Repeated training of homing pigeons reveals age-dependent idiosyncrasy and visual landmark use

Abstract

Recent research into the navigational strategies of homing pigeons, Columba livia , in the familiar area has highlighted the phenomenon of route fidelity: birds forming idiosyncratic flight paths to which they are loyal over multiple releases from the same site, and even returning to this path when released from a nearby unfamiliar location. Such results highlight the potential importance of visual landmark cues in the homing process. However, not all birds have been found to produce idiosyncratic routes or show this route-joining behaviour. Here we used birds with and without flight experience to study the formation of idiosyncratic routes when released repeatedly from a single location, followed by two off-route releases with differing topography to see how flight experience and local landmark features can influence navigational strategy in the familiar area. We found that, over the course of 20 sequential releases, birds with greater flight experience tended to form idiosyncratic routes whereas less experienced birds did not show this tendency. When released from nearby sites (from which the birds had not previously been released), a range of navigational strategies were seen, including flying parallel to the learned route (suggestive of a learned compass direction), a direct flight path towards home (again indicative of compass use), rejoining the learned route and following the coastline. These latter strategies are suggestive of landmark usage. Analysis using time lag embedding was also used to assess the off-route releases, and the short-term correlation dimension values produced were also indicative of strategies using one or two factors (landmarks, compass or a combination of these two). Individual birds often showed different strategies at different sites, suggesting that the use of different navigational cues is highly flexible and situationally dependent. • Birds with greater flight experience form idiosyncratic routes more readily. • Multiple homing strategies occur when released close to a familiar site. • Age and site-specific biases occurred in which strategies were used. • Flexibility within individuals was seen in terms of strategy choice and cue use.