This link is important as it gives you more information on the work done by David Keays et al, which proved that the magnetite particle array supposed to exist in the upper beak, creates a magnetic compass response mechanism for birds, does not exist.
As this article suggests the other candidate for magnetic response is a quantum effect in the cryptochromes in the birds eyes.
Richard Nissen
Editor
Article in Nature volume 18 number 4 April 2015 This is a very important piece of work which begins to bring us to an understanding how a sense of direction works and which is NOT magnetic based. We at animalnav.org know that this “sense of direction” must be crucial for navigation so Simon Raggett’s (one…
Here is a fascinating YouTube video discussing different ways a pigeon might home. The people shown here are our heroes, who are really important people in the animal navigation world and especially in Pigeon navigation. You will find Tim Guildford at Oxford University, who believes that pigeons follow landmarks, The Wiltchokos who believe in magnetic…
A little navigational help from animals. Tristam Gooley, who is one of our heroes, and a brilliant natural navigator have posted this fascinating link to his web site. You should follow this and delve into his other insights too as surely animals use many of the same clues as the ones that Tristan points out:…
Please find this interesting link to important work on Cuckoos done by Kasper Thorup and his team in Denmark. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168940 They were able to tag and therefore track fledgling cuckoos. This work is very important as the major question for us is, how does a fledgling cuckoo find its way to its wintering grounds in…
Professor Kate Jeffery of University College London gave the annual address to the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) this year (2014). This article published in RIN’s Navigation News is, for me, a seminal step forward in describing the parameters of animal navigation and building a structure to delve deeper into how navigation might work. Her idea that…
Questions by Richard Nissen. Replies by David Higgins – President of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association. If pigeons are not trained do pigeons roam far from their lofts? Probably no more than a mile. Do you think that homing into the loft when it is near by is done using geographical features such as roads…