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8 – Purebred PIGEON
perfect them. Champion Bavarian
went to a lovely Blue bred by Beales
and Gardner.
Next came the Pomeranians.
Once again, great quality throughout
and all shown in excellent condition.
Not much to choose between most
of them and I chose a very nice type
Blue Pied as best. This bird stood
very tall, lovely color, good mark-
ings and good muffs. Owned by Jeff
Colby.
The Voorburgs had a few birds
missing. I learned later that Hennie
Kersten had sent four birds from the
Post Office in Washington on the
Tuesday and they had not arrived. Believe it or not, after a lot of phoning, his
birds arrived at Louisville Post Office on Saturday afternoon after the show had
finished. Thankfully, they were still all alive and someone was going to look after
them for a while before sending them back to him. Hope they made it back. Of
the birds present, there were a few nice Creams and Reds. I chose a Cream as the
best Voorburg, nice type, clean underneath and blowing well. Another fine bird
owned by Trevor Nau.
There was only one Reversewing entered, a Yellow, and it was a little short in
the legs although very nicely marked. Also only one Hessian, an old hen bred by
William Baldwin. Too bad there was no competition.
There were not many Czech Ice, but the few entered were very nice quality
and very clean. Winner was owned by Larry Wilmes.
The Marcheneros had about eight entered, mostly Chequers. Very active
as you would expect from this breed. I chose a young cock belonging to Leon
Ginenthal as best. The only other Spanish breed entered was 1 Cuban, which I
think we call Canaria, entered by Pedro Carillo. This bird was a White and was in
beautiful condition and very active. Too bad there was no other entries. As there
was only the 1 bird entered, I did not see this bird until it was put in the final line-
up the following morning.
Charlie Rowe judged the Horseman and also the Brunners and someone else,
I’m sorry, don’t know his name, judged the Pigmies. So on the Saturday morning
they were included in the line-up for Champion Cropper or Pouter. The Brunner,
a Red, was bred by Bob Bollinger, the Horseman, a chequer, bred by Chris Shupe
and the Pigmy, a White, shown by Stan Staveckis.
This is the hardest part of judging for me. When I looked over the line-up of
best of breeds, there was not one bird that was not worthy of its place. I always
say if you had six judges, you could have six different winners and no one would
be wrong! After a lot of deliberation, I finally decided on the excellent young
Black English hen of Trevor Nau’s as Champion, with the Bavarian of Beals and
Gardner as runner-up.
I took a video of the final line-up of birds, but forgot to take still pics. For-
tunately I had taken a few the day before. The rest of the photographs have been
very graciously supplied by Layne Gardner, so thanks for that, Layne.
I would like to thank the breeders who gave me the opportunity of judging
their fine birds. It was a pleasure and great honour for me. Thank you.
– Scott Sharp•
Czech Ice bred by Larry Wilmes
Brunner bred by Bob Bollinger
Horseman bred by Chris Shupe
Pigmy bred by Stan Staveckis