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young bird lossesThe local club here has canceled flying the youngbird season. Because on the later tosses. At about 75 and 100 miles. All the members lost half to more of ther youngbird team. A week befor races started. They met And chose to hold off this year. I do not know If the sun played a role. Or perhaps Something else. How is other parts of the country doing this year on bird getting lost.
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Losses around here, and from what I've heard, all over the continent have been crazy.
Some areas are having huge losses. Others, it's an average year. There is a one-loft race on our west coast that had to cancel the whole race series, losses were so high. I have heard too, that sun spot activity has been quite high lately. Since we have our "doves", we are flying both OB's and YB's right now. We've also experienced some problems with our OB's not returning as quickly as they should -- in fact, I've seen them circle an area a few times, then fly in the exact OPPOSITE direction that they should! (and not circle back). This is from locations where they've been several times, and less than 30 miles from home. In a couple of cases, they're taking over an hour and a half to come home from less than 20 miles.... It's really weird, and a little frightening..... 
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Minority View....I had my own YB scare, when the team spent a night out. But, by and large, I am convinved that a large part of YB losses, is poor breeding, poor management, and poor training.
The mentality of , "I will raise 150, so I can have a 30 member YB team". There may be "Something" out there, that messes them up. 35 + years ago, it was the space ships we sent up, sun spots, and color tv. The other "thing", is most fanciers, will never admit, they may have something to do with it ! Far easyer to blame "UFO's" , yet some guys, still manage to fly, and win races. 
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In part I agree. Breeding quality birds makes for smarter birds. But I have over the years grown to think on high K days. The birds have a problem. And I fisrt thought last year when heavy losses showed up world wide. It was perhaps a radar thing. But checked And the months of August and sept, Of last year there was alot of magnetic storms. And some at higher levels. This upsets the bearings on the birds somewhat. Normal low K days yousee the birds will fly lower And slower returns. Higher you see birds that get home real late ANd some not at all. I even looked at the concept of fly aways. This happens when perhaps over crowding and such happens at the loft. At least years ago that was the math To it anway. But yes pehaps the better birds think smarter in this point. I see if the losses keep going as they are. A newer better type of homer will be the out come. I know at one area in the past every body who trained that point had large losses. BUT it was in direct return line to a air force base. Where radar would cause some problem. They stopped that point on training and numbers did not fall on the training tosses. The only big lose I ever had was on a blow awy race. Very high tailwinds. And all my birds came home from the north And they flew from the south. Now speed records was set that day. But still the birds pushed in the wrong arc and past the break then over flew. And this happens in midway storms after a release. The birds skirt the storm and then have to arc to the loft. Sometimes they skirt far over a 100 miles out of the flight path. And some just sit down. And when birds sit down that are followers They get lost. Only the best make it back then. But as I said I do think depending on gravitational region The sun is haveing a role on numbers. BUt just my thoughts.
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YB LossesThe problem, from my view, is trying to get a real view of actual losses. Losses from training, races, etc. is not something new. Racing fanciers, have complained of this for many decades. Our ability to communicate, and learn what is happening worldwide, has increased.
How much of this, is simply increased awareness, or are the losses really larger then years past ? What types of records are available to compare typical losses of today, as compared to 5, 10, or 20 years ago ? Losses from various birds of prey, for instance, can be confirmed by the various population studies. There are no reliable studies, that I am aware of, to confirm that yes, homing pigeons are becoming lost, at a much higher percentage, over the decades. It would make sense if there were, if for no other reason then the increased population of birds of prey, and all the new construction. I say new construction, because there are now millions of new telephone and power lines, that have been put up over the decades. Increased pollution, more UV rays, and a hundred other possible things, which may interfere with a pigeons navigation. These are all things, which we as fanciers, have no control over. If we focus on those things, which we have no control over, then we are helpless victims. If we focus on those things we can control, such as our breeding, management, and training of YB's, then we may be better prepared to deal with this issue. If on the other hand, we just continue to do what we have always done, we should not be surprised if we get the same results, over and over again.
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I would say that in some areas bird losses are up. In the past few years. In large numbers. That rules out hawks. yes they could scatter a group. But still the birds would get home. Microwave towers Are up. . I would still lean more to elcrto magentic storms That seem to be more often then the past. AND yes I will allways agree that good management of the birds. Breeding better quality breeds better birds. And I think in those cases we see less of a over all lose. Just today. I had 3 birds return that I gave away 2 years ago. And even though I have retired from racing the birds. I think I will let them stay and fly them around the loft. They were about 10 months old when I got rid of them. So I think they have turned out to be decent birds to come back after 2 years. In someone elses loft. So agin I would agree that better stock and management helps on reduced loses.
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Lee,
You mention your attention to "hogh K days". Where do you get this information on a daily basis to watch this? Is it on spaceweather .com? I would like a place to go to to monitor this. I do watch the solar flare data--like M-class flares and X-class flares. Are these the same?? Thanks Catherine
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