On a slightly overcast Wednesday morning, a small crowd gathered around a cage in the parking lot of the Purks Y on Clay Street. As Tallulah resident Mary Beckwith cautiously released the latch of the cage door, about 10 stark white birds billowed out of the opening, made a couple of loops around the area, and then set a blazing trail west toward Louisiana.

The birds, belonging to Mary’s son and Beckwith Golden Gate Funeral Home owner Michael Beckwith, are homing pigeon-dove hybrids he releases at funerals and other events, which then return to their coop at the funeral home. The birds get their sense of direction from the pigeon, Michael said, and their white appearance from the dove side.

“The doves are a domestic bird, so if you just release them you aren’t doing anything but giving hawk bait,” he said. “These birds get up, make two or three loops getting their bearings together, and then navigate off the sun.”

The birds also navigate using waterways, railroad tracks and large landmarks, he said, but the more times they make a trip the faster they get.

Michael’s uncle, who owns a funeral home in Dallas that also releases doves, helped him open his Tallulah-based funeral home in 2001. In 2013 he thought he’d try his hand with the birds, and his uncle gave him six to get started.

He has two mating pairs that are strictly for breeding, and since 2013 his numbers have jumped to 42 birds total. Occasionally the numbers may drop due to a bird of prey or to a bad sense of direction, he said, but they constantly breed to help replenish those numbers.

“Some of the birds just aren’t smart enough to find their way home,” Michael said.

The training process for the birds is extensive, beginning with short jaunts around the funeral home. Once they can be trusted to be alone for about 30 minutes, he begins mixing them in with older birds for one to five mile runs and works his way up. He feeds them twice a day, but makes sure to keep them a little hungry to ensure they want to come back, he said.

A good bird can do about 50 miles, Michael said, but a really excellent one can make it 100 or more. He has released them from Lake Providence, Delhi, and other locations in Louisiana, but the farthest he’s ever released from is Natchez, which took them about an hour and a half.

The trip from Vicksburg wasn’t anywhere near as strenuous, only taking about 30 minutes, but the more often they make the runs the faster they get, Michael said. He uses different teams of birds in different locations to help them get better.

“The first time I took them to Vicksburg they took about an hour to get home,” he said. “The birds kind of gel together though; the more they stay together the better they get and the more they mesh. They take care of each other when they’re flying.”

Michael’s mother, Mary, is the loft manager and makes sure they’re well attended to when they’re at home. She makes sure they’re well fed and watered, bathed twice a week and keeps up their house. Sometimes Michael is too busy at work to take them on runs for exercise, so that Wednesday she was taking over that duty as well.

“I’m retired now and this gives me something to do,” she said. “I always have something to look forward to.”

In addition to funerals, the birds are commonly hired out to be released at birthday parties, weddings, and any other events they’re called on for, Michael said. The birds give the Beckwiths another service they can provide to help families cope with the loss of a loved one, or celebrate the union of two people in marriage, but their affection for animals is what makes it not only a business, but a passion.

“Once I saw them fly I was in awe of them,” Michael said. “I just have a love for animals.”