

Several years ago I personally became involved in the releasing of our Combine's birds. It was due to a number of reasons that were all inter‑related. First of all, we had three races of approximately 300 miles where there were no second day birds. This built up a certain amount of disappointment and untold frustration. Secondly, a concerned long time member of our club called me and asked if I would co‑share this responsibility if he were to take this responsibility on for the next year. At that point in time I had no idea what I was getting myself into by saying a simple "yes". And last of all, I honestly believe that if a person is discontented with the way something is being handled, he should be willing to act on it rather than just talk about it.

The next year, the mechanics of the operation soon became crystal clear, even at 4.30 a.m. on the morning of release. For the shorter distances I could usually get away with a 5.30 a.m. wake up time but this was after having called the weather people the night before. The longer distance races would almost always require a pre‑phone call to the airport 24 hours before release. This is when I would check out various points on the line of flight and ascertain the predicted weather patterns for the race day.

Very soon it became apparent that being a liberator was not simply a question of making black and white decisions, for they are easy. It was the grey areas (dark grey) overcast areas to be specific that always caused the controversies.

In my six years of liberating I seem to remember a lot of grey area decision days. These decisions about releasing the birds generally had to be made on the spot. There were always many factors to consider such as what time would the rain stop, how far down was it raining, how heavy was the rain, when would the next front move in , how low was the ceiling, what was the visibility like and how far etc, etc. Sometimes this would entail phoning other fanciers on route, checking with the highway police stations and of course different weather stations that were situated on the flying course.

During this time I was also the President of the UP NORTH COMBINE with a total of twelve clubs and about 140 members. My plate was full. I therefore put into practice a three man liberating team in order to divide some of the information gathering. My two co‑liberators were situated closer to the race stations and therefore their observations were most valuable. This system of conferencing with three liberators helped keep the lines of communication open between clubs and Combine. Since each liberator brought information from their own source, we tended to have a better overview of the entire weather picture. The final decision to liberate or not was a 3‑man decision. In this way we kept each other in check.

Of course this job was not all glamour and glitter; it also came complete with its own negative feed back. Some of the comments that were expressed to us sounded like: “Let them go Saturday, Sunday is my day for my family no matter what the weather is like”. “My birds will fly through anything, let it rain” or how is this one “You're just waiting for the winds to change so that they will favour you ". The conscientious liberator will either become resilient to these kinds of unfounded comments or quit.

My hope is that this article will give the fancier an indication of some of the mechanics involved, the time factor, and the great responsibility that liberating holds‑‑ a responsibility to the fancier and the birds. Also, I would hope that concerned fanciers would also try to monitor their own shipping depending on the predicted weather for that week‑end.

Be informed. Check the weather yourselves and ship accordingly. Don't let the weather cull your birds.

Addendum: Liberating is at many times a thankless, painstaking job. After almost twenty years of liberating I decided to call it quits. At this time I felt that I had fulfilled my commitment to the Combine and wished to spend more time with my family. The article has not been changed. My reason for forwarding it at this time was two fold. First a recent trip across North America convinced me that there are still far too many irresponsible liberations that could be avoided. Second an unfortunate incident within our own Combine that resulted in tremendous losses. Our disaster occurred at a 500 mile race when the birds were released in very dubious weather. In an unprecedented move, one of the liberators over‑ruled the other two and ordered the release. Out of 1500 birds a mere handful returned the second day. Out of the eight birds I sent I personally lost five winners. Of these five, four had won C.U. Champion Awards and scored well over the 135 points needed. This was devastating in view of the fact that I race a team of twelve pair.

The three man liberating system is a good one. It is definitely one of the best that I have seen throughout my travels in North America. Undoubtedly there are many areas of liberating pigeons that could and should be improved upon. Each year we lose many novice and experienced fanciers due to the frustrations that occur while waiting two and three days looking at an empty loft.