12 Weeks – 2432 Minutes – 3364 Kilometers

Impressive numbers from an impressive racing pigeon!

Between May 9, 2022, and July 24, 2022, our best pigeon covered a total of 3,364 kilometers in 2,432 flight minutes over 12 weekends. Twelve times, she found her way back to her home loft in Niederbipp (Canton of Bern) from distances of up to 400 kilometers and more from Germany. Despite occasional headwinds, warm weather, and many birds of prey, she flew at an average speed of 83 km/h and landed in the prizes every time (faster than 2/3 of the other pigeons entered).

All these numbers are based on the assumption that the homing pigeons follow a straight line from the release point to their home. This is, of course, not the case, so the actual distance covered and thus the average speed are even higher in reality. To this day, there are only speculations about how these impressive animals can orient themselves. The Earth’s magnetic field, the position of the sun, smells, infrasound (surface tension of the Earth, air pressure differences), and also visual features (highways, specific landmarks, etc.) play a role.

To me, it is one of many wonders of nature. A wonder that we must appreciate and protect!