Effect of Extremes of Temperature on Performance of Flying Tipplers

By: Akhlaq Khan
Date: Fri 2/3/2006 9:54 PM
Category: Climate

Through his message dated Jan.9, my Shagird / pupil Khalid Rabbani requested
that I may offer a comparison of hot and cold weather flight performance of
Tipplers. His request perhaps resulted from some controversy between him and
Nino; Khalid contending that high temperatures in Pakistan and India are a
very big hurdle and set-back to the performance of this bird and Nino
considering that cold weather of temperate regions exerts extremely adverse
effect in North America and in Europe.

Evidently such controversy has resulted from the fact that both of them are
grossly unaware of what is extreme in both cases, as surely Nino has no
experience of what hot weather in the dry sub-tropical region of the World
feels like and Khalid has not seen temperatures as low as 20 C. In any case
although this debate is not very useful it is considered advisable to
apprise the western fancier that heat generated in the pigeons body during
flight and the outside high temperature require more food to burn. I have
seen my elder brothers hen flying from dawn to dusk for two consecutive days
without any food and water and landing at 2:45 on the third day.

This contention is also supported by the fact that one gets exhausted much
more quickly in hot weather than in cooler (not colder) weather. Again one
can work for more hours in shade in summer as compared to working in the
open and under the sun. The other limiting factor in hotter climate is the
deficiency of water/ moisture in the air hotter low-fall areas.

In Punjab, including Lahore, May and June are not only the hottest but also
the driest months. Combination of low Relative Humidity, (the amount of
moisture in the air as %age of its weight) and high temperature plays havoc
and often results in disaster. The high and low-flying pigeons not only make
very less time but quite often don't recover from fatigue and exhaustion and
die due to dehydration. In my opinion low humidity influences flight
duration much more than high temperatures. This is expected if one keeps in
mind that, unlike man who lowers his body temperature by perspiring through
his body pores, pigeon does so by releasing water in the air sacs connected
with its lungs. If humidity or the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere
is low, more body-water gets lost. It has been seen that temperature
remaining constant, flight duration in hotter climates is directly
proportional to Relative Humidity, of course up to a certain extent as very
high humidity again reducing flight time due to dampening of feathers as may
be seen in the costal or island Gulf States and in England.

Humidity effect was seen during 1998 Summer Competition held in widely
separated towns of Lahore, Rawalpindi and Mianwali when difference in
weather, especially in the Relative Humidity, defeated my efforts to hold an
All Pakistan Flying Competition. The winning team of 7-High-flying Tipplers
at Rawalpindi made 73 hrs. Here there was a hailstorm the day before and
temperature fell as low as 25 C. The winning team of 7 Tipplers made 72 hrs
in Mianwali but at Lahore only 31 hrs. although temperature at both the
places stood at 43 C. What affected flight-duration at the two places was
the difference in amount of water vapours in air as Relative Humidity at
Lahore was 7% compared to Mianwali where it was 25%.

It is interesting to note that at Lahore majority of over 1000 Tipplers
taking part in competitions on 28th of May, 98 had landed before 9 am. and
only 3 could cross 2 pm. The effect of humidity on flight duration can be
well judged from the fact that the team that made only 31 hrs. at Lahore on
28th May in 7% humidity made 63 hrs on 30th May when humidity rose to 14%.

It is under these conditions of low humidity and high temperatures that we
require constant struggle to produce better and better strains of the
Tippler and also to use herbal medication to reduce water loss from its body
her in Pakistan and India. Hoping that I will be excused for this lengthy
discourse.//