Pakistani High flyer pigeon’s wing structure and it’s attributes Part 1

Wing structure of Pakistani highflying pigeons may differ according to breed. As everyone knows that every bird made differently. Their wings are also made according to the need. If you take a look on birds of prey, they have many different breeds that are specially designed according to their prey. IF you see sparrows, they also have many breeds and each breed has different wing and body structure. In birds of prey, there are hawks, buzzards, eagles, falcons and there are many sub-classes among these breeds. For example, falcons are expert hunters of pigeons they are small, fast and have amazing aerodynamic body. They can chase wild pigeon in the air, even if wild pigeon flying on its top speed but falcons cannot glide without moving their wings for long time like eagles do. Eagles have comparatively bigger structure with bigger wing span. Their wings are specially design to stay in the air without moving the wings and to spot their prey. This is the reason they mostly hunt ground animals not birds in the air.

Now question arises, in pigeon's world why we find so many wing structures in domestic pigeons? The answer is very simple, due to the extensive cross breeding between different breed. If you see a wild dove/pigeon, they always fly in similar style; they mostly have same color and same patterns. Their eyes do not vary in many colors. They mostly can be found in same size. Just for understanding, take example of crows around you. They are of same colors, same sizes, same style and even same habits. The reason of this similarity is they have one breed and they all are in bred, similar case in wild 

In domestic pigeons, human beings are involved from early times. Human beings have extensively bred pigeons to develop better breeds. We always try to achieve best out of it. This is the only reason that we see unlimited wings, body structures, color variations and eyes in domestic flying pigeons. In this article I will try to put light on the common wing and body structures of Pakistani highflying pigeons.

To understand the wings, we need to understand the science. For example, when aeronautical engineers were designing world biggest passenger airplane (A-380). They faced problem with the size of its wingspan because to fly such a big plan engineers needed to design bigger wings. When they made first flight experiment, they found that A-380 was unable to land on standard runway. The reason was big wingspan. Then an aeronautical engineer comes to Asia to see staple eagle flight. This breed of eagle has bigger size and comparatively small wing span to other breeds of eagles. They redesigned the wing structure of A-380 and they succeed in their goals. Now the biggest plan can land anywhere in the world.

Reason for this example is that wing span really matter for the flight. Similarly in our pigeons, wing span should be proportionally equal to its body for best performance. If you see wing of the pigeon, you will find two basic forms.

1. Wing with small inner primaries (1-4).

2. Wing with big inner primaries (1-4)

Pakistani high flyer Wing with small inner primaries (1-4)

For understanding this, take example of falcons.

In above picture you can see the wing span, which is thin and sharp. Pigeons with small inner primaries always have thin and sharp feathers. This shape is more aerodynamic and it helps to fly against the air. This kind of wing span help pigeons to fly faster and they can fight with heavy air flow.

In Pakistani high flying pigeons you can find this structure in Kasuri breed.kasuri pigeons are more aerodynamic and sharp flyers. They can fly against strong air. This kind of pigeon flies on low and high altitude. They mostly remain visible during the flight. The biggest attribute is that pigeon with this kind of wing go in the deep sky and after some time they come at low altitude and return back to the top height. This habit strengthens physical attributes of pigeons.

Pakistani high flyer Wing with big inner primaries (1-4)

I am again using here eagle’s image, because it is easily available and can easily understandable. Pigeons with big inner primaries are more flight oriented. It means they get better lift from air. The biggest flaw that i found is that they are not aerodynamic means they are not fight against heavy wind flow. It doesn't mean that none of the pigeon with this wing structure can fight against heavy wind flow. Always remember that flying style not only depends on the wing, but whole body structure play vital role in it. If we just talk about wing than yes wing with big inner primaries cannot fight with air. These kinds of pigeons mostly remain invisible during flight time. They do not come down and go back in the deep sky. They take rapid flight and become invisible even in few minutes and after completing fly time they come to land. Pigeons with this kind of wing structure mostly seen in SIALKOTI pigeons, for examples: Silakoti chohey: this breed has big wing span with big inner primaries and long body structure. They have shown great result in past times.

If we review outer primaries mean from 6-10 they also has many different structures. We will talk about it sizes and shape in second part of this article. In this article i will share few things about outer primaries.

It has been seen that pigeon’s wing should has proportional feathers. It means smaller to bigger. If we start from primary 1-4 they should be smaller than 6 & 7 and 8,9, 10 should be close to equal. 6-7 primaries are most important to give maximum flight support.

Now come to the most important part. This is 8, 9 & 10. If you see your existing pigeons stock you will find varieties of outer primaries. For example,

8 small, 9-10equal

8 small, 9 big, 10equal to 8

All three equal.

For me these varieties are just indication of breed but the most important part is the shape of out primaries. If you see your stock, you will find two kinds of outer primaries shapes.

1. Wing with curved outer primaries.

2. Wing with straight outer primaries.

Wing with curved outer primaries:

Wing with above attributes is the best flyer among all because it has very less friction. During flight air strike with wing from three direction. Up, down and outer side. If you see wing from front, if it has curve upward then air striking from front won’t make any difference because it will disperse air smoothly. That upward curve also makes curved shape inside the wing. It gives maximum lift to pigeon. If outer primaries will curved in inner direction than outer air will also not effect because curved feathers help air to flow easily over the wing and it also create less friction.

Wing with straight outer primaries

These kinds of feathers are good but it reduces pigeon flight due to more friction. Pigeon need to make more effort while curved outer primaries give lift and less friction.

In next part I will share picture references of different wing structures.

Read second part here

Want to Learn more? Get the latest updates of every post, related to training, medication, feeding and Our Monthly Digest