There are quite a lot of Woodpigeons in the area where I live, work & bird (SW London/Surrey borders). Often - especially in the evenings it seems - I see groups of maybe 20-30 Woodpigeons flying round in circles. OK, maybe not in circles per se but flying around in a manner that sees them going round in loops rather than just flying from A to B. The thing is these circles seem to be anti-clockwise (counter-clockwise) most of the time. I haven't really kept count but it seems like 80%+ of the time they go round in an anti-(counter-)clockwise direction.
Does anyone know why this would be?
I did have a thought on the way back from work the other day when I saw this happening. I remember reading racing pigeons have something in their brain that enables them to use magnetic fields to help their navigation. Could it be that Woodpigeons are somehow using magnetic fields and as a result seem to circle anti-clockwise more than clockwise?
Does anyone know why this would be?
I did have a thought on the way back from work the other day when I saw this happening. I remember reading racing pigeons have something in their brain that enables them to use magnetic fields to help their navigation. Could it be that Woodpigeons are somehow using magnetic fields and as a result seem to circle anti-clockwise more than clockwise?
