INITIAL ORIENTATION OF HOMING PIGEONS AS AFFECTED BY THE SURROUNDING LANDSCAPE

Thousands of vanishing bearings of homing pigeons observed at 28 and 1 0 release sites, respectively, around two home lofts in southern Germa ny, Wurzburg and Andechs, were analysed with respect to their spatial relationships to nearby villages and forests. Pigeons from Wurzburg sh owed a statistical preference to fly over built-up areas rather than o pen fields and a less distinct preference for open rather than wooded country. The same kind of analytical method did not reveal such prefer ences in pigeons from Andechs. Thus, responses to the landscape appear to depend on conditions at the home site. It is concluded that trivia l factors such as topographical features may, and often do, contribute to the appearance of the initial-orientation pattern observed at a gi ven release site. Therefore, such patterns should not be interpreted a s sole manifestations of less trivial orientation processes, e.g. home -related navigation.