Experience effect on initial orientation in pigeon homing

Graue, Louis C.

doi:10.1016/0003-3472(65)90085-0

Cited by 27 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Moreover, it included only pigeons already very familiar with the site. High familiarity allows for the better assessment of the influence of waiting time, because of the reduced orientation uncertainty after repeated releases from the same site (Graue, 1965;Wallraff, 2005).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waiting time before release increases the motivation to home in homing pigeons (Columba livia)

Dell’Ariccia

Dell’Omo

Lipp

2009

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYWhen performing homing experiments with individual releases, pigeons have to wait in a transport box for a certain amount of time before being released and hence perceive the departure of companions. Quite often, the last pigeons disappear straightforward from the release site. The question is whether this reflects improved orientation because of prolonged exposure to the release place or whether it reflects increased homing motivation. By releasing pigeons from a familiar site, we investigated the effects of the time spent at the release site on homing performance, recording pigeons' flights with GPS loggers. Our results show that, despite individual peculiarities of flight patterns, the waiting time at release site had a positive effect on homing speed and time, and reduced the time spent circling around the release point. However, the overall path efficiency as derived from GPS tracking was not influenced. These results suggest that a longer waiting time before release improves homing performance and this is related not only to increased navigational abilities but also to increased homing motivation.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waiting time before release increases the motivation to home in homing pigeons (Columba livia)

Dell’Ariccia

Dell’Omo

Lipp

2009

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…In this experiment we used six adult two-years-old pigeons (four males and two females) which had been released from Santa Severa up to 20 times before the present experiment took place and, thus, were in the asymptotic phase of their homing performance (see also Graue 1965;Wallraff 2005). The birds first underwent six individual releases (S1) from a starting crate to establish baseline performance.…”

Section: Subjects and General Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pigeons that are repeatedly released from the same location generally improve homing performance, reaching an asymptote after three to six releases (Graue 1965;Wallraff 2005). On the other hand, GPS tracking studies have shown that repeated releases from a familiar location entails stereotyped routes during homing (Biro et al 2004), often along longitudinal landmarks such as highways and railroads (Lipp et al 2004).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Flock flying improves pigeons' homing: GPS track analysis of individual flyers versus small groups

et al. 2008

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The effects of aggregation in navigating animals have generated growing interest in field and theoretical studies. The few studies on the effects of group flying on the performance of homing pigeons (Columba livia) have led to controversial conclusions, chiefly because of the lack of appropriate technology to follow pigeons during their entire homeward flight. Therefore, we used GPS data-loggers in six highly pre-trained pigeons from a familiar release site first by releasing them six times individually, then six times as a group from the same site, and finally, again six times individually. Flight data showed that the homing performance of the birds flying as a flock was significantly better than that of the birds released individually. When flying in a flock, pigeons showed no resting episodes, shorter homing times, higher speed, and almost no circling around the start zone in comparison to individual flights. Moreover, flock-flying pigeons took a nearly direct, "beeline" route to the loft, whereas individually flying birds preferred to follow roads and other longitudinal landmarks leading towards the loft, even when it caused a detour. Our results show that group cohesion facilitates a shift towards more efficient homing strategies: individuals prefer navigating by familiar landmarks, while flocks show a compass orientation.

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“…Pigeons benefit from repeated releases from the same site, considerably increasing their homing performance, especially during the first three-to-six releases (Graue, 1965;Wallraff, 2005). Moreover, GPS tracking studies showed that increased familiarity with a release site entails stereotyped routes during homing (Biro et al, 2004), often along longitudinal landmarks roughly pointing home, such as roads and railways (Lipp et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of experience in orientation: GPS tracking of homing pigeons released over the sea after directional training

Dell’Ariccia

Dell’Omo

Lipp

2009

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARY Flight experience is one of the factors that influences initial orientation of displaced homing pigeons (Columba livia). Prior studies showed a systematic dependence of initial orientation on previously flown direction. Using GPS data loggers, this study sought to examine the effect of previous directional training of 40 homing pigeons when they were released over the sea, in the absence of proximal landmarks, in a direction almost perpendicular to that of previous training flights. Our results demonstrated that previous directional training evoked a systematic and predicted deviation from the beeline over the sea that appeared as a compromise between the direction of training and the direction to the loft. Pigeons were able to efficiently correct their flight direction only once over land, where they flew significantly slower and less directly than over the sea.

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Experience effect on initial orientation in pigeon homing

Cited by 27 publications

References 4 publications

Waiting time before release increases the motivation to home in homing pigeons (Columba livia)

Waiting time before release increases the motivation to home in homing pigeons (Columba livia)

Flock flying improves pigeons' homing: GPS track analysis of individual flyers versus small groups

The influence of experience in orientation: GPS tracking of homing pigeons released over the sea after directional training

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