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Siamese White Pigeons

  Story: Jakkapan Kangwan
Photos: Boonkit Suthiyananon
 
Click to Bigger      Flocks of pigeons are a common sight in Bangkok. What is uncommon about the flock in the Chareonphas area on Issaraphab Road is that these birds are pure white racing pigeons with bright and translucent eye colors. 
     Racing pigeons aficionados know that spotless white pigeons are quite rare and that they normally have solid black eyes. These rare color-eyed pigeons are the result of a two-decade-long passion and hard work of hobbyist pigeon breeder Dr. Somkiat Athikhomkulchai.
 Click to Bigger      An ophthalmologist at Yanhee Hospital, Dr. Somkiat picked up his pastime as a teenager by converting the top floor of his five-storey house into a pigeon breeding ground. He started by mating many different combinations of dark-eyed albinos with color-eyed part-white varieties. Three years later, a completely white color-eyed pigeon was born. But it took another five years of inbreeding, crossbreeding, line-breeding (mating with its grandparent) to produce a purebred color-eyed white racing pigeon. 
Click to Bigger      Today he has over 200 color-eyed white racing pigeons for breeding, as well as many eggs, baby or young chicks and other birds used for incubating eggs. Every bird is tagged with an ID number that links to detailed information on its features and lineage history that dates back over 10 years. Keeping track of the information helps Dr. Somkiat understand development of particular features of the birds. What is very exciting for him is that new features keep emerging. He now has in stock white pigeons with eyes in orange, yellow, pink, red, silver and many intriguing combinations of these colors.
Click to Bigger      After sharing his accomplishments via the internet for three years, he was confident that his color-eyed white racing pigeons were the first of their kinds in the world. He thus named these unique birds "Siamese racing white pigeons".
     Despite significant interest from abroad, Dr. Somkiat does not want to export his Siamese White yet. His plan is to see the birds first take on a Thai identity by becoming common Thai household pets. Once widespread, Siamese White pigeons could develop into a viable export of pride for the Thai economy and Thai people.