Seeing pigeons in a whole new light

Nasty, dirty and gross are words some people use to describe pigeons. Even our classmates thought of pigeons like that. But all that changed once our whole class went to Mr. Mike Crispo's house. He is our school's physical education teacher.

Mr. Crispo owns an 8-by-8-foot coop that he keeps in his backyard. He shares it with his dad. He has many different breeds of pigeons. They are a bunch of different colors, such as gray-green, red and yellow.

Mr. Crispo's family owns pigeons, too. His uncle used to breed pigeons, just like Mr. Crispo does now. "It's like a hobby," he explained to us.

He also told us that pigeons don't really show emotion, but they are very loyal to their owners.

Pigeon owners mate their pigeons for looks. If they have a red pigeon and a white pigeon, the offspring will most likely be a red and white pigeon.

If you buy a pigeon at a pigeon store, you will receive a code. So then you put the code on a tag and wrap it around the pigeon's leg. Then, if your pigeon flies away, hopefully someone will see the bird's tag and take it to a local pigeon store and have the staff track the owner by the code.

Mr. Crispo told us that governments can limit the number of pigeons one can own and can have rules for their care. It's a good idea to check.

So maybe you're really interested in pigeons now -- or maybe you still think they are dirty or gross.

Now we think they are really cool.