How Fast Do Pigeons Fly? Racing Pigeon Speeds Explained

A racing pigeon flies at roughly 1,350 yards per minute in still air, which is about 46 mph (74 km/h), according to a racing article published on us-apc.com. With a tailwind, race speeds can be much higher, and into a headwind much lower, because what is measured is speed over the ground.

How pigeon race speed is measured

In the UK and US, race speed is called velocity and is given in yards per minute (ypm). It is the distance from the release point to the bird’s loft, divided by the time taken:

velocity (ypm) = distance in yards ÷ flying time in minutes

The bird with the highest velocity wins. Mysoft, a UK race software supplier, notes that RPRA results round velocity to three decimal places and gives this worked example: 217,714 yards flown in 210.25 minutes gives 1,035.501 ypm.

You can work out your own birds’ speeds with our pigeon velocity calculator.

Converting yards per minute to mph and km/h

Yards per minute	mph	km/h
1,000	34.1	54.9
1,200	40.9	65.8
1,350	46.0	74.1
1,500	51.1	82.3
1,800	61.4	98.8

To convert: multiply ypm by 60 to get yards per hour, then divide by 1,760 for mph.

What affects speed

Wind. A tailwind adds to ground speed and a headwind takes it away. This is the biggest factor in race results.
Distance. Shorter races are usually flown faster.
Weather and visibility. Rain and low cloud slow birds down or make them stop.
Fitness and condition. See racing pigeon tips and racing pigeon feeding systems.

How fast do ordinary pigeons fly?

Feral pigeons are descended from the same rock dove as racing pigeons but have not been bred for speed or stamina. Reliable measurements of everyday feral pigeon flight speed are scarce, so we have not given a figure.