Preferred Compass Directions in Initial Orientation of Homing Pigeons

Wallraff, Hans Georg

doi:10.1007/978-3-662-11147-5_16

Cited by 71 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The observations reviewed above may be analogous to the situation described by Wallraff (1978) who originally introduced the term 'preferred compass direction (PCD)' to describe the loft-specific compass directions exhibited by displaced homing pigeons that deviate in a site-specific manner from the home direction. In a recent analysis of the initial orientation data of inexperienced homing pigeons, Wallraff (1986) recorded several observations reminiscent of the salmon data presented in Table 1.…”

Section: Compass Orientationmentioning

confidence: 85%

The nature and role of learning in the orientation and migratory behavior of fishes

Dodson

1988

Environ Biol Fish

144

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SynopsisFish migration may be viewed as the product of two processes; the selection and tracking of optimal environmental conditions through time and space, and the use of predictive information about environmental structure to bias movements towards a goal. The establishment and maintenance of directional bias is based on the interaction of experience and instinct. The preoccupation of much fish orientation research with innate fixed patterns of behavior on one hand and hydrodynamics on the other has led us to underestimate the possibility that orientation is a flexible process relying on developmental sequences, calibration of the motor-sensory interaction based on experience and the learning of environmental pattern. Evidence illustrating how experience and learning may influence the direction of movement and how the goal is recognized is presented according to two general categories: (a) imprinting and early experience and (b), spatial learning, including the social transmission of migratory routes and directions. In the first category, the olfactory hypothesis of salmon homing is briefly reviewed and new data presented describing olfactory imprinting in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar. In the second category, evidence is presented demonstrating the modifiability of sun-compass orientation and the ability of some fish species to learn the spatial distribution of landmarks. The role of social transmission in the migration of coral reef fishes is reviewed. The possible role of these learning phenomena in the formation of familiar area maps, route-based and location-based navigation and the critical distance factor is considered. The relationship between life history and the nature of learning in migratory orientation is discussed.

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Section: Compass Orientationmentioning

confidence: 85%

The nature and role of learning in the orientation and migratory behavior of fishes

Dodson

1988

Environ Biol Fish

144

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“…Wallraff (1967Wallraff ( , 1970 observed that the directional preferences of inexperienced pigeons released at sites symmetrically arranged around the home loft do not vary independently of each other, but are mostly polarized toward a particular compass direction. Thus, the pigeons' initial bearings include a homeward component and a loftspecific compass component, named «preferred compass direction», or PCD (Wallraff, 1978). This phenomenon is not peculiar to homing pigeons, but has also been found in many species of wild birds displaced from their home site (Griffin & Goldsmith, 1955;Bellrose, 1958;Matthews, 1984;Baldaccini et al, 198Ó); Matthews (1961) called it «nonsense orientation», owing to the difficulty in understanding the adaptive meaning of this behaviour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preferred compass directions of homing pigeons in Italy

Ioalè

1995

Bolletino di zoologia

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“…The realisation that the vanishing bearings of homing pigeon are influenced by a directional bias, or PCD, that can lead to deviations away from the homeward direction is not new (see Wallraff, 1978). However the considerable variability in the strength of the PCD in pigeons from different lofts has led several researchers to doubt the existence of the phenomenon.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The homing pigeon PCD is thought to originate from the experiences a pigeon has at or near the home loft during development. A PCD seems to be a general feature that accompanies navigational learning, having been observed in Germany (Wallraff, 1978(Wallraff, , 1982(Wallraff, , 1986, Italy (Ioalè, 1995) and upstate New York (Windsor, 1975). What experiences contribute to the emergence of the PCD had remained a mystery until recently completed research indicated that the prevailing wind direction in the area of the home loft may be crucial (Wallraff, 1979;Ioalè & Benvenuti, 1983;Ioalè, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One consistent source of variability in the initial orientation of homing pigeons, as first conceptualised by Wallraff (1978), is the frequent occurrence of birds biased away from the direction home by a tendency to fly in a particular compass direction; so-called Preferred Compass Direction or PCD. A similar phenomenon has been described in wild ducks (Matthews, 1961(Matthews, , 1962 as well as other species of birds (Baldaccini et al, 1999;Wallraff, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Initial orientation of homing pigeons on the Atlantic coast of Morocco is affected by a strong preferred compass direction (PCD)

Bingman

Agbani²,

Benazzouz

et al. 2004

Italian Journal of Zoology

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Three seasons of homing pigeon releases were carried out on the Atlantic Coast of Morocco to determine what effect the unusual prevailing wind pattern in this region, essentially continual north winds during the spring and summer, would have on navigational behaviour. Release sites were scattered in a semi-circle from the northeast to southwest of home, but regardless of release site, the pigeons displayed a consistent initial orientation preference to the west-northwest. Although such directional biases in initial orientation, known as Preferred Compass Directions (PCDs), have been well described, we know of no case where a PCD has been shown to be the primary determinant of pigeon initial orientation as was observed in Morocco. We speculate that the strength of the PCD in our coastal Moroccan pigeons is related to the prevailing wind pattern, but in a way we are yet unable to explain.

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Preferred Compass Directions in Initial Orientation of Homing Pigeons

Cited by 71 publications

References 18 publications

The nature and role of learning in the orientation and migratory behavior of fishes

The nature and role of learning in the orientation and migratory behavior of fishes

Preferred compass directions of homing pigeons in Italy

Initial orientation of homing pigeons on the Atlantic coast of Morocco is affected by a strong preferred compass direction (PCD)

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