Birds

BIRDS IN WARTIME

Pigeons have been used in war time to carry messages.

Feathers are often used for dress uniforms. Check out U is for Uniforms page 42 of //M is for Mates// to see some of the beautiful feathers used on officers' uniforms.

HOW BIRDS ARE CARED FOR IN WAR TIME
Pigeons used as carrier pigeons are kept in special cages until they are released to fly away with their messages. The soldiers often had to bring special food from Australia to keep them alive. They also had to find fresh water for them. Sometimes vets had to look after them and make sure they did not get sick. Have a look at page 45 of M is for Mates to see the cages pigeons lived in during World War 2. Have a look at page 31 to see how the birds were transported to and from camp in World War 1 and World War 2. Also check out[| this picture of a truck]that was coverted into a loft (pigeon home) for homing pigeons in World War 1.

SURVIVAL
Read about one pigeon that never made it home: [|Carrier piegon's skeleton sparks WWII code mystery.]

BIRD HEROES
Military pigeons (do NOT copy any pictures from this site, they are not copyright free).

After World War 11 there were thousands of carrier pigeons that had helped in the war in New Guinea. There was no suitable food for them there and they would have starved to death if they had been left there in the wild. But they could not come home to Australia because they would spread disease to Australian birds. So they had to be put down. Sources for this page include //M is for Mates//, Department of Veterans' Affais 2009, pages 34 - 35 (Q is for Quarantine), pages 42-43 (U is for Uniform), page 44 (V is for Vet) and page 45 (W is for Welfare).