ShareThisIn 2011, Michael McAndrews went to 108 funerals, weddings and special events, including opening day of a fair. But mostly he went to funerals.
He went to memorials for family patriarchs and beloved co-workers, and he went to funerals that had a police presence for fear of gang trouble.
At each one, in a ceremony, McAndrews released white doves, which are actually homing pigeons. Then, as trained, the birds flew back to his home in Des Moines, Wash.
People hire McAndrews because the doves provide an emotional outlet, something hopeful to mourn a loved one. His minimum charge is $300.
"Otherwise, you're at the grave site, and they lower the casket into the dark, cold ground. It leaves you with an empty feeling," McAndrews says. "But I release the doves, and people are looking skyward, into the heavens."
McAndrews has 100 white doves that will return home even if released from such a distance as the Canadian border, but "they don't really like to fly over mountains," he said.
Dove releases have become popular in the last dozen or so years, according to the National White Dove Release Society. The group says it has 75 member-businesses nationwide, and that several hundred "mom-and-pop" operations do releases on a part-time basis.
There have been numerous studies on how homing pigeons figure out how to get home.
They likely use a number of cues. They navigate by smell, based on the winds around their home. They navigate by using visual landscapes. They use the sun as a compass. They navigate using Earth's magnetic field. In fact, one study found small deposits of the mineral magnetite in two regions of the pigeon's head.
McAndrews seldom has had pigeons get lost and not make it home.
When they're babies, McAndrews has lofts set up so the doves can go on a platform outside, behind wire mesh and look around. That view of their surroundings and where they are perched imprints on them that this is their home.
Hawks and falcons are the biggest threats. McAndrews figures he loses about 40 doves a year to swooping predators.
He has had many interesting experiences, including a funeral for an 88-year-old man, in which McAndrews handed the "spirit" dove to his elderly widow.
McAndrews says the widow released the bird, which flew off for about 10 feet, and then something strange happened.
"The dove turned around, flew back to the woman, crawled up to her, and started kissing her, you know, little pecks, on her lips. It did that for 15 or 20 seconds and then flew off," he remembers.
The couple was originally from Tonga in the South Pacific, and after the ceremony, the widow spoke in her native language about the dove kisses and a relative translated.
"She said that her husband was speaking to her, telling her, 'Stay here, take care of the grandchildren, then we'll meet at the gates,' " McAndrews says.
(Reach Erik Lacitis at elacitis(at)seattletimes.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Seattle Times
