BJ, age 55, grew up in Coney Island and kept Flights when he was a boy. Nursing a sick street pigeon back to health, many years later, was what reignited his love of the birds and introduced him to the joys of Racing pigeons.

I had pigeons when I was about 14. They were Flights: Tiplets, and Rollers. In Coney Island. There were lots of guys kept birds. But I didn't do a dollar-a-catch or anything. If I caught the guy's birds, I would give it back to him. I was a nice person. But other guys weren't so nice.

My mother was OK with it. It kept me off the streets. My brother, sometimes he was interested in it, other times he was interested in girls.

I like the birds, for their beauty, their colors, their fanciness. That's what got me interested in them.

When I was 15, I knew a fellow in Coney Island had Racing Pigeons. I used to watch him from the window when I was in class, 'cause his coop was like directly across from the school. And I would watch him, on the roof with the birds, and I would sometimes go over and ask him questions. And that kinda got me interested in Homers.

I didn't have any pigeons again for many years, after I grew up. It's very strange...what made me get interested in pigeons again, was in front of my house I found this street bird. He was beautiful, with beautiful color, and he was hurt. So I took him in, I put him in a cage in the backyard, and I fed him and got him back to health and everything. And I went to the pet shop to get some feed for the pigeon, and I was looking through the cages, and I was like, wow, I would like to fly pigeons again. And that really got me towards having Racing pigeons. I kept the street pigeon till he got better, and I let him go. And where I was living, my friend was the owner of the building, so I asked him if I could put up a coop in the backyard, and he said sure, and that's what got me into Racing pigeons.