20 July 2026

Rock doves (Columba livia) were domesticated 5,000 to 10,000 years ago and are still kept today worldwide for a variety of reasons including food or fancy show breeds, and especially for their homing instinct.

Homing pigeons (yes Columba livia) are specially bred for navigation and speed and can fly home from a place they’ve never seen up to 600 miles away. This makes them valuable for carrying messages, taking part in races and in white “dove” releases at weddings and funerals.

According to Wikipedia, pigeons’ navigation tools include a combination of:

• Sun compass
• Nocturnal navigation by stars
• Visual landmark map –> pigeons follow roads to get home
• Navigation by infrasound map
• Polarized light compass
• Olfactory (sense of smell) stimuli.

For a wedding dove release the pigeons are transported in cages to the launch point. When released they circle up, form a flock, figure out their current location and the direction of home … and they’re off!

Where is home? It might be a small building …

… or a specially designed dovecote …

… or an elaborate building with entrances and perches on the roof.

This dovecote is at Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario. When we visited the park in early July I immediately noticed the tiny dormers on the roof. Aha! Pigeons used to live here. Built in 1835 by Sir Allan Napier MacNab, 1st Baronet, he kept pigeons as messengers.

Pigeons are natural homebodies.

Let’s fly home!