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The Original All Roller Talk Discussion Board Archive >
High Flyers or Not
High Flyers or Not
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nicksiders
411 posts
Feb 03, 2006
12:20 PM
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Are Birmingham Rollers highflyers .......or not. I have always had the belief and understanding that Birmingham Rollers are highflyers. To me a highflyer is flying 300 feet and higher.
Now I am hearing many breeders saying they want thier birds up for 30 minutes and then in the kit box. How can a highflyer get to 300 feet and perform 20 to 35 good breaks and down and in the box in 30 minutes?
Are we no longer looking at the roller as a highflyer?
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
365 posts
Feb 03, 2006
1:08 PM
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Nick, the height where a person would consider their or others birds to be "high" is subjective. Sometimes people with poor eyesight will have trouble seeing birds beyond 300-400 feet. Therefore, anything beyond that would be "too high".
I have heard of a few guys back east that don't want their birds much higher than the tree tops. Anything higher than a few hundred feet renders complaints they are flying too high.
Generally I consider my preferred ceiling to be 500 feet. I've used a range finder and know this measurement is accurate. Beyond that height, for me, the details of the roll begin to become unclear, therefore they are too high for me. I like them in the 300-400 foot range. That is where they will clean up in the spin and break better.
I think where the high flying comes from is their background. At the turn of the century and earlier, the gene pool of performing rollers and tumblers was bred largely to fly for long periods of time. Usually to do this, the birds require more altitude. Air is lighter the higher you go, and thus, the higher the birds go, the longer they can fly. I think the large majority of it is hereditary. Its in the bird's background to do so and much of this can be developed over time in a group of birds that flys in one place, instead of traveling such as what homers do. Homer guys always complain of their birds not flying high enough. The traveling versus hovering over one locations probably has something to do with it.
Some families have been bred to fly low. I have one family that often there are many birds from that family that absolutely will not fly high. When the kit is lifting and gets beyond 500 feet, they break and come down to 300 and fly at that altitude. I think there are more than just a handful of variables that can contribute to the will to want to fly high.
Brian.
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Mount Airy Lofts
95 posts
Feb 03, 2006
4:27 PM
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I still look at the breed in general as a high flying breed. There are some who favor their birds to only fly at three top heights.
I like my birds to fly at 300 feet. The max would be 600 feet. Like many people, I would like to enjoy their performance. I know this is not so as some of the older fliers still like to see their birds sky out - High Fliers. Then there are those old fliers who as Brian stated have poor vision and breed the high flying trait out.
How can your 40 footers plus ever mange to survive long flying only at tree top heights? I find that the smart birds will only roll deep if up high and shut it off when down low (under 100 feet). I also find that my birds feel more comfortable working at a certain height (250 feet).
I have both in my family as I have found. I too have notice that some birds will never go up to certain heights. If the team skys out, these certain birds would drop back to a more comfortable height. I see this in young birds as well. Unless they were prone high fliers from the get go, the first couple of times high they would leave the group and fly at their comfortable level. Altho if flown with such heights for a while, they will learn to cope with it and stick it thru. That is how one can ruin a young bird, teach it to fly high.
Young birds are naturally low fliers. Altho this isn't true in one stronger flying subline.
Thor
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