Franco Bisceglia, a pigeon racer in Mississauga, Ontario, discusses the high value and rarity of his racing pigeons, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. He expresses concern about the sport's decline while acknowledging it faces challenges. Despite this, Sue Wiltshire from the Canadian Racing Pigeons Union notes recent increases in membership, suggesting some resurgence, though Bruce Bidon, president of a large racing group, sees ongoing difficulties for the sport. The article highlights the unique abilities and breeding practices that make these pigeons distinct from ordinary city pigeons.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-12,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Franco Bisceglia bought this pigeon, the one he is holding now with both hands in his Mississauga backyard, for several thousand dollars.
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he → buy → dollars
One of its aunts sold for 52,000 euros this year.
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One → sell → euros
The other sold for 48,000 euros.
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other → sell → euros
And this pigeon, with a shimmering turquoise neck, is Bisceglia’s prized possession.
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pigeon → prize → neck
“No one,” he says, the pigeon bobbing its head back and forth, “has this bird in Canada.”
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pigeon → say → Canada
That is why, moments earlier, Bisceglia excused himself to shut the gate to his backyard, and why he keeps security cameras trained on his shed, and why he treats with suspicion phone calls asking about his champion birds.
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he → excuse → birds
These racing pigeons, he says, are all valuable.
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he → race → ?
He has been stolen from before.
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He → steal → ?
He does not want to be stolen from again.
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He → want → ?
But Bisceglia, who wears a shirt reading “Keep Calm and Race Pigeons,” is also deadly honest: Pigeon racing, he says, is a “dying sport.”
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he → wear → Pigeons
His observation is similar to that made by others who race pigeons.
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who → make → pigeons
Sue Wiltshire, executive secretary with the Canadian Racing Pigeons Union (CRPU), said the sport is “slowing down” but will never die, citing a recent rebound in membership over the past decade.
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sport → say → decade
Bruce Bidon, president of the largest racing group in Canada, said the sport is “fighting a losing battle.”
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sport → say → battle
A select few take it seriously all the same.
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few → take → it
“You always want your bird to win,” Bisceglia said.
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Bisceglia → want → ?
“That’s just how it goes.”
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it → ’ → ?
They’re no park pigeons
Racing pigeons are no ordinary birds.
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pigeons → ’re → ?
While the same species as the common pigeon found scrounging for crumbs on city sidewalks, the homing pigeons that Bisceglia and others race have been selectively bred for their incredible long-distance speed and navigation.
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Bisceglia → find → speed
Most weekends between May and September, some 1,500 pigeons from across the GTA fly in the Up North Combine, the largest racing competition in Canada.
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pigeons → fly → Canada
They are trucked somewhere north of Toronto — Burk’s Falls (about 220 km away) at the closest, Klotz Lake (some 840 km away) at the furthest — then released together.
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They → truck → furthest
Most of the time, they find their way home in a single day.
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they → find → day
With no wind, they can fly up to 80 km in an hour.
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they → fly → hour
How they do it, said Andrew Iwaniuk, who studies bird neuroscience as a professor at the University of Lethbridge, remains “one of the great mysteries in ornithology.
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who → do → ornithology
The question has been studied intensely for some 70 years and has yielded intriguing results, but no fulsome answer.
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question → study → results
Research shows homing pigeons use visual landmarks to recognize home and use the sun as a compass.
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pigeons → show → compass
They also use their sense of smell.
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They → use → smell
There’s even evidence to suggest pigeons can detect differences in Earth’s magnetic field.
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pigeons → ’ → field
(If you place a strong magnet on a pigeon’s head, it has more difficulty navigating.)
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it → place → difficulty
Every few years, a new paper will suggest how a pigeon detects such subtle differences; the latest suggests it comes from the liver.
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it → suggest → liver
But the ultimate answer of how pigeons navigate, Iwaniuk stresses, has yet to be determined.
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Iwaniuk → navigate → ?
Pigeon racers might not understand how, but they do select for homing skills.
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they → understand → skills
They breed and cherish the birds who are better than all the others at finding their way back home.
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who → breed → way
Bisceglia, a site supervisor for Toronto Water, caught the bug at age seven.
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Bisceglia → catch → age
His parents initially resisted, but his mom — who grew up on a farm — eventually caved.
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who → resist → farm
She told him he could start with two birds and see where it leads.
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it → tell → birds
(That and muscle cars; he has his eyes on a ‘68 Beaumont.)
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he → have → Beaumont
Inside his small loft — one of three in his backyard, separated by males, females and the white pigeons he rents out for weddings and funerals — pigeons flap and coo, pecking at each other’s necks and flying back and forth.
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pigeons → separate → necks
The air smells of pigeon poop.
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air → smell → poop
All of Bisceglia’s birds are vaccinated and dewormed, he says, and they are so well trained that they don’t land on his neighbours’ houses.
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they → vaccinate → houses
He lets them out when they are slightly hungry, so they’re driven to come back when he shakes the food bucket.
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he → let → bucket
…and 64 more, not listed.
The Aporia
