Tipplering in Israel

Tipplering in Israel started with British Mandate United Kingdom got from the League of the Nations, immediately after WW I back to 1918, or fail of the Ottoman Empire. Since Brits were here on the temporarely posts for a period of 4 yrs. or more, just as in many other teritories under their controll, they took with them birds, dogs and horses as well. But in towns where they lived it wasn't possible to breed them and therefore they were kept and breeded in their police stations, who were built all over Israel and all with very much same layout. They had there mostly two kinds of pigeons, English Flying Tipplers and racing pigeons of British type with longer peak and higher body than today's racing pigeons. When they left in 1948, when Israel established the State after famous vote in the UN, some of the birds were taken back with them and some were left or released. When I came to Israel for the fist time back to 1982 I've been settled in Kibutz Gesher, which is located between Beit Shan and Tiberias on the Sea of Gallile, and it took me with surprise when I found in their small ZOO original Tipplers!!! I spoked with Mrs. Noga who were at that time in charge with the ZOO and she told me that they got them from some old fellow who is not from kibutz. I asked for his address and one day went to pay him a visit to Afula, place near by. I recognized place from quite far away because of the pigeons who flew all around and landed and got off. 1/4

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We spoke for something like a few hours and I understood that guy has been born there at the time of the Ottoman Empire and he remember when English came in 1918 as well as when they left in 1948. I don't recall his name any longer but I do remember that he lived just outside of Afula on the road to Nazareth. He said that there are some of the Tipplers who are pure, but most of them are mixed, because not very much people know about them and neither kept them for training. He also told me that if I wish to get some of those birds I have to go and look all around places wherever there are their ex-police stations built because when birds were released they didn't settled far away from there. He also told me that most of these birds were Macclesfield's and Manchester types, and very few of Sheffield type, because Sheffields strain were mostly self or barred and terefore hard to fly long hrs. Under Middle Eastern sun. They were also easy target for hawks as dark spots on the mostly dominantly blue sky! He quoted that they flew between 12-14 hrs. and very high most of the times. And some of them were left to fly during the night as they returned in the early morning hours as points in the sky. No special feeding or training were implemented just ordinary food from here as barley, wheat, corn and dura which will be equivalent to the Australian pees. Our meeting finished and I went around places where he told me as British ex-police stations. First one was in the centre of Afula but he told me that he already made multiple inqueries and took whatever good and pure he saw and found! So my next trip was Kibutz Gesher from where I started my inquiry and where as a matter of fact was settled one of many ex-British Police stations just near the border. I made many inquieries and the best I could do were few birds I found in two fanciers who lived in Beit Shean, place on its way to Jerusalem via Alon Road. I took them back to my Kibutz Gesher and made some great pairings out of them. Third place I found was exBritish Police station on the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on the left side in the place called Abu-Josh, an Arab village. I went there and spoke with few people who were pigeon fanciers which pinpointed to some other whom they thought that those kept birds as I've been looking for i.e. according to my dessription. After paying visit to some more villages I have been found few more birds of which I wasn't sure 100 % of they were pure, but they looked like very much as pure, although they were in pairs with some other pigeons not of Tippler origin. I bought them from the fanciers who never trained them but were telling me that birds are flying alone whenever they are released very high and for quite some time. Most of these fellows kept Persian highfliers and Oriental Tumblers and were not interested in Tipplers. I completed something like 10 pairs in Kibutz Gesher with gratefull help of my late friend Yakov Caspy "and time came when I had to return back to continue my studies in ex-Yugoslavia. 2/4

3/4 I asked if I can take with me few pairs and they let me take 3 pairs. I picked up the best of course. But since I have been travelling by train from Greece to ex-Yugoslavia, since there was no direct flight at that time, Macedonian custom officier saw huge paper box in the upper corner above me and asked what is in and when I said birds he called for a Vet and they asked me to kill them on the spot since I didn't have any medical permissions for import!!!It was like as someone stubbed knife in my heart and I went in the corner and pulled off their heads!!!I was lucky to have another three hidden in my sleaves of my jacket since I was taught that you should never carry all eggs only in one basket!!!Three birds that were left were two hens, one print grizzled and another like more red mottled and one cock who had green almond colour. They gave me very good offspring back in my hometown Osijek for quite some time, actualy exactly until summer of 1986 when I immigrated to Israel and took with me all my birds! So destiny wanted that offsprings as well as the original birds reached again the Holly Land. At that time I was renting small apartment in Ramat Gan where I made huge cage on the roof above my apartment and from where I flew my birds. Very same year my best Israeli friend Maty Birnbaum from Eilat on the Red Sea went to my hometown and asked me to find him good Tippler's kit for a sale. I asked some chaps and found for him stolen Tippler's kit of Lovatt origin from some of the best Tippler's fanciers at that time, whose name need not to be mentioned since he's still alive LOL!!He bought all 10 stolen pairs and from him people all around Israel got birds and especially in Kibutz Yotveta near Eilat where they hardly could stop them from entering into the night, where they were flying all night under the moonlight and seen early in the morning as small dots in the sky. Offsprings of my birds of Zemun's origin, or more exactly who bought from Matic Andrija back in 1976 and mixed with Israeli found Tipplers from 1982 until 1986 as I said, were given to Kibutzim Beit Ha-Shita to man called Mukie at that time in the charge of Kibutz ZOO and other ZOO man Yossi Siwan in Kibutz Beit-Alfa under the mountain Gilboa where in the ancient time King David beated huge Goliath!!!They flew excellent and even today wherever you go around Israel and start to talk about Tipplers fanciers will tell you about Maty's and my exbirds. Later on I moved in Herzliya where I had troubles with Municipality because of my pigeons and therefore had to move them to my friend Hayim Miaznek who had many pigeons in Ramat Gan. From there they went to moshav Kfar Truman near the Tel Aviv's airport and there I have had major flood after huge floods back in 1991. One third of my birds died as sewage stucked and they simple couldn't get out of deep water. I don't remember myself more devastating that at that time. I took the next day all my birds and moved them to my friend Ory Rosner in Kibutz Ein Gedi near the Dead Sea. During all this Odyseyas of my birds Maty Birnbaum from Eilat slowly gave up his birds, in favour to the parrots, to all over Israel without taking any tracking records. 3/4

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Year after I bought apartment in Yaffo back in 1991 I took my birds back from Kibutz Ein Gedi from Ory and brought them to my roof where two huge cages were been built for them. But even there I have had huge misfortune since one night when birds were separated during the winter season thieves came in the early morning hours and stole all my hens, since they were in the right side of the huge cage. That finished me even more. But once Tipplerman always Tipplerman, and I soon went back to people who had my and Maty's offsprings and put back again whole fleet together. Started to fly them again and after I heard about good impact of Almonds used in the Far East and hoter Middle-Eastern countries so I started to give them syrup of Almonds mixed with water two-three hours before each flight. Everything else normaly just as everybody train them anywhere else in the world. In the year 1997 I got project in New Zealand and I had to leave for one year so I left all my birds to friend of mine who is car mechanic and living in moshav near Kfar Truman where I lived some time before. Few months before I returned he informed me that all three cages of birds were stolen after his german sheperd was shot with sleeping injection! One cage of birds were mine, another his and the third one were parrots he shard with his brother. That definitely brake me down and I said to myself that I'll never ever breed Tipplers. But as I said before once Tipplerman always Tipplerman I went to my hometown and got some nice birds from my late friend Sljivac Tomislav ."I smuggled them into Israel and started all over again. This time in smaller cages and much less than before but hey I was back on the track. And right now Im without birds here because of the Municipality problem again but soon will solve that problem and get back all my birds from three major places they are kept such as Serbia, Czech Republic and Croatia. I hope that you enjoyed this story! Oh yes the best official time I ever got was 17 hrs. flying under the NTU rules for KCHT Czech Tipplers Club on April 23rd, 2006 (honorable system) with three senior brothers. 2011- Copyright by David Strossmayer

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