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Science 21 October 1966:
Vol. 154. no. 3747, pp. 410 - 413
DOI: 10.1126/science.154.3747.410
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Articles

Navigation of Single Homing Pigeons: Airplane Observations by Radio Tracking

Martin C. Michener 1 and Charles Walcott 1

1 Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155

Navigation of homing pigeons was investigated by tracking their homeward flights from a light airplane. Released on successive days from a single training point 35 miles (56 kilometers) from home, individual pigeons, each carrying a transmitter, were repeatedly tracked back to theirloft. No two tracks covered the same ground for even short distances, yet all tracks were within 10 miles of a straight line. Results from further releases north and south of the training point suggest that pigeons often use three methods in sequence to find home: compass orientation, bi-coordinate navigation, and orientation by familiar landmarks.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
How the viewing of familiar landscapes prior to release allows pigeons to home faster: evidence from GPS tracking.
D. Biro, T. Guilford, G. Dell'Omo, and H.-P. Lipp (2002)
J. Exp. Biol. 205, 3833-3844
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)