他们把白鸽染成蓝色放上了天：几天后有人在河边找到它们，蓝色怎么洗都洗不掉

Today's story is from America, and it happened this July.

There is a state in America called Arizona; it is very hot there, and very dry.

A couple there were about to have a baby.

They wanted to throw a party, invite their friends, and share the good news together.

In America, a lot of people do it this way.

Instead of saying straight out whether it is a boy or a girl, you do something first and let everyone work it out.

Blue means a boy, pink means a girl.

This couple wanted theirs to be a bit special.

They found a company, and this company had a lot of white doves.

What the company does is simple: on your big day, they release the doves.

The doves fly up into the sky, very white, very beautiful, and everybody watches them.

But this couple had one more idea.

They said: our baby is a boy, so the doves should be blue too.

The company said: sure.

That day, the doves were not white. They were blue.

The friends all came, and the doves were released.

Blue doves rose into the sky, and everybody was delighted.

This story looks like it ends right there.

It does not.

A few days later, someone was walking along a river.

That river is called the Salt River.

This person saw a few birds on the water, and they were blue.

She thought: there are no blue birds around here.

She took out her phone and put the birds online.

Very quickly, a lot of people saw them.

In that area there is a woman whose job is helping injured animals.

Someone called her, and she went.

One look and she knew: these are not wild birds. These are doves.

These were the doves that had been released that day.

She wanted to help them, so she washed them.

She washed them once, and they were still blue.

She washed them twice, and they were still blue.

She washed them many times, and the blue was still there.

The colour would not come off.

You may be thinking: a blue bird — isn't that pretty?

It is pretty. But for a bird, pretty is not a good thing.

When a white dove flies in the sky, you have to look hard to find it.

The sky is pale, the clouds are white, the dove is inside all that, and other animals cannot find it.

When a blue dove flies in the sky, you can see it from a long way off.

The big birds see it, and they come.

There is one more thing.

A bird should not have anything on its body.

They clean their own feathers with their beaks, and while they do, whatever is on the feathers goes into their mouths.

Their bodies are very small, so a little is a lot.

And there is one more special thing about these doves.

Once they are released, they have to fly home on their own.

Some of them have a long way to go.

For a blue dove, flying home is far harder than for the others.

Afterwards, a lot of people online talked about it.

The owner of that company spoke as well.

She said: what we used was a colour from food, not something bad.

She said: we only did it this once.

She said: we will not do it again.

Think about it: you have a bird.

Today, someone has turned it blue.

You open the door and let it fly out.

Will it come back?