Racing pigeon losses baffle fanciers

Racing pigeon losses baffle fanciers

www.bbc.co.uk

Hundreds of racing pigeons from clubs throughout Scotland vanished at the weekend in mysterious circumstances.

Some fanciers are even considering stopping flying the birds until they establish why so many failed to return.

(visit the link for the full news article)

It's not unknown for birds to go missing, or take longer to return than they should. But for so many to go missing, something is disturbing them.

What might it be?

The problem is, nobody knows for sure how the pigeons find their way home. I've heard people say pigeons follow the sun, that they have internal compasses, that they sense magnetic fields... obviously it's not the sun,as the sun is very much still here!

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by fiflad


It's not unknown for birds to go missing, or take longer to return than they should. But for so many to go missing, something is disturbing them.

What might it be?

The problem is, nobody knows for sure how the pigeons find their way home. I've heard people say pigeons follow the sun, that they have internal compasses, that they sense magnetic fields... obviously it's not the sun,as the sun is very much still here!

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

They could've been killed.

Pigeons, as far as I know, use a variety of methods, including following roads!

reply to post by fiflad


I know a lot of pigeon fanciers who get in a WMC I sometimes go to for a few pints on Sunday evenings with my Dad.
I'm in North East England not Scotland but I'll still ask around and see if anyone is having similar problems here or if they know anything about it etc.

reply to post by fiflad

The problem is, nobody knows for sure how the pigeons find their way home.

Not so, the method is fully understood today. It is a mix of fallowing major geographical points and Earth's magnetic field.

reply to post by fiflad


Take your pick :-

1) Pigeons have to be vaccinated once every year.... those that don't vaccinate get better results.

2) Pigeons are fed on GM food.

3) R.S.P.B releasing peregrin falcons on known racing pigeon flight paths, peregrins will nest in high food areas.

4)This never used to be a problem but :- low atmospheric presure makes them go the wrong way.

5) You can't rule out magnetic pole shift or something in the drinking water.

Its obviously some kind of geomagnetic anomaly since this is how they navigate!

reply to post by andy06shake


Obviously?

reply to post by Freeborn


Either that or some dudes making a lot of Pigion Pie's.

I watched a documentary ( i think BBC) where they took the racing pigeons and put GPS sensors on them, to see exactly what route they took.

From the documentary then

The birds would fly around in circles going wider and wider (not perfect, but random pattern, spreading outwards in all directions), until they find something they recognize, then they tended to follow roads and significant land marks to be able to find their way back home.

So the conclusion of the show, was that they use memory and eye sight to find their way home.

(Remember racing pigeons are trained from birth to be able to find their way home).


On the OP: that is very disturbing indeed , any chance extreme weather can be the cause? Low visibility?

Namaste.

reply to post by WiseThinker


That might be their conclusion but it does not quite work that way. I have had birds return from places they have never been and not close enough for a circle 'search' given the time it took. Surely landmarks are useful near home but they cannot be relying on finding one to make it home.

Birds will almost always circle a bit which seems to help them determine their position, but then they usually fly a line or a slight zig zag toward home.

I have trained and released pigeons for many years.

Better call in Mike Tyson...

reply to post by roadgravel


Thank you for the insight.

Maybe the circle ling motion, is to reset the their internal compass, much like a phone has to be turned in a figure 8 to calibrate the GPS ( i know, two very different "Systems").

As someone who personally has had racing pigeons, what do you think is going on??

Namaste.

I would think that geomagnetics has some part in it. There was a radio storm before/near the weekend. The flyers sound as if this has been happening for several weeks. There was other activity earlier in the month. (basing this on space weather from NOAA)

A few months back I had birds out 50 miles during an R1 and Kindex 4 day with no problems. Of course I am further south (29N) in latitude and they are probably flying at 100 to 300 miles.

Given these events always affect birds from many different lofts, the only common factor would seem to be the Earth.

I wasn't able to tell if all birds were shipped together or it was multiple groups. I really don't think the conveyance method, water, air, etc is part of it.

ETA Here is a picture of a release, only 650 birds though.