Factors reducing the expected deflection in initial orientation in clock-shifted homing pigeons

Abstract

To orient from familiar sites, homing pigeons can rely on both an olfactory map and visual familiar landmarks. The latter can in principle be used in two different ways: either within a topographical map exploited for piloting or in a so-called mosaic map associated with a compass bearing. One way to investigate the matter is to put the compass and the topographical information in conflict by releasing clock-shifted pigeons from familiar locations. Although the compass orientation is in general dominant over a piloting strategy, a stronger or weaker tendency to correct towards the home direction by clock-shifted pigeons released from very familiar sites has often been observed. To investigate which factors are involved in the reduction of the deviation due to clock-shift, we performed a series of releases with intact and anosmic pigeons from familiar sites in unshifted and clock-shifted conditions and a series of releases from the same sites with naive clock-shifted birds. Our data suggest that the following factors have a role in reducing deviation due to the clock-shift: familiarity with the release site, the lack of olfactory information and some unknown site-dependent features.