Study of Homing Pigeons in Brazil: Some Preliminary Results

Abstract

Preliminary conclusions from an analysis of Brazilian pigeon racing results and a few scientific observations of vanishing bearings are described, and indicate the ability of pigeons to home quite well under rather unfavourable conditions, namely with the sun not too far from the zenith and under total overcast in relatively weakly inclined magnetic fields, as well as in cases where the inclination of the magnetic field actually reverses during the flight home. Homing also occurs in regions where the apparent diurnal motion of the sun’s azimuth reverses during the year, the midday sun being to the north in June and to the south in December. Furthermore, homing has taken place almost right across the so-called south Atlantic anomaly, at which the principal component of the earth’s magnetic field has an absolute minimum, providing a situation in which the gradient of total intensity is zero in all directions.