# Tail Riding Roller



## ZBalge (Jan 20, 2013)

I have a Ruby on my 10th floor and get to see him drop out of the sky at eye level! Really an amazing bird, he drops about 7 to 9 stories on a perfect day! I lost my other Ruby /-: So I found a guy who knew a guy who has about 60 rollers. Drove out to his loft picked out a winter hatch, he gave him to me for free. The new one is Big and Fast! and Tail Rides 5 or 6 stories, I am going to keep him as I am not breading a kit. He really gets a lot of altitude, and my once low flying Ruby is now flying up high with him and rolling even deeper! So I will keep my big fast free wheelie bird. Do you think he will ever turn over?


----------



## 2y4life (Apr 5, 2010)

They should eventually roll but man, are you sure they are dropping 7-9 stories? That's incredibly deep but anyhow, keep flying them and they should come into the roll in the next few months.


----------



## ZBalge (Jan 20, 2013)

Only the Ruby drops like that, very controlled fall. I can see the building across the street, and count the the windows on the way down. I am eye level mid fall, how do you measure your roller? The other (free un-documented) one is the only one tail riding/gliding and doing sharp 10 to 20 foot vertical turns. I saw a hopeful drop from the free un-documented "roller" but it turned out to just be diving/slipping back and forth not flipping. I am thinking because of his size he is more likely to glide and not roll like the Ruby. Any thoughts?


----------



## 2y4life (Apr 5, 2010)

That's an impressive fall for tailriding. Anyhow, size doesn't really mean TOO much. You can't tell if a bird will be a good roller or not based on its size, assuming it is a roller and of normal size. 

If I were you, I would go and visit some of the roller guys close to you so you can see what they have, how their rollers fly, and how they train/breed. If you live in Denver, there's at least two guys that live within 30 miles of you. They might be able to observe your birds as well.


----------



## Steve (Nov 2, 2013)

Tail riding.
Strange that I am from Denver originally. I just posted on another topic. When I was younger I had some fantail crossed to rollers. They would crack thier wings and then tail ride straight down. They looked like syrian fantails with some neck vibrating. I assumed the kick back and tail ride was from the roller but the mild neck shaking may have had some thing to do with it also. I also had some Kormorner tumblers that flew and would tail ride also. My high flying tipplers would fold their wings and drop from high up, but you had to watch them to catch them doing it, while they dropped verticle the tipplers did not tail ride, but would fall straight down with wings folded up so they would not soar on the wind but fall.


----------



## ZBalge (Jan 20, 2013)

The 2nd one started rolling, he is not as good as my Ruby but I think he is more fun to watch. He will only do one or 2 and really big slow flips. It seems like he really has to put some thought into it, and has to trick himself into doing it with a perfect head wind. He still rides a little when coming in for landing. The Ruby has gained more control of his falls and stopped his giant out of control 9 story falls, now he will only fall 5 stories at the most on a perfect day. Still super fun to watch.


----------

