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Homing Pigeons’ Flight Over and Under Low Stratus

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Part of the book series: Proceedings in Life Sciences ((LIFE SCIENCES))

Abstract

The Homing pigeons were released and followed by helicopter from mountains emerging like islands from a layer of low stratus clouds in Switzerland, with the loft being under the stratus. Different kinds of behavior were observed: (1) A heading toward a visible mountain-island, flying over the stratus in approximate home direction; (2) flying very low with the ground in sight under the fog; (3) plunging into haze of increasing density, but always with the ground in sight and later coming under the low stratus; (4) perching after a long series of searching flights around the “island,” It can be noted that the pigeons never plunged into the closed stratus.

Supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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References

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© 1978 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Wagner, G. (1978). Homing Pigeons’ Flight Over and Under Low Stratus. In: Schmidt-Koenig, K., Keeton, W.T. (eds) Animal Migration, Navigation, and Homing. Proceedings in Life Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-11147-5_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-11147-5_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-11148-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-11147-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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