Homing pigeons have been bred for speed and navigation. A trained homing pigeon will usually return to its home loft even when released a long way from it, and it treats that loft as home for life.
However it’s not unheard of for homing pigeons to get lost.
For example, a British-based homing pigeon called Bob turned up over 4000 miles off course in 2022.
Some of the most famous pigeons in history were homing pigeons that carried messages in wartime, but things do not always go to plan.
The Story of Bob The Lost Homing Pigeon
A well-publicised example occurred in 2022 when a British-based homing pigeon turned up over 4000 miles off course (opens in new tab), ending up across the Atlantic Ocean in Alabama, United States. Bob had set off on a race from Guernsey to Gateshead, and his owner believes he probably landed on a ship (he was covered in oil) rather than flying the whole way.
Bob the pigeon was feared dead by his owner Alan Todd of Gateshead, England, but he received an unexpected twist to the tale when a phone call was made to inform him that his pigeon’s microchip had been scanned in a completely different continent.
Rather than leaving Bob to make his own way, he was reportedly flown back to Gateshead on a British Airways flight.
What To Do When You Find A Lost Homing Pigeon
Domestic homers are usually fitted with a leg band that contains essential information about their home location. When discovered far from home, this information can be used to return the pigeon back to its owner.
A lost homing pigeon that has flown too far will often look tired or weak, and in this state it can usually be picked up gently by hand or with a towel.
Most lost pigeons are short of water and food, so as well as checking for their home information, give them fresh water, some seeds and a quiet place to rest.
If you come across a pigeon that you believe might be a lost homer, then you can consider contacting your local pigeon club to come and collect the bird.
The national racing pigeon association in your country can usually advise you on what to do with a found bird.
They can also advise what to do if you find an injured pigeon.
Take care if the pigeon has hidden itself in a space that you cannot easily maneuver in, as the risk of harming or further distressing the pigeon is not something that its worried owners will appreciate!
Leave the retrieval to more experienced people if the bird is hard to reach.
So, in conclusion, the answer is very much yes, homing pigeons can and do get lost from time to time, but in most cases the leg ring (or, more rarely, a microchip) carries enough information to be able to get them back to their owners whether they are 4 miles off course or, as in the case of Bob, 4000 miles!
Published figures on how often racing birds fail to return, and what that means for their welfare, are in our article on whether pigeon racing is cruel.
How Do Homing Pigeons Navigate?
Homing pigeons can find their way home over very long distances; see how far can homing pigeons fly.
Researchers usually describe how a homing pigeon navigated its way home as a compass plus a map. The compass uses the position of the sun and the earth’s magnetic field. How the map works is less clear: smell, magnetic cues and low-frequency sound have all been proposed.
In short, the compass tells the pigeon which direction it is heading, while the map tells it where it is in relation to home.
Geophysicist John Hagstrum wanted to understand what happened if something interfered with a pigeon’s sense of smell or ability to follow magnetic lines. He became interested in how and why pigeons became confused and misdirected in certain places around the world.
In these places, pigeons would not fly straight home but would scatter on random headings or repeatedly vanish in the wrong direction.
In 2013, he published his paper (opens in new tab) based on various studies. He proposed that the birds use ultralow frequency sounds (infrasounds) to return home and become disoriented where these sounds are blocked or distorted. The idea is still debated.
Scientists have not settled on a single explanation, but it seems likely that pigeons get lost when something interferes with their ability to navigate.
A Matter of Distance
Distance is not the only factor in a pigeon getting lost, although longer flights give more chances for bad weather, tiredness or predators.
The longest homing flight usually cited is from Arras, France to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam in 1931, about 7,200 miles in 24 days.
Interference with any of the navigation senses described above, as well as bad weather, can send a pigeon off course.
As is the case with any domesticated animal that is let outside of its home confinement, there is always the chance that a homing pigeon can become lost out in the wild.