Pigeons: Close-Up Moments with Urban Birds

60 Minutes watches a high-stakes one-loft pigeon race in Portugal. Months earlier, pigeon breeders, known as fanciers, shipped their best young prospects to the race loft so the pigeons could learn to recognize it as their home. Each of the 3,300 pigeons is tagged and scanned into a database, then transported 300 miles away and released. Six hours later, the first pigeons find their way back to the loft. The first into the loft wins the largest share of the $1.2 million purse. #pigeon #pigeonrac