Why Birmingham Rollers?

By: Rick L. Mee

          There are many reasons for the popularity of our chosen breed, so many that they can not all be listed herein. I will try to highlight some of them that I think are the reasons that the Birmingham Rollers have become so popular lately.

          The glue that holds the roller fraternity together is the National Birmingham Roller Club. The NBRC puts out a semi-monthly magazine with informative and original articles. We also host a yearly convention that is held in different parts of the USA. While attending a roller convention, you will travel around and visit some of the local lofts and watch a kit of rollers fly at each, usually consisting of 20 birds. Other activities while attending a NBRC convention are the showing of proven rollers, an auction of top quality birds from the top lofts in the world, door prizes, raffles, seminars, and many other activities. There is nothing more exciting than to be amongst other roller fanciers when a kit is performing properly overhead, especially if they are fast and deep. Our conventions have at times drawn more than 200 people to them, all of which raise rollers. At the present time, our membership is close to 2,000 members, and we are growing daily. There are also many other roller clubs in the world, some having several hundred members. As you can see, our little bird is very popular all over the world.

          Another big reason for the recent popularity of rollers is the annual World Cup roller fly, and the NBRC Fall Fly, now called the Jim Perri Memorial Fly. The WC is made up of flyers from across the world, all are vying for the title “World Champion”. To date, flyers from the USA, Canada, Holland, Denmark, England, and Africa have participated, with Australia joining this year. Regional competitions are first completed, with winners from these going on to the finals. The previous year’s winner is afforded the opportunity to an all expense paid vacation the next year to judge the finals. As for right now, the JPMF is held in North America only, however there has been talk of expanding this fly also. This fly also starts with regional competitions first, where the final’s judge, usually the previous year’s winner, goes around judging all of the regional qualifiers. Winning this fly, like the WC, is also considered quite an accomplishment. Besides these two big flys, there are many local, state, and special roller flys held every year worldwide.

          Rollers come in every color imaginable, and many colors have been borrowed from our breed and introduced to others. Although the colors of rollers are so diverse, and many being very pleasing to the eye, most roller fanciers disregard color, as it is performance only that they are after. Imagine a tight compact kit of 20 Birmingham Rollers, all different in color and pattern, spinning Earthward from up to 3-4 seconds, regrouping, then doing it all over again a short time later. A high quality kit of rollers are a must see for any pigeon enthusiast.

          These are just a few of the reasons that Birmingham Rollers are so popular World wide, and we of the roller fraternity urge you to give them a try. If you are up to the challenge, and want to go where the action is, contact your closest regional director on the NBRC website, you will surely not be disappointed.