Help finish an arguement.

[jbangelfish]

They likely have mixed blood from various breeds.

I guess the question should be "when does a bird become feral"? I say it is when they choose not to live in someones loft but live in the wild instead. I have seen banded birds and rollers living in the wild. To me, even though they are purebred pigeons, they are feral.

There are feral hogs and feral cats and Australia has feral horses. I think they call them Brumbies. Anyway, the point is that once they have moved to the wild, rather than living with us in the comfort of our barns, lofts or whatever, they become feral animals and begin to breed with wild animals and become mixed breeds but still feral.

As to pigeons all having homing instincts, yes they do. To the limit of a Homing Pigeon, most breeds do not have it as these have been bred for probably hundreds of years or maybe longer to the point that they are today. I confess that I know little about Homing Pigeons as I have never kept them. I have seen enough of them to recognize them instantly by their large ceres, powerful look in head, chest and wing to know a Homer instantly and to spot a feral with Homer blood. They have a very distinctive appearance.

Wild pigeons and feral pigeons are known to travel many miles in various places around the world to find water and food. I would call that a homing instinct. They very rarely get lost.

Bill

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by jbangelfish

Wild pigeons and feral pigeons are known to travel many miles in various places around the world to find water and food. I would call that a homing instinct. They very rarely get lost.

Bill

I believe there's a difference in traveling on your own from point A to point B and back to point A, as opposed to having a person transport you to places unknown and that bird being able to return to point A without having a clue how he got to point B to begin with.
Yes, they do all have a homing instinct to some extent, but take a true feral, (born and raised in the wild) 300 miles from his home in the trunk of a car and see how many make it back home. It won't happen very often.
Would it be because they simply don't have the stamina to fly the distance or they truly don't know how to get back? I guess it could be one or the other or a combination of both.
Then the difference in a feral and racer becomes the fact that even if the feral couldn't make it back home, he could survive because that's what they do as opposed to a racer........for the most part, they are just doomed because most of them have no idea how to look for food or what to eat if they found it. I know mine have never seen a french fry.

[Charis]

Originally Posted by Lovebirds

I believe there's a difference in traveling on your own from point A to point B and back to point A, as opposed to having a person transport you to places unknown and that bird being able to return to point A without having a clue how he got to point B to begin with.
Yes, they do all have a homing instinct to some extent, but take a true feral, (born and raised in the wild) 300 miles from his home in the trunk of a car and see how many make it back home. It won't happen very often.
Would it be because they simply don't have the stamina to fly the distance or they truly don't know how to get back? I guess it could be one or the other or a combination of both.
Then the difference in a feral and racer becomes the fact that even if the feral couldn't make it back home, he could survive because that's what they do as opposed to a racer........for the most part, they are just doomed because most of them have no idea how to look for food or what to eat if they found it. I know mine have never seen a french fry.

Renee, I think you would be surprised.
I think they could find their way more more often than not. The ferals I know are quite amazing flock. I have placed birds miles and miles away only to have them escape and return. Truly amazing.
I think it's the NYC ferals that eat french fries.

[ND Cooper]

I could'nt find my way home ( my birth place), without a map!

[ND Cooper]

BEADY EYES?, WHAT'S NEXT?

[DEEJAY7950]

Originally Posted by ND Cooper

I could'nt find my way home ( my birth place), without a map!

Thank God for "GPS" Magellan,and
Tom Tom

[Maggie-NC]

Over the past 14 years or so, we have released many, many ferals that we have rehabbed. Personally, I do not think they have the homing abilities that true homers have.

Within a quarter mile of our home, there is an ideal release site. There are already probably more than 100 pigeons that stay in that area. The property is part of a university and has rolling hills, several ponds, cattle and grain. There are barns where the cattle stay that offer roosting areas. But, we believe, based on watching them, that many of them come from other areas during the day to feed on the grain in the fields and then fly back to their roosting area for the night.

We have tried releasing about 10 ferals at this site. They had spent anywhere from about 2 months to 6 months with us before being released. Almost every one of them made it back home within two days. We finally had to stop taking them there. One bird came back three times but the fourth time did stay.

Now, that site was almost on top of us and I think that accounts for their coming back. We regularly use a site that is about 10 miles from our home that has a lot of old buildings, bridges, a creek and other amenities that we hope will help them thrive. None of those pigeons ever came back home.

I really don't know the answer to this. I do know that each time we release a group of pigeons, usually at least 20 at the time, my worst fear is that they will not even attempt to stay where we take them. Deep down, I am afraid that after they have the initial joy of flying high and free, they begin searching for "home" and wind up any where. That is one of the things that hurts me with every release.

[jbangelfish]

Are birds returning to their home or your home?

It depends if they have adopted your home as theirs, I suppose.

As we know, good Homing pigeons cannot be released unless they were raised by you. Many ferals would have homing pigeon blood in them. Maybe their homing instincts are stronger than a rock dove, which we are not likely to even see in the US. Probably every pigeon you see has some domestic blood and most of it is likely to be Homing pigeon blood.

Anyway, I don't think that I would take any pigeon out 300 miles and release it without any kind of prior training.
Could a feral learn to be a good homing pigeon? Maybe so, I don't think too many people have tried racing them though. It all started somewhere and in the beginning racing and homing was likely done with ferals.

My point about the birds traveling many miles for food and water was just to say that they don't get lost. It is certainly not the same as taking them out 50 miles or more but there are probably pigeons somewhere that travel that far for water or food. They don't get lost in the same way that homers don't get lost. They learn a route by landmarks.

I don't think there would be many birds left of your flock if for their first flight, they were taken 300 miles away. I doubt you would ever see any of them again.

Bill

[Charis]

Originally Posted by Lady Tarheel

Over the past 14 years or so, we have released many, many ferals that we have rehabbed. Personally, I do not think they have the homing abilities that true homers have.

Within a quarter mile of our home, there is an ideal release site. There are already probably more than 100 pigeons that stay in that area. The property is part of a university and has rolling hills, several ponds, cattle and grain. There are barns where the cattle stay that offer roosting areas. But, we believe, based on watching them, that many of them come from other areas during the day to feed on the grain in the fields and then fly back to their roosting area for the night.

We have tried releasing about 10 ferals at this site. They had spent anywhere from about 2 months to 6 months with us before being released. Almost every one of them made it back home within two days. We finally had to stop taking them there. One bird came back three times but the fourth time did stay.

Now, that site was almost on top of us and I think that accounts for their coming back. We regularly use a site that is about 10 miles from our home that has a lot of old buildings, bridges, a creek and other amenities that we hope will help them thrive. None of those pigeons ever came back home.

I really don't know the answer to this. I do know that each time we release a group of pigeons, usually at least 20 at the time, my worst fear is that they will not even attempt to stay where we take them. Deep down, I am afraid that after they have the initial joy of flying high and free, they begin searching for "home" and wind up any where. That is one of the things that hurts me with every release.

I share the pain of you last paragraph. Haunts me.