Why Do Homing Pigeons Return Home?
For thousands of years, humans relied on homing pigeons for sending messages. Their ability to return home from great distances is genuinely a remarkable trait.
But why do homing pigeons return home? Homing pigeons have the natural instinct to return to their nest. They can find their way home through various methods, such as mental mapping and using the Earth’s magnetic field. Therefore, they are known to be one of the most reliable messengers ever.
But how exactly do homing pigeons find their way home? Also, how far can they travel and get back home? These questions, along with more related queries, will be answered in this discussion. So, keep on reading.
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Do Homing Pigeons Always Return Home?
Homing pigeons are best known for their strong homing sense. That allows them to find their way back even when the distances are long. However, there are many instances when homing pigeons do not return home.
That is, homing pigeons may not always return home. There’s no clear answer regarding why they might not. However, it is believed that some birds may lose their ability to track their way back home after traveling certain distances.
Likewise, they may not choose to return if they are not cared for properly. In those cases, the pigeons may return to a location where they have previously nested, even if that nest was destroyed.
How Homing Pigeons Find Their Way Home?
Homing pigeons have an innate ability to return home. They tend to always return to the spot where they roost. And to do that, these birds rely on multiple methods.
Through Mental Maps
Basically, in this method, the homing pigeons take the help of low-frequency infrasound to come up with acoustic maps of their surroundings. They will later use these acoustic maps to find their way back home.
Using Earth’s Magnetic Field
The second method has Earth’s magnetic fields involved. It is believed that homing pigeons can use these fields to navigate. However, scientists are not sure how this actually works.
Through Their Sense of Smell
Another theory suggests that homing pigeons use their sense of smell to navigate. This theory explains that these birds can create odor maps of their neighborhoods. And to navigate, they use these odor maps to orient themselves.
Learn about pigeon lifestyle in “Pigeon Habits” . We cover their eating, nesting, and interactions with humans.
How Do Homing Pigeons Know When to Go Home?
Homing pigeons are generally trained by their owners. This training involves taking the pigeon to where you want them to fly and releasing them from that spot.
They will use their navigational skills to remember the way when they travel with the owner. Later, when the pigeons are released, they will rely on their navigation skills to return home.
This step is repeated several times, eventually making the pigeon learn where to go. Afterward, when the owners want to send a message to that specific spot, they simply release the bird from home.
The homing pigeons get to the location they are accustomed to. Once there, the birds stay for a while and then return home. In simpler words, it is the training that lets them know when to go home.
How Far Can Homing Pigeons Fly?
Homing pigeons are known to fly hundreds of miles. They can generally fly for 500 to 800 miles in one day. Some species of homing pigeons can even fly 1000 miles in a day.
However, you should note that the distance that homing pigeons can fly depends highly on their age, training provided, and health. Environmental factors also play a role in terms of how far these pigeons can fly from their home.
On the note of training, owners gradually increase the distance from their homes during the training phase. And with time, capable-homing pigeons can fly longer and cover more distance than regular pigeons.
How Far Can a Pigeon Travel and Return Home?
Regular pigeons, not trained by any means, do not have the same innate capabilities as homing pigeons. For that reason, they may not be able to find their way back home when taken to a brand-new location.
But in general, regular pigeons can fly up to 700 miles in a single day. However, if their journey is not broken up and they do not take rest, the distance covered can be pretty low.
When it comes to if they can return home from being 700 miles away, it will depend on the abilities of the pigeon. If the bird has a natural sense of navigation, it can return home from greater distances.
Final Words
So, why do homing pigeons return home again? In a nutshell, homing pigeons have an innate ability to return home. With training, this natural instinct further deepens, allowing them to return home from greater distances.
That’s pretty much all there is to it regarding the topic. Found the article interesting? Then, you wouldn’t mind supporting us, right? You can do that by connecting with us through Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Article References:
- https://theconversation.com/how-do-pigeons-find-their-way-home-we-looked-in-their-ears-with-a-diamond-based-quantum-microscope-to-find-out-171738
- https://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-01/geologist-has-probably-figured-out-how-homing-pigeons-find-their-way-home/
- https://www.audubon.org/magazine/september-october-2012/how-do-pigeons-find-their-way-home
- https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-homing-pigeons-find-home
- https://www.agriculture.com/family/living-the-country-life/how-to-raise-homing-pigeons
- https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/jun/02/home-to-roost-keeping-racing-pigeons-lessons-about-life
