English: Title: Greg Mekita releases a few racing pigeons near their coop in Pueblo, Colorado. Mekita breeds the birds, and his brother-in-law, Ray Vertovec, races them as part of a hobby shared by others in a Pueblo club, a similar club north of them in Colorado Springs with whom it competes, and pigeon-fanciers around the world

Physical description: 1 photograph : digital, tiff file, color.

Notes: It's all for fun and pride in Colorado, but some races, including one in Africa, offer prizes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The birds are carried to a release point and sent on their way. They are not timed for actual distance, because it can vary when birds of different clubs are competing. Rather, the winning bird, measured via a chip implanted in their bodies and tracking computers, is chosen based on its average speed per meter. Sometimes the races cover hundreds of miles and dozens of birds, a few of whom are often lost to, according to Mekita, "hawks and power lines."; Forms part of: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.; Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.; Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.; Purchase; Carol M. Highsmith Photography, Inc.; 2015; (DLC/PP-2015:068).