I am a pigeon fancier and it is generally accepted that pigeons orient themselves to the sun. Many people who are involved with pigeons have already experienced that there must be more than just this kind of orientation. Possibly rays, some kind of antenna they have built in etc.?
Answer
Dear Willy,
experienced pigeons indeed prefer to orient themselves by the position of the sun. When it is completely cloudy, even if the cloud cover is thin, pigeons can no longer orient themselves to the sun and use the earth’s magnetic field, where they can orient themselves just like the needle of a compass can. (For these reasons, the pigeon flights are also classically carried out from south to north).
Young pigeons first develop the ability to orient themselves to the earth’s magnetic field, and only later to the position of the sun. Once experienced, both techniques can be used, but the position of the sun prevails over the magnetic field.
Within ten kilometers of their home base, pigeons switch to a different orientation. Then they use environmental features to target them. These are usually visual characteristics: recognizing roads, buildings, patterns,…, but sometimes scent characteristics can also play a role (depending on the experiences during the upbringing).
Answered by
prof. dr. Pieter Cornillie
Veterinary Morphology: Embryology incl. Teratology Anatomy Histology
http://www.ugent.be
.