Whitewings of Gulfwinds began as a hobby and has turned into a unique business for Paula Murphy and her husband, Danny. It is a white dove release.

“Years ago, I used to breed German short-haired pointers, and I was always buying quail to train these dogs,” Paula said.

A friend of hers told her to stop buying quail and use pigeons instead. You can put their head under their wing and hide them in a bush. The dog flushes the pigeon and it flies back to the loft; you can use pigeons over and over for training.

Paula mentioned the idea to Danny. What started as racing pigeons and stopped due to her husband’s health problems led to Paula wanting white birds, White Rock Doves. Her husband seemed puzzled at her request.

“I want to do memorials, funerals and weddings,” Paula said in response. “He didn’t think I would make any money doing that … well, now I’m feeding his birds.”

Paula retired do to her declining health and flying these birds was perfect; she was able to make her own schedule between doctors’ visits.

“The business has grown so much, I’m blessed to be on the healing end of my liver issue, and now I try to give back as much as I can,” she said.

White Rock Doves are actually a pure white breed of pigeon. The Murphys have had pigeons since 1999, started flying white birds in 2005, and Paula said the business really took off in 2009.

Paula raises the birds and currently has a few in the loft that were laid mid-May.

“Usually we don’t have breeders in the loft this time of year,” Paula explains. “I have a partner who has a loft for me in Mobile. He’s lost a few birds to hawks, so we’re trying replenish his stock in Mobile.”

A female will lay her eggs in the nest and males do most of the sitting and feeding after that. Eggs usually hatch around 18 days after they are laid. After they hatch, the babies are fed by the parents for about 28 days after. After 28 days, they begin to eat on their own and then they’ll begin training or “homing.” The lifespan of a pigeon that doesn’t fly and is kept as a pet can be 20 years. For an actual flying pigeon, the lifespan is about 10 years.

So what is it about these pigeons that allow them to find home?

“They have a natural ability,” Paula said. “Some people say that they would follow the sun, but we’ve flown them on cloudy day and rainy days and they still find their way home without the sun. The University of Tennessee studied the birds about 10 years ago and discovered the birds actually have an internal GPS. They actually feel the Earth’s gravity and pull and know where their particular location is. Their motivation is food, water and girlfriends and boyfriends.”

These white birds have numbered bands on their legs.

“These bands identify them,” Paula explained. “In the bands is a chip that is registered to that bird.

“When we’re flying a lot of them, these two electronic pads will go into this hole (opening in the loft where the bird stay). When the birds fly home, they are forced to walk across these pads when they come in through the hole and that bird is registered home.”

Pigeons have to train every day that’s has good weather, like a race horse.

“If you don’t fly them consistently, you can’t expect them to come home because they don’t have the muscle mass or energy, especially when its 100 degrees outside,” Paula said.

Paula gets up at about 6 a.m. and loads the birds at 6:30 a.m.

“We take the group out about 20 miles consistently; they’ve all been out 100 miles, but I don’t travel that far,” Paula said. “It’s good to get them used to all the surrounding areas so they don’t get lost. We consistently train them four times a week 20 to 30 miles each day. Every once and a while we’ll take them 40 to 50 miles on a cool, beautiful morning that won’t put stress on them.”

These birds are animal athletes and released for a good cause.

“It’s really funny when the birds are in the basket at a graveside and they hear the pastor say, ‘… from ashes to ashes, dust to dust …’ you’ll hear them coo and the basket starts rocking,” Paula said. “They know they’re about to be released and fly home. I’ve got birds that do beach weddings and when they hear, ‘…I now pronounce you …’ they’ll start to coo.”

Paula said this gives her a lot of peace.

“To hear that crowd at a wedding go, ‘ah,’ is amazing,” she said. “At funerals, it’s really something special to see the dove release. The people aren’t leaving sad, they’re saying, ‘Oh wow, did you see the doves? Are you waiting on them to come back? Where did they go?’ The children love it. It takes their mind off all the sadness. It’s a wonderful feeling.”