Bird of Day 100: Homing Pigeon

Columba livia domestica

The wild rock pigeon (Columba livia) has an innate homing ability, meaning that it will generally return to its own nest and its own mate. The homing pigeon is a variety of selectively bred domestic rock pigeon. Flights as long as 1800km have been recorded by domestic birds in competition pigeon racing. Their average flying speed over moderate distances 805km is around 80km/h but speeds of up to 177km/h have been observed in top racers for short distance 160kms.

Homing pigeons are referred to as carrier pigeons when they are used to carry messages. When used as carrier pigeons, a message is written on thin light paper and rolled into a small tube attached to the bird's leg. Birds have also frequently carried microfilm. The sender of the message must release the receiver's bird as the the pigeon can only "recall" a one-way navigation.

The Egyptians and the Persians first used carrier pigeons 3,000 years ago. They also were used to proclaim the winner of the Olympics. Messenger pigeons were used as early as 1150 in Baghdad and also later by Genghis Khan. In 1860, Paul Reuter, who later founded Reuters press agency, used a fleet of over 45 pigeons to deliver news and stock prices between Brussels and Aachen, the terminals of early telegraph lines. Homing pigeons were used extensively during World War II. The Dickin Medal, which is the highest possible animal's decoration for valor, was awarded to 32 pigeons, including the United States Army Pigeon Service's G.I. Joe and the Irish pigeon Paddy. Many pigeon fanciers of that time joined the war with their own birds into the Corps of Signals Pigeon Service/Army Pigeon Service.

It is believed that the homing pigeon navigates by using a combination of mechanisms, including: detection of the earth's magnetic field, use of olfactory senses, light-mediated mechanisms involving magnetoreception, detection of infrasound to build topographical maps, and other theories including some relating to quantum physics. Various experiments suggest that different breeds of homing pigeons rely on different cues to different extents.

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Nikola Tesla, the genius behind many revolutionary inventions including AC electric power systems and radio - a communication tool relying on electromagnetic wave - was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing injured ones into his hotel room to nurse them back to health. He stated that pigeons were his only true friends. Tesla was said to have trialed his inventions in his mind, without drawing or sketching it first, before then successfully constructing the prototype. This extraordinary activity resonates with the the homing pigeon's inherent real-time connection with the natural-physical. [Part text: Ref (144)]