All birds use the same navigation system

How do birds find their way when they fly? Scientists resolved this question a couple of years ago at DESY with the synchrotron radiation source DORIS III, when they discovered structures containing iron in the beaks of homing ...

Do homing pigeons navigate with gyroscope in brain?

No one knows how homing pigeons do it, but now a team of Swiss and South African scientists have discovered that the bird's navigation is affected by disturbances in gravity, suggesting that they navigate using a gravity ...

Disappearing homing pigeon mystery solved

Homing pigeons are usually remarkably efficient navigators, however, on rare occasions, things go drastically wrong. So, when Jon Hagstrum of the US Geological Survey read in his local newspaper about two races when pigeons ...

Birds' good vibrations power mini backpacks

Birds that yield good vibration provide motion excitation ... for engineers: As Earth warms, birds may be changing their migratory patterns. But to obtain avian data, scientists need in-flight tracking sensors – and those ...

Hedges and edges help pigeons learn their way around

A study has found that homing pigeons' ability to remember routes depends on the complexity of the landscape below, with hedges and boundaries between urban and rural areas providing ideal landmarks for navigation.

Pigeons fly home with a map in their heads

It is a fascinating phenomenon that homing pigeons always find their way home. A doctoral student in biology at the University of Zurich has now carried out experiments proving that pigeons have a spatial map and thus possess ...

How pigeons may smell their way home

Homing pigeons, like other birds, are extraordinary navigators, but how they manage to find their way back to their lofts is still debated. To navigate, birds require a 'map' (to tell them home is south, for example) and ...

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