The Mystery of Pigeon Navigation

Pigeons are awesome. They can put groups of objects in numerical order even though their brains are smaller than the tip of your finger. This is only one of their abilities. Did you know they are found everywhere on earth except for the Sahara desert and Antarctica? We are surrounded by them but they are as big of a mystery as the sea creatures in the Mariana trench. Scientists all over the world have been trying to solve their navigation mystery for many years but today we still don’t have a clear answer.

In 1997 there was a pigeon race across the English channel: 60,000 birds were released from southern France and only a few thousand made it back. This is a very common race for the pigeons, normally 90 percent of the birds would arrive at their lofts in England after a few days. At the same time, a Concorde airplane was crossing the channel. Concorde planes send a loud wave of sound down to the ground, the pigeons got very disoriented and confused when the plane passed. This supports one of the more common navigation theories.

60,000 birds were released from southern France and only a few thousand made it back.

Low Frequency Sounds

To learn more about pigeon navigation, I interviewed Dr. George B. Johnson, Professor of biology at Washington University. According to Dr. Johnson, “All over the world, there is one infrasound pigeons should all be able to hear — the very low frequency acoustic shock waves generated by ocean waves banging against one another!”. This would explain the pigeon disaster of ‘97. If a pigeon knows its loft is south of a beach then it can listen for that beaches sound then fly south of the beach and find its loft. The sounds bounce off cliffs and hills so the pigeons would get a perfect picture of their surroundings. scientists know pigeons can hear low frequencies very well but they are not sure if they use them to navigate. The Concorde plane blocked out the sounds and confused the pigeons. But this is only one of the theories.

Magnetic Field

Scientists know that pigeons use the magnetic field to navigate. There is lots of research that proves this for example in one simple experiment scientists put a carbon cone (paper cone) over the pigeon. The pigeon always pecks towards the north showing where it wants to go. If a magnet is placed near the cone the pigeon’s perception of the magnetic field changes and it will react by pecking the cone 120 degrees clockwise. There is lots of evidence behind this but scientists have failed to find where their compasses are.

Landmarks and Memory

Some people believe pigeons use landmarks and memory to navigate. In one experiment people released the same pigeon from different points near a highway. At first the pigeon took a curvy inefficient path but after a few tries the pigeon flew right above the highway and stayed on the highway until it reached its loft. According to BBC earth some pigeons even fly around roundabouts. There have also been experiments that show that pigeons aren’t paying attention to the landscape.

Angle of the Sun

Another theory is that pigeons look at the angle of the sun to navigate. In fact this could be a back up sense. Scientists found that even blindfolded pigeons can navigate home. On a sunny day a pigeon with a magnet on its back makes it home but at night the pigeon is less likely to make it home. 

Dr. George B. Johnson says “One of the great joys of science is the unexpected discovery of a wondrous ability in what you had thought to be a drab, uninteresting creature.” This is only one of the stories of the creatures around us so next time you see a pigeon think about how amazing they really are.

Further reading on pigeon navigation

National Geographic - article

Extraordinary Animals BBC Earth - video

Biologywriter.com- Article by Dr. George B. Johnson

Why does everyone hate pigeons? -Youtube video