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Ozone Layer, Solar Storms And Lost Pigeons


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pigeon Solar Activity Effects on Pigeons

 

 

 

How do pigeons navigate?

 

Racing homing pigeons navigate incredible distances with apparent ease. A champion racing pigeon can be released 400 miles from its home loft, in a place it has never been before, and return within 1 day. The last 40 miles of its journey, the bird navigates by sight. But over the other 360 miles, the pigeon determines its way home by "sensing" the Earth's magnetic fields. We are not yet sure exactly how this mechanism works, but it does work -- extremely well.

 

 

 

How can the Sun affect racing pigeons?

When there is especially strong activity on the Sun, such as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), unusually strong surges of solar wind (charged particles from the Sun) can create a geomagnetic storm which distorts the Earth's normal magnetic field. The pigeons can no longer rely on their normal guidance system and may become lost. Thus wise pigeon racers, especially those in very northern areas, keep track of solar activity and do not fly their birds under certain geomagnetic conditions.

How do we measure geomagnetic activity?

 

Geomagnetic activity is measured by what we call the 'A' Index, which ranges from 0 to 400 Nanoteslas (nT), a measurement of the strength of a magnetic field. 0 indicates virtually no geomagnetic disturbance, while 400 is the maximum disturbance. Another useful number is the "K" index, which tracks changes in the radio atmosphere and can affect pigeon navigation. The K index ranges from zero (no disturbance) to 9 in a maximum disturbance.

 

What levels of geomagnetic activity are dangerous for pigeons?

Any current reading of local figures over 150 nT in the A index of geomagnetic activity, or 4 or higher in 'K' index, is considered unsafe for training or racing pigeons.

Where can pigeon racers and fliers get solar activity data?

 

Geomagnetic stations track geomagnetic activity around the Earth. Their readings are freely available. The center of these activities in the USA is the Space Environment Center at Boulder, Colorado. There are other data centers in various parts of the world. Because the Earth's geomagnetic field emanates from the poles, the affects are more dramatic in the far north and far south. Thus pigeon racers need to rely on local data, that is, data that accurately represents the state of the geomagnetic field in their particular geographical location.

 

Pigeon fanciers can pick up either "a" index (equivalent amplitude index of local geomagnetic activity) or "K" index (quasi-logarithmic local index of geomagnetic activity relative to an assumed quiet-day curve for the recording site). Because the indices are related, one can be computed from the other; see http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/station-k-and-indices.

 

Any current reading of local figures over 150 nT in the A index of geomagnetic activity, or 4 or higher in 'K' index, is considered unsafe for training or racing pigeons.

• a-index data (Boulder & several other sites)

• K-indices (Boulder)

 

Both indices are necessarily tied to a specific geomagnetic observatory. The above data represent collections and averages. For other regions, you can obtain data from SIDC (click on the "Latest Space Weather data).

 

 

 

Where can I get more information?

Geomagnetic Activity and its Effect on Racing Pigeons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Most of what u talk of is beyond me ,but how is it when you have this high K

Activity that it is only a % of our birds that Are Lost And others make it Home

Is it luck ????

im no expert but I believe there will be a percentage of birds who will continue flying in their initial direction, ie LUCK as you stated. I also found a website related to this topic that intimated that it could take upto 6 months for a young pigeon to fully develop its so called geo-magnetic compass. also it is stated on another page I found that the expanding hole in the northern ozone layer is allowing more space particles from a solar storm to breach and effect the earths magnetic field. this may explain why this is a relatively new problem. I also read that in some of Asian countries where pigeon racing is big money that if a k-factor of 4 and above is forecast the race will be suspended irrelevant of all other natural weather conditions such as rain, wind and lightning. I fully admit im new to this topic and am continuing to search the web for further info. Hope this helps

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im no expert but I believe there will be a percentage of birds who will continue flying in their initial direction, ie LUCK as you stated. I also found a website related to this topic that intimated that it could take upto 6 months for a young pigeon to fully develop its so called geo-magnetic compass. also it is stated on another page I found that the expanding hole in the northern ozone layer is allowing more space particles from a solar storm to breach and effect the earths magnetic field. this may explain why this is a relatively new problem. I also read that in some of Asian countries where pigeon racing is big money that if a k-factor of 4 and above is forecast the race will be suspended irrelevant of all other natural weather conditions such as rain, wind and lightning. I fully admit im new to this topic and am continuing to search the web for further info. Hope this helps. I do believe that the big increase in BOP is having a serious effect on current racing as well as other reasons that members have posted

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im no expert but I believe there will be a percentage of birds who will continue flying in their initial direction, ie LUCK as you stated. I also found a website related to this topic that intimated that it could take upto 6 months for a young pigeon to fully develop its so called geo-magnetic compass. also it is stated on another page I found that the expanding hole in the northern ozone layer is allowing more space particles from a solar storm to breach and effect the earths magnetic field. this may explain why this is a relatively new problem. I also read that in some of Asian countries where pigeon racing is big money that if a k-factor of 4 and above is forecast the race will be suspended irrelevant of all other natural weather conditions such as rain, wind and lightning. I fully admit im new to this topic and am continuing to search the web for further info. Hope this helps

 

Ive heard that too and I definitely buy into it. We are way behind in the art of race controlling as evidence in recent races suggest.Its a pity we couldn't allow our race controllers the power to hold over if the k index was up. Another massive thing overlooked in race controlling is HUMIDITY.

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We used to put a chart up on a weekly basis on here. Many weeks when the k index was really high there was good racing and if it was a bad race we were finding sometime the K index was low.... It would be hard to trust the k index to stop racing.

im glad to hear that, if that's the case maybe there's still a chance for racing. thanks for your input

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