January/February 2026

32 – Purebred PIGEON Escampadissa Tumbler: the Jewel of Mallorca Text, photos and pigeons by Ángel Luis Rodríguez Barbero. Member of RBPC The Escampadissa Tumbler is the jewel of the island of Mallorca, crafted where the sunny sky, the blue Mediterranean Sea, and the city of Palma meet. Arriving from the Near East via maritime trade on some fortunate day between the 16th and 17th centuries, it eventually took its barley grain-shaped silhouette and its rich culture of words in the Mallorcan lan- guage, which give names to its flying style, its varied range of colors, and regarding its cultivation by the local aristocracy, which gave it the name of the “lord’s” pigeon. H istory of the escampadissa tumbler It is the most popular breed among the three native tum- blers pigeons to the largest of the Balearic Islands – located about 300 km to the east, off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula – as it was also in the city of Palma and in other small cities and towns on the island and in Mahón/Maó, the capital of the island of Menorca. From the beginning, their ownership, breeding, and flight were exclusive to the Mallor- can nobility of the 16th and 17th centuries and represented a status of wealth and power, as well as a symbol of ostentation, since the larger the dovecote and the greater the number of pi- geons of this breed housed in it, the higher the social prestige of its owner. Over time, their ownership and breeding became popular among the new rich who aspired to be noble, as well as among the common people who kept as many pigeons as they could. The breed reached its peak in the second decade of the 20th century. Even so, the upper classes spared no expense on luxuries, and some wealthy owners went so far as to install an elevator to conveniently access their dovecote located on the roof of the top floor of their property when the first eleva- tors were still a luxury. With the arrival of the Second Spanish Republic first, and then with General Franco’s dictatorship after the Span- ish Civil War, urban planning regulations were enacted that prohibited keeping animals on balconies, patios, and rooftops. Consequently, combined with the post-war economic crisis,