The
Homing Ability of The Racing Pigeon
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Sometime within the month of April each
year when I am in the countryside I hear
the call of the
cuckoo. Now behind that call lies a mystery
or phenomenon of nature and that is that
that cuckoo will,
if there is a mate available mate, and
in time the female will lay an egg in
the already overcrowded nest
of another bird such as the thrush. After
a period of I expect confusion in the
mind of the incubating
bird the cuckoo's deposit will hatch and
the thrush will become more confused by
the appearance of a
youngster which increases in size beyond
the normal while actively disposing of
any competition in
the form of eggs or young by pushing the
latter over the nest's rim. Now that series
of actions was
experienced by the parents of that cuckoo
in the past for what we are relating to
is the reality of that
which is known as 'instinct'. An 'inbuilt
plan' provided by mother nature in order
for the specie of
cuckoo to survive.
Now considering the title of this piece
the mistake is often made of referring
to instinct when
describing the homing ability of racing
pigeons. But our type of bird has more
than instinct to help it
cross hundreds of miles as it navigates
its return to its loft. Yes, it has what
we call instinct for all
living species has it to an extent but
that is not the key to unravel a mystery
of nature pertaining to
our birds. For in the case of the above
young cuckoo instinct will ensure that
it will cross miles of land
and water to holiday in some part of Africa,
far from where it was hatched, and unerringly
return the
following year to where it was born. And
barring accidents or capture by predators
the young cuckoo
will return without getting lost. And
in time its young will do the exact same
as cuckoos have been
doing for countless generations since
nature bestowed her plan which we call
instinct.
The influence of instinct can be seen
in the behaviour of other species such
as salmon and those
heralds of summer the swallows who fail
to get lost while migrating, all being
normal. But perhaps the
term 'lost' is the key word which makes
me conclude that our thoroughbreds are
not dominated by
instinct for our pigeons can get lost
as we all know! And if it was instinct
similar to that of other
species which brought our birds home we
would not have to train them nor would
the weather prevent
the return of our racing candidates.
That which I refer to as being more than
instinct underlying the homing ability
of our pigeons is a
mystery although there have been a number
of theories expressed in order to explain
the reality.
Whether I would like science to unravel
it is questionable because the history
of our species outlines
that we have been abusers of knowledge.
Anyway if we knew it might take the mystique
out of the
sport.
Our birds upon reflection and experience
possess a sense of direction and as we
train and race them
whether from the north or south, etc.,
apparently nature has willed that they
are helped by the sun. If
the latter is clear they will head for
home if not then they delay their departure
and may take a wrong
route. But whether the sight of the sun
is the be all and the end all is questionable
for I have in
experimentation released well trained
and raced pigeons in a mountainous area
in dense mist at
approximately 20 miles from the loft and
although late in arriving there were no
losses. Forty or fifty
yards of vision were clear in the mist
prior to the experience of lack of human
vision. Thus I am of the
opinion that pigeons have a keen or high
degree of sight which far outstrips that
of humans. On the
occasion of the experimentation I believe
they saw further than I in the conditions.
Scientific studies also suggest that racing
pigeons have tremendous memories and that
this adds to
their sense of navigation. Thus a bird
successfully navigating a journey will
remember certain aspects
of the environment, it is believed, and
use the latter when it encounters the
journey again. Of course if
true the contents of memory would be of
tremendous help but what of encountering
hundreds of miles
never experienced before. Perhaps that
is where the belief that they possess
a high degree of animal
intelligence comes into play and the latter
like memory and sight can be of varying
degrees of quality
and as a result would account for the
individuality and uniqueness of each bird.
The levels of the
degrees of the latter equipment makes
the difference between the champions and
the also-rans as well
as those in between.
Until proven otherwise I tend towards
the belief that our thoroughbreds do not
return by instinct
alone but by a sophisticated strategy
of homing ability which is enhanced by
an appropriate regime of
training starting early in life. A programme
based upon the line of flight in order
to memorize initially
the home territory. But just as it is
questionable if there is such a thing
as an exact science the
explanation tentatively offered here could
fail to account for those extraordinary
examples of homing
ability that the sport has chronicled
over the years and which could perhaps
be considered contrary
to that which is offered in possible explanation.

by: Liam O Comain
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