Homing pigeon is a special type of pigeon developed for racing and carrying messages. These pigeons are sometimes called homers. They can be trained to return to their home loft when released from a distant place. This homing ability has been greatly increased by selective breeding. Homers are descended from the rock pigeon that lives wild in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
The homing ability.
No one knows exactly how pigeons and other birds find their way across strange territory to reach home. Homing pigeons have been known to fly more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) in two days. This would not allow much time for random searching, so they somehow know the proper direction to take. Some people believe these birds have a mysterious ability to orient themselves with the earth’s magnetic field. But there is no real proof of this. Others think the birds are guided by the position of the sun. Just how they do this is not clear, but birds may lose their way in cloudy or foggy weather. Homing pigeons have a highly developed ability to recall visible landmarks. However, this does not explain their homing over unfamiliar country.
Pigeon racing.
Many people enjoy racing homing pigeons and organize races that cover up to 600 miles (970 kilometers). Additional training of individual birds is important. Trainers first allow the young pigeons to become familiar with the area near the home loft. Then they take the birds 5 to 10 miles (8 to 16 kilometers) away and release them. They gradually increase the distance the bird must fly to reach its home loft.
If the birds are to be raced, the owner trains them over the area in which the race is to be held. Only the most successful homers are entered in competitions. The trainer chooses birds that are in the finest physical condition and have perfect, unbroken flight feathers. Some birds have flown 600 miles (970 kilometers) in one day, without stopping to eat or drink. Pigeons 2 or 3 years old make the speediest racers. But older birds perform better in bad weather. Birds with young in the nest are especially dependable homers. Their concern for the young makes them anxious to return.
In official races, clocking devices record the time at which the birds reach their home loft. Upon reaching home, the bird must enter the loft at once so that the owner can remove its band and record the time.
History.
Homing pigeons carried messages for the ancient Egyptians and Persians 3,000 years ago. In Greece, pigeons carried news of Olympic Games victories to the different cities. The Romans used them to send military messages. During the Franco-Prussian War, the French used homing pigeons, and the Germans trained hawks to catch them. Homing pigeons served the United States Signal Corps in World Wars I and II and in the Korean War. During World War I, one bird carried a message about 24 miles (39 kilometers) in 25 minutes. It arrived with one leg shot off and its breast injured by a bullet. In 1956, the U.S. Army sold the last of its homing pigeons. They have been replaced by electronic devices.
