Earth's magnetic field pulls pigeons back to base

[Happy]

Originally Posted by TAWhatley

You are sooo right .. just wasn't thinking .. maybe we can keep these birds a secret from the folks in the racing pigeon forum

Terry

Sorrry Terry the secret is out & I've got my order in with a Higher Power & they will be at my loft for 2007 Breeding...... Too Late....... Hap

[Trees Gray]

I think pigeons use a number of built in gifts/talents to find their way home, that is why they are called "homing pigeons"

They not only have a built in compass and can see the earth's magnetic field, but also see and hear well and can memorize their visual surroundings. Their creator gave them these instincts/gifts.

[Larry_Cologne]

It just occurred to me,

Someone with a good camera should get a map or atlas, lay it on the ground with hard-to-see-seeds on it (maybe small black rapeseed), and after the pigeons are studying the map, photograph the scene.

Then arrange a press release: another way how pigeons find their way home.

Someone has probably already done this (nihil novum sub solis, "there is nothing new under the sun"), but I haven't seen any such photos (yet) and it would be good for a laugh.

Maybe some loft owner cold even have his map marked, showing routes emphasized with pigeon footprints or seeds lined up, and so on.

I have a camera, a 1970 Nikon F with Photomic FTN viewfinder and lenses and paraphernalia, but don't like to afford the cost of film and development for a few shots.

And maybe somebody could photo pigeons clustered around shot glasses with some bottles of booze on nearby shelves, and claim they raise "bar pigeons" or "pub pigeons" as opposed to homers.

Larry

[mr squeaks]

Mmmm, Pete Jasinksi OR BRAD come to mind, Larry...sounds just up their alley!!

OK, Hap - YOU and RENEE...otherwise, NO ONE ELSE is to know about the "alien" pigeon pairings, OK???

[pdpbison]

Possibly it is just the 'Guardian' useing hyperbole, as there is nothing 'explained' here, and certainly nothing at all in any way about "how".

Overall, this is about as much bad imposture pretending to be science as some press-release would be saying that science now knows HOW automobiles run! They use 'gas'! Yes! THAT "explains" it!

Okay, so the Earth's Magnetic field plays a role IN some otherwise discrete Navigational process...

Everyone knew this for well over a Century now anyway...

I wish I had a Nickle for every idiotic 'science' schmoose 'announcement'...'study' or otherwise hyped up of not much.

I could buy a few dozen universities and have them start over, endevoring for their graduate program fodder to be learning to be honest, and to speak carefully, and to actually think, for one thing...whether journalism or 'science'...

...sigh...

Phil
Las Vegas

[Larry_Cologne]

Phil, and interested others,

Here is a link to a .pdf with colored charts, diagrams, etc., co-authored by Todd E. Dennis of Auckland University.

And, no, I haven't read all of it, yet. Later.

http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~jkirschv...OINBWalker.pdf

The study merely proved what everybody "knew." But then, at one time, everyone knew the world was flat, when we really know now it is shaped like a donut (technical term: torus).

I once told a friens thet I had read in Time magazine such-and-such, and he cut me off, saying, Larry, Time magazine is not an authority (to be cited). Well, I knew that, since we had both done graduate research.

I was merely informing him where I had read about it. Time lists references or sources or quotes, which can be followed up on if the reader is interested. If I had told him I read in Superboy comics, or in The National Enquirer, or in Express Bild (German equivalent), I would expect such a reaction from him. These others sometimes print facts, sometimes not.

At least now we don't have to qualify our statements about pigeons using magnetic fields with "Scientists think, suspect...." It goes from a hypothesis to a theory to a fact.

But, yes, if you had a nickle for every ... what would you name your universities? Something creative, I hope, more than merely impressive).

Best regards,

Larry