Alan Bliven
74 posts
Jan 28, 2005
9:43 PM
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Does anyone know of anybody who works with the North American Highflying Roller? It's not the American Roller. These fly high and long, 8-12 hours. They also roll very deep, 100-150 feet and have a great homing instinct.
At one point, they were widespread on this continent and possibly the dominant breed in North America but are very rare now.
They are an American breed, the result of cross breeding with many kinds of rollers, tumblers and highfliers.
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Alan
Last Edited by Alan Bliven on Jan 28, 2005 9:44 PM
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highroller
80 posts
Jan 29, 2005
9:54 AM
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Alan, I never heard of them but they sound interesting. How often do they roll in the 8-12 hour flight? And are they too high up to enjoy?
Dan
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Mother lode lofts
460 posts
Jan 29, 2005
10:47 AM
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Alan aren't those the same as the American Roller ????
Last Edited by Mother lode lofts on Jan 29, 2005 10:48 AM
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Alan Bliven
75 posts
Jan 29, 2005
12:17 PM
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It's a bigger bird, the roll is less frequent and not as fast as the Birmingham. They are bred for depth and not velocity.
No, they are not the American Roller but at one point they were both the same breed. The American has since been selected more to conform to the Birmingham in smaller sizes, shorter depth and has more Birmingham blood backcrossed in them. They don't have the endurance the NA's have. The NA's can fly up to 14 hours non stop. The NA's compete with Tipplers in endurance. The NA's also have a great homing instinct of 50 miles.
130 years ago they were created by breeding an Oriental cock with an extreme rolldown Birmingham hen who could barley fly to a perch without hitting the ground, but since then countless other rare flying and performing breeds were added to them.
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Alan
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Steve S.
69 posts
Jan 29, 2005
12:37 PM
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Allen,
I know of no one now that flys the "Old Type Roller" as they were called in and around the 1940's.
I saw them in the 1950's and they were deep and seldom.
Jack La Rue of Utica NY. was the first to breed these about 50 years prior to the 1940's.
ERB Chapman of Stoneham Mass. and Dr. Ben Sanger of Arlington Mass. also raised them around this time also.
These rollers were bred for long flying , high flying and deep performance of which these men perfected.
When the English Birmingham Rollers the imports came over in the 30's they were called the "New-Type Roller."
Bill Pensom bred them to lesser depths but for faster revs therefore the Old Type Roller could not keep up with the work rate nor the speed of the deep rolls and not be able to pull out of the very deep rolls.
The competetion of flying I think fazed out the Old Type Roller.
But wouldn't it be great to go back and see a whole kit of the Old Type again.
Steve
Last Edited by Steve S. on Jan 29, 2005 12:40 PM
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Alan Bliven
76 posts
Jan 29, 2005
1:51 PM
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Yeah, I'm more interested in them as a sideline to my Birminghams. I've always liked the high endurance fliers such as Tipplers but the addition of the very deep roll would be a fantastic bonus, IMHO. The Tippler can get boring as all they do is fly forever and don't even flip anymore.
Yeah, I suppose the addition of competition is what phased out many of the other rollers and tumblers in America. Many of the so called "Tumblers" that are now show birds only used to be good performers, such as the Kormonor and even the Helmut. Overseas there still is a big interest in non Birmingham flying performers. From what I understand in Eastern Europe and other places the Birmingham is a rare breed. They have their own versions. of course I don't believe anything is as good as the Birmingham but some swear they are.. who knows?
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Alan
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Alan Bliven
77 posts
Jan 29, 2005
1:59 PM
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Does anyone here fly any other breeds of performing Rollers or Tumblers besides Birminghams?
I started a loft where I collect rare performing breeds, bred for performance. I have Flying Oriental Rollers from Germany, Baku Russian Crack Tumblers, Central Asiatic Rollers and Rostov Court Yard Tumblers and would like to add some more.
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Alan
Last Edited by Alan Bliven on Jan 29, 2005 2:00 PM
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