Pigeons pick their leader based on SPEED
The front-runner in a flock is chosen based on how fast they flew on previous journeys
The question of how flocks of birds choose their leader has intrigued scientists for years.
Now researchers have studied homing pigeons to reveal leadership is largely a question of speed.
They found that a bird's leadership qualities could be predicted by its speed on previous journey, rather than its navigational skills or its ability to fly in a straight line.
Researchers have studied homing pigeons to reveal that leadership when flying in a flock is largely a question of speed. They found that a bird's leadership qualities could be predicted by its speed on previous journey, rather than its navigational skills or its ability to fly in a straight line
'This changes our understanding of how the flocks are structured and why flocks of this species have consistent leadership hierarchies,' said Dora Biro of the University of Oxford.
Previous studies had shown that flock leadership is unrelated to social dominance and that migrating birds, for example, simply take it in turns.
The new findings, published in Cell Press journal Current Biology, offer a simple explanation for the phenomenon of leadership in birds, and could show how spatial knowledge is generated and used in navigating flocks.
While many birds travel in flocks, homing pigeons are domestic and more easily studied than most.
First author Benjamin Pettit explained why they had been chosen for the study, saying: 'We can control the composition of the flocks and the starting points for their homeward journeys.
'We also have a good understanding of their individual spatial cognition, in particular how their homing routes develop over repeated flights in the same area.'
The team used sensors to explore how pigeon flocks are co-ordinated with GPS loggers to track their routes, including sub-second time delays.
This revealed how they react to each other in flocks.
The researchers focused on comparing pigeons' relative influence over flock direction to their solo flight characteristics in their study.
They found a pigeon's degree of leadership could be predicted by its speed in earlier flights.
In solo flights, leaders were no better than followers in forging a straight path - in other words, they weren't adept at navigating at first.
When the researchers tested the birds individually after a series of flock flights, however, they found that leaders had learned straighter homing routes than followers.
Dr Biro said: 'Some birds are naturally faster and consistently get to the front, where they end up doing more of the navigation, which means on future flights they know the way better.
'You can compare this to a 'passenger-driver'-like effect: drivers in a car have to pay attention while passengers are often unable to recall the route they were driven along, especially if they remained passive in the navigation process.'
- Mail Online
Japanese racing pigeon takes a wrong turn during 600 mile race... and ends up 5,000 miles away in CANADA
A bird released in its first Japanese pigeon race chose to forgo the 600-mile competition in favor of a much larger goal: a 5,000 mile trek across the Pacific.
A one-year-old racing pigeon in the northerly Japanese province of Hokkaido was released along with 8,000 other birds on May 10. Last week, it was found an ocean away on Canada’s Vancouver Island. Rescuers were even able to contact the exhausted and starving bird’s owner near Sapporo.
So how did a little bird make such a big trip?
‘When they’re flying around they become dehydrated and weakened,’ Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society founder Maj Birch told ABC News. ‘He may have landed on ships where there was no food, maybe rode on the ship until he felt like he could fly some more.’
Just because he may have had some help, however, doesn’t make the bird’s trip any less astounding. Of the thousands of birds that began the race last month, only twenty percent were able to finish. Not surprisingly, it was the long range pigeon’s own mother that won the Japanese race.
What’s more, most pigeons have a range of closer to 400 miles. Rescuers were able to make contact with the pigeon’s owner thanks to tags on the animal's legs. ‘This is a superior pigeon,’ Hiroyasu Takasu told ABC.
Takasu, who owns about 100 birds where he lives in Ibaraki Prefecture, was shocked the bird was still alive. ‘I was so relieved he was found alive,’ he said. ‘Birds usually reach their limit in a week, with no food or water.’
Despite being impressed with his charge’s feat, Takasu asked that the bird not be returned, fearing further travel would endanger its health. ‘We did not even have a name for this one, because we only give names to birds that return home,’ he said. So, now, the nameless bird that crossed an ocean has been adopted by the Mid-Island Racing Club in nearby Nanaimo, Canada. Trainers there plan to shack up the tough young bird with a suitable female in the hopes of breeding the next generation of champion racing pigeons.
-- Dail Mail
See picture of the bird here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2349135/Miracle-pigeon-makes-trans-Pacific-trip-Japan-Vancouver-Island.html#ixzz3jwdf1k00
China impounds 1,200 racing pigeons from Belgium in tax dispute
Customs officials in China have impounded 1,200 racing pigeons in a dispute over import duties
(Agencies) The pigeons had been bought by Chinese fanciers at auction in Belgium and reports say they have been in official custody since July. The world's most expensive racer, Bolt - sold to a Chinese businessman for 310,000 euros (£260,000) - was among 400 released last week in a settlement.
Chinese media says each pigeon was declared at only 99 euros. Chinese import duties are levied at 10% of the value of goods and, on top of that, there is a further value-added-tax of 13%. That means China was due 75,000 euros (£62,690;$101,283) for Bolt alone. Reuters reports that Bolt and 400 other birds were released last Thursday after a "symbolic sum" was paid - but the others are still in custody.
Named after the Olympic gold-winning Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, the bird was bred by celebrated Belgian pigeon fancier Leo Heremans. It was auctioned in May by the Belgian pigeon traders Pigeon Paradise (PIPA). Its release was secured after PIPA's chief executive Nikolaas Gyselbrecht flew to Beijing to negotiate.
Pigeon racing is a popular sport in China. The breeding of top racing pigeons is also a lucrative business. The Belgian embassy is said to have stepped in to help resolve the dispute. Bolt, who is now living in Beijing with his new owner, will not take part in racing but will be used for breeding. "He will have a good retirement. He will have a very nice pigeon loft and he will see a lot of female pigeons," Mr Gyselbrecht told Reuters news agency.
World record price paid for Belgian racing pigeon Bolt
A Belgian racing pigeon called Bolt has been sold to a Chinese businessman for a world record price of 310,000 euros (£260,000: $400,000)
Belgium: It is expected that the new owner will use Bolt for breeding more birds. The buyers of nine of the ten most expensive pigeons sold at the auction were from China or Taiwan. Bolt was bred by celebrated Belgian pigeon fancier Leo Heremans, who sold his entire collection at the same auction.
"A painting made by Picasso is worth more than one made by an unknown artist. It's the same with this pigeon," Nikolaas Gyselbrecht of pigeon auction site Pipa told Reuters.
The pigeon is named after the Olympic gold-winning Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
Mr Heremans' entire collection of 530 birds sold for 4.3m euros at the auction. In 2011, a UK record was set for the price of a racing pigeon when one was sold for £16,000, also to a Chinese buyer.
Queen asked to stop racing pigeons
Animal rights group PETA calls pigeon races 'cruel'
London, Mar 28 (AP) An animal rights group may ruffle royal feathers with its call for Queen Elizabeth II to stop supporting pigeon racing because the sport is cruel. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals claims tens of thousands of birds die during pigeon races across the English
Channel. It says it conducted an undercover investigation which found that in some races 75 per cent of the birds disappear and are presumed dead. PETA says it has written to the queen asking her to review her association with the sport. Elizabeth is patron of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association and keeps several hundred racing pigeons on her Sandringham estate in eastern England.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment today.(AP)
Racing pigeons used for betting seized
Deccan Chronicle | 23rd Dec 2012
(It is really sad that this has happened. I hope the authorities understand that there is no betting involved and that the numbers are for identification)
Sullurpeta police have seized 22 racing pigeons used for betting from two persons belonging to Chennai during a routine check at the tollgate near Sullurpeta on Saturday. The accused have been identified as R. Surya Prakash and K. Harikrishna, residents of M.G.R. Nagar in Chennai. According to police, the duo was taking the pigeons in a wooden box on a motorcycle from Chennai to Nelaballi in Doravarisathram mandal of SPSR Nellore district.
Police grew suspicious when they found number tokens tied to the legs of the pigeons and the accused failed to give satisfactory answer.
When grilled by police, the accused spilled the beans. They told police that the pigeons belong to AMC Club in Chennai and they would release them at Nelaballi after collecting bets over phone and the returns are depending on the pigeons that are reaching first to the club. Sullurpeta circle inspector Rattaiah said that the betting run into lakhs and some Tamil speaking locals in Nelaballi helping the Chennai gang to organise the race from Nelaballi.
He said that they are continuing the probe further to detain all those involved in the activity.
Government's top code-breakers left stumped by wartime carrier pigeon's secret note
It was discovered by David Martin, 74, in the chimney of his Surrey home in August
Expert historians at GCHQ have been unable to crack the code
Truth of the secret message may never be known
It's left the Government's top code breakers stumped - but maybe can you decipher the secret message sent by British soldiers during World War Two? The unopened scroll was found attached to the remains of a carrier pigeon at house in Surrey in August. It is believed the bird swooped down on the chimney for a rest during its long journey from Nazi-occupied France.
But sadly, the brave 'spy' pigeon then fell off its perch and died with the vital message still wrapped to its leg. Expert hictorians at GCHQ, who have been trying to decipher the code for weeks unsuccessfully, say it may never be cracked. They are now turning the mystery over to the public in the hope that someone may know the secret to unlock the mystery. The message, hidden in a red cylinder, lay undiscovered in the chimney for around 70 years until the home’s current owner David Martin decided to restore the fireplace. ‘The chimney was full of twigs and rubbish,’ he said. ‘We were stunned by how much came out. Then I started finding bits of a dead pigeon. We thought it might be a racing pigeon until we spotted the red capsule.’ The former probation officer and his wife Anne, both 74, unscrewed the capsule and found a hand-written message inside on a ‘cigarette paper thin’ piece of paper.
It was sent to code breakers at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, the intelligence centre where work to crack the Nazi Enigma code shortened the war by years, and to their modern-day counterparts at GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, who also tried to decipher it. Mr Martin said: 'I always understood there was no code that couldn't be cracked. I am beginning to think this message contains highly-sensitive orders.' Experts from UK intelligence agency GCHQ said the message, which has 27 five-letter code groups, is impossible to crack without its codebook. They were also left stumped by missing details, such as the date of the message and the identities of the sender, 'Sjt W Stot', and the recipient, 'X02'.
A spokesman said: 'Although it is disappointing that we cannot yet read the message brought back by a brave carrier pigeon, it is a tribute to the skills of the wartime code-makers that, despite working under severe pressure, they devised a code that was indecipherable both then and now.'
A GCHQ historian told the BBC help from the public is the best hope for any breakthrough. 'There are still quite a lot of people alive who worked in communications centres during the war and who might have some knowledge about this and it would be very interesting if anyone did have information if they could put it in the pot and we could see if we could get any further with it,' he said.
Some 250,000 pigeons were deployed in the Second World War. Able to fly at a mile a minute, they carried messages from behind enemy lines and, like a forerunner of the ‘black box’, accompanied RAF bomber crews in case they crashed. Experts say the red capsule Mr Martin found is the type used by the Special Operations Executive. Their human agents undertook sabotage missions such as blowing up trains, bridges and factories in German-occupied territory. The message was written by a Sergeant W Stott and contains columns of groups of five letters. It is thought that its intended recipient, ‘X02’, is code for Bomber Command. One theory is that the message may have been requesting a bombing raid somewhere. Another is that the pigeon was bound for Field Marshal Montgomery’s HQ in Reigate, Surrey, from where he planned the D-Day landings.
Homing pigeons were taken on the D-Day invasion and released by Allied Forces to keep generals back on English shores updated on the operation.
Some pigeons were based at Bletchley Park, which is now a museum. But Colin Hill, curator of its permanent ‘Pigeons at War’ exhibition, said all of the pigeon messages in its archives are in long-hand, not code. ‘The message Mr Martin found must be highly top secret,’ Mr Hill said. ‘The aluminium ring found on the bird’s leg tells us it was born in 1940, and we know it’s an Allied Forces pigeon because of the red capsule it was carrying, but that’s all we know.’
Hundreds of racing pigeons vanish in 'Bermuda triangle' of birds
Pigeon racers are mystified after hundreds of birds disappeared in an area they have now dubbed the Bermuda Triangle.
Only 13 out of 232 birds released in Thirsk , North Yorkshire, on Saturday by a Scottish pigeon racing club made it back to Galashiels, Selkirkshire.
It follows a summer on which hundred more have vanished in the same area. Keith Simpson, of the East Cleveland Federation, said pigeon racers across the region had all suffered massive losses since the season started in April - with many losing more than half of their birds.
Some fanciers are considering stopping flying the birds until they establish why so many failed to return. Scottish pigeon racer Austin Lindores said: "When they fly down to the Thirsk, Wetherby and Consett area we call it the Bermuda Triangle because something always seems to happen. "This is not the first time it has happened in that area. I won't be racing there again."
The loss of homing pigeons, which can be worth up to £200,000, has baffled experts, but the most popular theory is the abnormal number of summer showers, sending birds off course as they attempt to fly around the downpours. Unusually high levels of solar activity distorting magnetic fields and even signals from Menwith Hill spy base, near Harrogate , an electronic monitoring station, have also been blamed.
Wendy Jeffries, president of the Thirsk Social Flying Club, said: "I just don't know what it is down to. "The weather wasn't too bad around here on Saturday. It has been an atrocious year. I am down to ten young birds out of 29 and the people I have talked to are the same."
The high numbers of birds going missing in the region have also been linked to the high numbers of pigeons being released within minutes of each other at weekends, meaning different groups of pigeons send each other off course. Darlington pigeon racer Stuart Fawcett, who has been racing pigeons for more than 30 years, said: "It is the worst year in the memory of people who have been racing for 60 years. "The area being talked about is very heavily congested with pigeons because the raptor problem became so great elsewhere that races have moved to east England."
British racing pigeon ends up 5200 miles away in Panama
01-20-2011
A British racing pigeon called Houdini got lost on her first race and ended up thousands of miles away in Panama City.
The 10 month-old bird had been undertaking a six hour race from Guernsey to Dudley, West Midlands more than five weeks ago.
But it failed to arrive and its owner Darren Cubberly, 45, had give up hope the bird would return from the 224 mile trip.
He was surprised to get a phone call this week from Panama City, where the bird had ended up.
He was told the bird was alive and healthy despite making the more than 5200 mile trip. It is thought she landed on a ship travelling to the area.
The bird had been taken in by Gustavo Ortiz after it landed on his roof. Mr Ortiz rang Mr Cubberly after noticing contact numbers on it.
"I was gobsmacked. I didn't even know where Panama was," Mr Cubberley told the Daily Mirror.
"I've no idea how Houdini got there - I can only assume she hitched a lift on a ship across the Atlantic.”
He speculated she was fed on the boat as she appeared in “perfect shape”.
The pigeon, now learning Spanish, will now live with the family in Panama as it is too expensive to transport her home.
Mr Ortiz told Mr Cubberley his family were more than happy to have the pigeon.
Sid Barkel, secretary of the National Flying Club, said it was a “very unusual” case.
Mike Tyson will be featured alongside racing pigeons in new Animal Planet series 'Taking on Tyson'
01-10-2011
Mike Tyson's new TV show is strictly for the birds.
Tyson returns to the Brooklyn neighborhood of his childhood for "Taking on Tyson," a six-episode reality series that begins March 6 on Animal Planet.
The show focuses on competitive pigeon racing, a world Tyson says has always fascinated and comforted him.
His manager, Mario Costa, talks about how, when Tyson was flat broke, he would go on the roof and spend all day with pigeons. "All he had was the birds," said Costa. "And he'd tell me, 'I'm rich.'"
A relaxed Tyson cautioned critics at a Los Angeles appearance, however, that this show is not about ordinary street pigeons.
A writer who lives in Queens said she had pigeons all over her building and wanted to know how she could send them to Tyson in Brooklyn.
Tyson laughed and said, "We don't even want your pigeons! The pigeons we race are the crème de la crème. They have only the best bloodlines."
When a poor homing pigeon (with a rubber ring) lost its way and was called a spy
04/06/2010
Police in Punjab’s Amritsar district, bordering Pakistan, are playing hosts to a pigeon, suspected to have come from the neighbouring country on a “secret mission”. According to police, the pigeon is kept in an air-conditioned room in Ramdas village, around 35 km from Amritsar and around 275 km from Chandigarh, and police are continuously monitoring its condition. “Harbans Lal Saini, who lives in the village, saw this white pigeon sitting on the roof of his house yesterday (Thursday). As normally they do not see pigeons very frequently in this area, he suspected something, caught the bird and brought it to the police station,” Jagjit Singh Chahal, station house officer of Ramdas police station, told IANS Friday.
According to the police officer, “preliminary investigations suggested it had come from Pakistan. We found a Pakistani phone number and address scribbled on the body of the pigeon. We also found a rubber ring, which was probably used to carry some message written on a paper, around its feet. We immediately informed our seniors about this.”
After last month’s incident in which two policemen and two Pakistan-based militants were killed in a fierce gun battle near the India-Pakistan border in Gurdaspur district, Punjab police issued special instructions for the residents of border villages to keep extra vigil and to immediately contact police if they find anything suspicious. Chahal said officials of state animal husbandry department had conducted medical examination of the bird and found it to be in good health. “Police are keeping a continuous watch on this bird and we are not allowing anybody to go near it,” he said, adding senior officials were being informed thrice a day about its health.
Even as any intruder from the Pakistani side of border has to face the security forces, it is the Pakistani pigeons that bring a big smile in the border villages of Punjab on the Indian side. The border village Daoke has become a safe place for the pigeons from Pakistan, which lose their way back to home. Some of the pigeons belong to rare species of trained pigeons and all this offers an opportunity for the local youth here on the Indian side of the border to catch and sell them off at a good price.
Daoke village is located near the India- Pakistan international border and surrounded by barbed wire from three sides. As most of the village youths have been living here since childhood, most of them have turned fully dependent on this trade for their livelihood. The local traders keep their eyes on these pigeons arriving from the Pakistani side on any given day. They hope that they deviate from their path and come into their captivity. When a Pakistan pigeon comes near the village and see other pigeons on the ground, they land there and get trapped. A Pakistani pigeon fetches thousands of rupees and the price goes up if it has the Pakistan traders’ stamp on its feathers. Sources say that the favorable time for holding pigeon flying contests in Pakistan is April, May, August, and September. ” It is not that only Pakistani pigeons lose their way, many times our pigeons too land in the villages in Pakistan”, said Sucha Singh, a pigeon flyer. “Here, on the Indo Pak border, the pigeon trade brings a golden opportunity to earn money for the poor and unemployed youth of villages and manage their two square meal,”said Pargat Singh, another pigeon flyer of this village.
Source - Internet
Bird flies 1200 kms on the day!!!
IN HIS 70 years of experience, Whangaparaoa pigeon flyer Norman Coker has only once seen one of his birds fly from Invercargill to Auckland.
That day was celebrated in December last year.
The pigeon fancier started racing birds in Devon, England, when he was around 11 years old.
Now he has a family of 60 birds in his backyard that he breeds, rears and trains.
Norman says he has never met anyone in New Zealand who has had a bird fly back home from as far away as Invercargill – almost 1200 kilometres – in 14 hours and 45 minutes.
Flying distance and time are the two important factors in pigeon racing.
Norman released his bird at 6.30am on December 15, and it arrived home at 9.15pm.
"It was an unbelievable effort and the highlight of my racing career. I've never had anything like it."
Norman says pigeons find their way home using several methods to navigate, including visual clues from the landscape, the sun and the Earth's magnetic field.
"I train them from when they are around 12 to 14 weeks old.
"I put them in a basket and take them to the North Shore.
"I liberate them from there and almost always they make it home. The older they get the further away I do it."
While Norman is very proud of his bird, who is unnamed, he says it's important to recognise each pigeon has its own personality.
The bond between owner and bird is important in its drive to return home.
"It is important to spend a lot of time with your birds, and for them to know this is their home."
Always trying to push the flying time and distance boundaries, Norman says he has never put limitations on how far the birds can fly in a day.
"Pigeon flying started as a hobby back in the medieval days when people probably didn't have much to do.
"It's a shame the hobby isn't popular today, but it is probably because it is too expensive and there are so many other things children can do now."
One of Norman's biggest lessons from his pigeons is patience.
"It takes a lot of time to get a good flyer."
Racing for seven decades and perfecting the bloodline of his feathered family has taught him a lot of patience.
Norman's pigeons are based on the famous Van Cutsem bloodlines, and several more were introduced from other Auckland racers' stock, creating solid performers.
Pigeons usually have a racing life of six years and can live up to 20 years.
Norman moved to Whangaparaoa from Christchurch in 1993 with his wife. He has two sons and two daughters.
Source: Racing Pigeon Newsletter
Northwest plane hits birds, lands safely in US
11/01/2009 | 09:28 AM
MINNEAPOLIS — A Northwest Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas has landed safely after hitting a flock of pigeons shortly after takeoff. No one was hurt.
Melissa Scovronski, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, said the plane hit about 15 pigeons about 2:40 p.m. Saturday while departing from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. She said it landed safely back in Minneapolis.
Northwest said flight 195 had 202 passengers and seven crew members aboard. Spokeswoman Ashley Black said all the passengers were moved to another Northwest flight.
Mechanics were inspecting the aircraft. Federal authorities will investigate the incident.
Source - The Internet
Homing pigeon faster than Internet? In S. Africa, the answer's YES!!!
Frustrated by Africa's unreliable service, a business needing to send 4GB of data 50 miles put Winston the pigeon up against the Web – and Winston won.
Sometimes 12th-century technology wins
This week, a South African call-center business, frustrated by persistently slow Internet speeds, decided to use a carrier pigeon named Winston to transfer 4 gigabytes of data between two of its offices, just 50 miles apart. At the same time, a computer geek pushed a button on his computer to send data the old-fashioned way, through the Internet.
Winston the pigeon won. It wasn't even close
"Winston arrived after two hours, six minutes, and 57 seconds," says Kevin Rolfe, head of the information technology department at Unlimited Group, a call-center business based in Durban. As for the Internet data transfer, he says, "when we finally stopped the computer, about 100 megs had transferred, which is about 4 percent of the total."
Officially, the Unlimited Group has not given up on the Internet, nor has it any plans to embrace the use of homing pigeons that was pioneered on the battlefield by Genghis Khan. But while the pigeon-versus-Internet stunt was a resounding success in terms of satire, it also makes a point that many businesses throughout Africa are making: Africans pay some of the highest prices for some of the least reliable Internet service in the world. And if a country like South Africa – relatively prosperous and developed – can't solve this problem, then it's going to need a lot more pigeons.
Mr Rolfe says the idea for the pigeon race came from a member of his IT department, who remembered an April Fool's joke of sending data by homing pigeons. After one too many incidents of a dropped line or a failed transfer, one IT tech finally blurted out, "We should just use pigeons."
Taking a cue from former empires
As unusual as the idea sounds today, pigeons have been a powerful tool for empires, financial and otherwise. In the mid-19th century Paul Julius Reuter (founder of the Reuters news agency) used pigeons to send stock information between the cities of Aachen and Brussels, until telegraph service eventually replaced them. And as recently as World War I the British admiralty used pigeons to send battlefield information. (The Germans, predictably, trained falcons to intercept messages.)
Never a company to do things in half-measures, Unlimited Group began to promote its Pigeon Race 2009 on its website. Winston the pigeon soon had his own Facebook fan page, a website with training videos, and yes, Winston began to tweet. On Twitter. When Winston finally landed at the offices in Durban – risking hawks, gun-happy hunters, and high-winds – the results were carried by newspapers, TV stations, and were a huge sensation in the Twittersphere.
As for Winston, Rolfe says the pigeon is in no danger of losing his job. "He still goes out on training runs," Rolfe says, especially when the computer lines are down. "Using pigeons, it's not the optimal plan," he chuckles. "But we may do it from time to time, to give Winston some airtime."