I love birds. I love to watch them. They are all so different. Some are considered more “lovely” than others. Say, a peacock vs. a buzzard.
One bird that often gets the short end of the stick is the pigeon. They are sometimes called “rats with wings,” especially in larger cities.
But here’s a thought. For centuries, humans have trusted pigeons as messengers. It is true. Pigeons were once used as messengers, carrying letters or urgent information long distances, even across bodies of water. Long before the mail service we know today.
One day in France in 1997, more than 60,000 of them were released for a specially-organized cross-channel flight to mark the centenary of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association.
The plan was to release the flock near Nantes, France, and let them fly to their lofts in southern England. It all sounds good in theory. Bu the result was not so great. Most of those pigeons never came back. It was a catastrophic loss in racing-pigeon terms, widely dubbed “the great pigeon race disaster.”
So what happened? Why did so many vanish?
Experts suggest one possibility. On that morning, the supersonic airliner Concorde was flying across the Channel. Its sonic boom may have wiped out the pigeons’ internal “maps.” Those pigeons have what is called infrasound. They are those ultra-low frequency sound waves that these birds seem to use to navigate. Because of that big plane in the sky, the pigeons’ acoustic compasses were scrambled. As such, tens of thousands simply drifted off course.
Interestingly, one of the lost pigeons showed up five years later. It gives all of this a weird twist of resilience and mystery to the story.
So next time someone scolds a pigeon for loafing on their windowsill or fluttering about in city traffic, they should remember this. Pigeons might be masters of a kind of navigation we’re just beginning to understand.
Our world is amazing.
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“Not all those who wander are lost.” — J.R.R. Tolkien
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“The shortest way to yourself is found by losing your way to everything else.” — Dag Hammarskjöld
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“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” — Ursula K. Le Guin
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“Sometimes you have to get lost before you find your way.” — Jeff Rasley
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“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.” — Rumi
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