The pigeons have magnets in their beaks
Homing pigeons use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate their way home over long distances, scientists writing in Nature magazine claim.
The pigeons probably use tiny magnetic particles in their beaks to sense our planet's magnetic field, scientists say

The birds use their ability to create a map of this field and then use it to navigate back to their home loft, New Zealand researchers claim.

It casts serious doubt on a theory that the birds use smell to navigate.

Cordula Mora and colleagues from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, placed homing pigeons in a wooden tunnel with one feeder platform at each end of the tunnel.

Attached to the outside of this tunnel were magnetic coils.

The pigeons were trained to go to one feeder if the magnetic coils were switched off and to the other if the coils were switched on.

Homing sense

The scientists then carried out tests designed to impair their ability to detect a magnetic field.

Firstly, they attached magnets to the birds' beaks, their ability to discriminate when the magnetic coils were switched on or off was drastically impaired.

Secondly, the Auckland team anaesthetised the upper beak area of the pigeons, a similar drop was seen in the ability to detect the magnetic "anomaly" generated by the coils.

Finally, the researchers cut the pigeons' trigeminal nerve (a large nerve carrying optical and other signals to the brain) and found that their magnetic sense was again impaired.

However, this did not occur if the researchers cut the olfactory nerve (which conveys smell signals to the brain), contradicting the theory that they navigate using smell.

Taken together, these results are consistent with the theory that homing pigeons detect magnetic fields using particles located in their upper beaks.

The existence of these magnetic particles in the birds' beaks has been known since the 1970s.

"We suggest that our work provides the basis for detailed studies of both the operation and use of the magnetic sense in homing pigeons and possibly migratory bird species," the researchers write in Nature.

Rene nice bit of information, but the way pigeons fing there way home has always been a big mistry

yes mate i agree but wen i read this i thought ummmmm i wonder what others opinions would be on the subject if i rember rightly a while ago they tracked a pigeon from a training toss and it seemed to follow the roads and motorways before breaking for home but how the hell can they follow roads/motorways across the channel wen there aint none to follow and as it says in the first part of the post it says probably so even they dont know but stii it makes one wonder how they reay do do it

interesting reading rene, wonder what would happen if you put a magnet onto a pigeons beak..........?

as don says tho, it has always been a mistery.......take for example the stray i got in a few weeks ago, firstly i fed it up and took it one mile away........it came back. then a few days later i took it approx three miles away.......it came back. then i decided to take it with me when i went for corn which is ten miles away.........it came back. so then idecided to report the bird and told the owner a friend was driving to the newcastle area in a week or so and he would liberate it nearer home, the bird has been living in my corn shed and if/when she wanted to go out she did, but most of the time she stayed in the shed......then the other night at 8 oclock she flew out of the corn shed and sat on my stock shed, had a look around for a couple of minutes and shot off.........the next day the owner phoned me to tell me she had got home that morning so she decided just out of the blue that she wanted to go home. she must have been a decent pigeon to fly from leeds to newcastle in the rain and thunderstorms that night......so it just goes to show, the homing instinct is a mistery..........

ell I have to say Im not surprised this is the secret, and its one I belive is true...Just recently because of the weather a mate and I have been forced into training the youngsters in terrable weather, many times we have let them go 35 miles in a clear location but with lots of morning mist all around and fog in many places on route, I was almost frieghtened by the prospect of oosing them all through the fog patches, but seems when they get a good start they come through dispite the fog so must be something other than visual which makes them home, so magnetic seems correct. from our experiences this year...

David, the same thing happened to my dad, many years ago.
I agree, it is a mystery.
Why can't all homing pigeons find their way home? if they all could sense the field.

hi niel, i suppose there are a lot of reasons why birds are either homers or racers and also luck would play a part ie bops, weather, wires etc............and i suppose these things are just part of the mystery of the homing ability.

Must say Martyn, once the birds have there mind on the job and have a clear start then there is no stopping the best pigeons, sort the wheat from the shaft mate.

what would members say is the difference between a homer and a racer.......? incentive ? or ability ?

i would say both david

yes i suppose so rene.............. suppose its like saying whats the difference between a good birds and a crap one

if you think bout it they need the homing instinct but also need the agliaty aswell

thats right rene, a birds either got it or it hasnt...................good or crap. and theres only one way to find out eh

yep the basket mate sent 19 of my ybs over the water 9 an af miles got 25 back sent em again tonight for tomo mate

got me confused rene, sent 19 and got 25 back............?