Many pigeon owners leave their pet birds in the air to fly freely, knowing they are not going anywhere. They know well about their pets’ sensing ability to return to their homes.
Why Do Pigeons Always Come Back? Pigeons always come back to their nests because they have a strong affection for their homes and owners due to their loyal nature. They have an innate sensing ability to recognize their home quickly. Moreover, they have to take care of their babies and provide them with food. They have to join other friend pigeons that are present in their habitat.
Probably, you have seen flocks of pigeons in the sky that are moving together in an impressive synchronous manner.
Furthermore, they are not born to fly alone and feel protected when flying together. Therefore, they are under stressful conditions whenever they get alone.
Some of these birds are closely associated with other fellow birds sharing a nest, or a few consider humans their friends.
What are the reasons that pigeons always come back?
Pigeons prefer to remain inside their nests and change their home rarely. However, there will be some significant reasons for leaving their nests, like collecting food.
Furthermore, you do not have to worry about your lost bird, which will come back sometime.
Presence of babies in the nest
They feel affection for their babies like all other animals, birds, and humans. So they will not leave their newly born babies behind.
They go too far searching for food and return to their nest soon. However, they know well that they must take care of their babies and protect them from the predator’s attack.
Moreover, they have to feed them many times a day. Therefore, they quickly turn back to their nests when they hear a peeping sound made by the young ones.
Constant source of food
Usually, birds build a stock of food in their nest that helps them survive in rainy weather. Moreover, it reduces the stress of collecting food when they feel hungry.
They return to their place when they need food to revive their energy for flying high in the air. It is their natural behavior to get back to their nest, and it does not matter how far they go away.
Closeness to owners
These are not only intelligent, but they are loyal to their owners. As a result, they can feel love and care, and a strong bond forms between the owners and these pets.
Pet owners commonly leave their birds in the air to enjoy flying and feel free, but these birds do not consider it a chance to fly away and come back.
Moreover, they like to be treated with love and affection and out of an enclosure. They cannot communicate effectively; that’s why it is difficult to understand their emotions.
A close relationship develops between them that never lets them fly away from their place.
Affection for their habitat
Like humans, they prefer to remain inside a nest for more extended periods if there is no problem, like lesser protection from predators.
In addition, they would prefer to leave their habitat if there is a shortage of food and water.
However, when there is no suitable reason to go, they remain in their nest and raise their population.
No matter how far they go or cover a distance of many miles, the ultimate fate is to come back to their nest sooner or later.
Join other pigeons
Some birds return to their place where they live for a long time to join their friends.
They would rarely fly separately; otherwise, you see them moving in the air in the form of flocks.
They feel safe and protected when they fly together, so they cannot go alone.
Therefore, you do not have to worry about the lost pigeon because it will ultimately get back to its flock.
Mate with partners
Pigeons have a single mate and are monogamous. These birds mate to their partners almost 7 to 8 times a year, so they cannot leave their nest for a long time. They would never leave their mate until it dies.
When any partner searches for food, it has to come back to reach the mating partner.
They wait for the optimum conditions when they have plenty of food and water resources to feed the young ones.
How do pigeons come back?
Many ways are there for pigeons to return from a long distance, depending on their biological mechanisms.
Their innate abilities to smell habitat and internal mechanisms play a critical role in reaching their home.
Strong sense of smell
They have a strong sense of smell that helps them recognize places. You do not have to think a lot about leaving these pets because they cannot get lost.
They have better sensing abilities to recognize their home from remote and unfamiliar areas.
According to research on the smelling capabilities of these birds, it is estimated that they can smell their home from a distance of even 120 to 125 miles.
Compass and map mechanism
They can navigate around homes due to a compass or a mapping mechanism.
A compass gives them directions to fly, and a map helps them understand their exact location.
Moreover, they can reach back to their home using the mapping mechanism, which helps them compare their present and past locations.
Furthermore, this mechanism depends on the Sun and decides its direction by assessing its angle.
All these birds are adequately trained, or the wild one navigates with the help of this mechanism.
Innate sensing ability
They have small magnetic or iron particles in their beaks that help them navigate. They have extraordinary navigation skills to identify different magnetic fields.
They cannot differentiate the pole sides but determine the axis of the magnetic field.
Moreover, you can say that they have GPS-like systems in their bodies that help them know the exact location.
Specific sound waves
The sound waves play an essential role in helping these birds return to their homes. They depend on the infrasound having low frequency for quick identification.
These waves are crucial for many processes, but you cannot hear these sounds as they are inaudible to your ears. So, these birds have a lot of mechanisms to return to their nests.
How do you stop pigeons from coming back?
There are many ways to stop pigeons from returning to your home if they are destroying your roof or balcony.
You can hang the scary models of predators like hawks or owls. It makes them feel fearful when they look at these models and would never return.
You can also use loud sounds that produce high-pitched sounds irritating these birds.
Moreover, use wire coils and spikes to prevent them from sitting inside the nest and making your home dirty.
Some people prefer to add netting on their roof and window to provide a barrier to their entry.
However, these spikes can be deadly and dangerous for their feet, so they try to avoid sitting on them.
You can spray the repellants having a foul odor that these birds do not like.
For example, they hate peppermint and cinnamon odors, so you can sprinkle their powders to prevent them.
Furthermore, it is better to cover the garbage container so that they do not land over the container for collecting food.
You can regularly clean the roof to remove the food remains or other eatables. However, ask for professional help when you think that you cannot control them by yourself.
How far can a pigeon travel and return home?
The pigeons are intelligent birds that can find their location in remote areas. They have a strong sense of smell that helps identify their nest’s location by sensing the particular smell.
Moreover, they can get back even from 1000 to 1150 miles. They need a short time to come back to their home.
They have an excellent flying speed and cover almost 50 to 60 miles per hour. It can exceed from 80 to 90 miles per hour when flying at high speed.
They have to fly fast when a predator bird tries to catch them to swallow like bigger hawks with scary looks.
So, the flying speed increases than the normal one to ensure their survival.
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