Pigeons are smarter than many think. These birds, known as rats of the sky, are very intelligent and useful so useful they have been used to deliver messages. So, how do pigeons know where to deliver messages?

In this article, we will be sharing with you how these birds were able to be excellent couriers in the past.

Pigeons know where to deliver messages because they know their way home. For a message to be successfully sent humans would attach messages to pigeons that nested in areas where the messages were to be delivered. The pigeon would simply fly home and the message would be delivered.  

How do pigeons know where to deliver messages?

Homing pigeons were the sort of birds used in the past to deliver messages in the past. They were chosen for their remarkable ability to find their way home from very long distances.

When a pigeon is removed from its familiar surrounding and transported to a new location in a cage; it can find its way back home if and when released. The ability of these birds to fly straight home when set free is what humans exploited.

Pigeons do not really know where to deliver messages; they just do what comes naturally to them – fly back home. Humans who needed to send a message to someone in a particular place only had to work with a pigeon that lived in that location.

There are a couple of ideas on how these birds found their way back home:

Landmarks:

Humans aren’t the only animals that use landmarks for direction, birds do too. Pigeons that travel during the day are able to recognize landmarks and use them to get home. These include rivers, lakes, and mountains.

This is a sort of memory-based navigation map

Position of the sun:

Another theory claims that pigeons can find their way home using the position and angle of the sun. It is said that pigeons are able to learn the sun’s path, once they figure it out, they can use this for navigation.

Magnetic field:

Pigeons can detect the earth’s magnetic field, some scientists believe that pigeons use this for guidance back home. They do this by figuring out their current position using the earth’s magnetic field and then navigating home relative to where they are.

Smell:

Pigeons can in fact smell, the smell of food, mates, predators or enemies disperse in the wind but it is said that they use an olfactory map to find their way back home.

If stronger-smelling trees, like pine trees, are close to home, the smell of these trees will help the bird navigate back home.

How were carrier pigeons trained?

To train these birds, a home base location had to be established. The pigeons were taken not too far away from their nesting place; released from their cages and allowed to return home by themselves.

As soon as the pigeons were able to memorize all the details of their birth location they were then transported in a cage to a distant place and used as carrier pigeons.

If a message needed to be sent to the location where any of the birds were taken from; the trained carrier pigeon from that location was released and allowed to head back home bearing the message.

Do homing pigeons ever get lost?

The chances of a homing pigeon getting lost are very slim. The reason for this is that homing pigeons are excellent navigators by nature. But then, these birds can sometimes get lost while out on a flight.

When in flight, pigeons listen closely to infrasound signals – these signals amongst other things help them in their navigation.

According to one study, homing pigeons can lose their bearing and get lost if they are unable to hear the infrasound signal associated with their home.

How do you find a lost homing pigeon?

If you’ve lost a homing pigeon, you can begin your search for the bird by reaching out to the homing pigeon society or an animal shelter in your region or locality.

You can also give the bird a few days to reorient and it should find its way back home. Remember that pigeons are drawn to their home; even when lost, they never really forget where they came from.

How do I get rid of a lost homing pigeon?

If you find a lost homing pigeon on your property, don’t chase it away. Understand that the bird may be weak, hungry, or even dehydrated from its flight.

Offer the bird some food and water. After a few days, it should be ready to resume its flight back home. In the case where the bird refuses to leave, you can either keep the pigeon as a pet or contact a local pigeon club.

How do ravens know where to deliver messages?

Every game of thrones fan knows ravens were used to deliver messages in the series. But were these birds ever used to send out messages in the real world? There’s little or no proof that ravens ever served such purpose.

If ravens were ever used to deliver messages, they would have been trained like carrier pigeons to fly between two locations.

Conclusion

History will always remember a time when homing pigeons served as our only means of sending messages over long distances.

Pigeons may not be used to carry messages in our time, but they haven’t lost their navigational ability. A pigeon can find its way home from hundreds of miles away.

It’s possible for pigeons to get lost – although this rarely happens. If you do find a lost pigeon on your property, then you should either care for it or hand it over to those who can care for it.

If you’re interested in pigeons you may also be interested in these articles: Why do pigeons fly in circles? How do pigeons feed their babies? How do pigeons sleep? Why do pigeons make noise? How do pigeons see? Click the links to read more.