Pigeons and a "map made of infrasound": a navigation hypothesis

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Homing pigeons can return home over hundreds of kilometres. For a long time people argued about what serves as their "compass and map": the sun, the magnetic field, smells. One of the most intriguing hypotheses is that part of the map they build from infrasound.

The riddle of the "dead zones"

For decades pigeon fanciers had noticed that in certain places whole flocks inexplicably get lost. The geologist John Hagstrum, examining such cases in the United States, spotted a pattern — the navigation failures coincided with conditions in which infrasound from the home loft did not reach the birds because of temperature and wind layers in the atmosphere.1

The home's "acoustic map"

According to Hagstrum's hypothesis, every locality constantly radiates faint infrasound (microseisms, reflections from the terrain), and a loft has its own unique "acoustic signature". A pigeon memorises it and, once airborne, uses the echo to work out the direction home. Modelling of sound propagation in the atmosphere explained well where and when the birds went astray.1

In fairness: this is a hypothesis

The infrasound model elegantly explains the anomalies, but it has not been definitively proven. Today most scientists believe that bird navigation is multisensory: the magnetic field, the sun, smells and, possibly, sound work together. Infrasound is a strong candidate, but not the only answer.

Did you know?

There are persistent "dead spots" where whole pigeon races regularly get lost — for years this was a mystery.
The anomalies coincided with days when infrasound from the home loft did not reach the birds because of atmospheric layers.
Bird navigation is almost certainly multisensory: the magnetic field, the sun, smells and, possibly, sound — all together.

Did you know?

It is not only pigeons that use infrasound: cassowaries produce the lowest-frequency bird call known (~23 Hz; Mack & Jones, 2003).
Peacocks generate infrasound during the tail-rattling display — and peahens detect it (Freeman & Hare, 2015).

Why this matters for HERD

The story of the pigeons shows that even very faint, background infrasound carries information about space. That is inspiring — it means a sensitive network can "read" the surrounding landscape from sound we cannot hear.

Sources for this article

These sources are part of the full HERD library — 272 vetted sources, with meaning search and topic filters.

peer-reviewed Hagstrum J.T. (2013). Atmospheric propagation modeling indicates homing pigeons use loft-specific infrasound for navigation. Journal of Experimental Biology 216(4). journals.biologists.com
peer-reviewed Mack A.L., Jones J. (2003). Low-frequency vocalizations by cassowaries (Casuarius spp.). The Auk 120(4). doi.org
peer-reviewed Freeman A.R., Hare J.F. (2015). Infrasound in mating displays: a peacock's tale. Animal Behaviour 102. doi.org
history Yodlowski M.L., Kreithen M.L., Keeton W.T. (1977). Detection of atmospheric infrasound by homing pigeons. Nature 265(5596), 725-726. doi.org
peer-reviewed Kreithen M.L., Quine D.B. (1979). Infrasound detection by the homing pigeon: a behavioral audiogram. Journal of Comparative Physiology 129, 1-4. link.springer.com
peer-reviewed Quine D.B., Kreithen M.L. (1981). Frequency shift discrimination: can homing pigeons locate infrasounds by Doppler shifts?. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 141, 153-155. link.springer.com
history Kreithen M.L., Keeton W.T. (1974). Detection of changes in atmospheric pressure by the homing pigeon, Columba livia. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 89(1), 73-82. doi.org
peer-reviewed Hagstrum J.T. (2000). Infrasound and the avian navigational map. Journal of Experimental Biology 203(7), 1103-1111. doi.org
peer-reviewed Hagstrum J.T. (2001). Infrasound and the avian navigational map. The Journal of Navigation 54(3), 377-391. doi.org
peer-reviewed Hagstrum J.T., Manley G.A. (2015). Releases of surgically deafened homing pigeons indicate that aural cues play a significant role in their navigational system. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 201(10), 983-1001. doi.org
peer-reviewed Hagstrum J.T., Manley G.A. (2016). Seasonal changes in atmospheric noise levels and the annual variation in pigeon homing performance. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 202(6), 431-441. doi.org
peer-reviewed Hagstrum J.T. (2019). A reinterpretation of 'Homing pigeons' flight over and under low stratus' based on atmospheric propagation modeling of infrasonic navigational cues. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 205(1), 67-79. doi.org
peer-reviewed Heffner R.S., Koay G., Heffner H.E. (2013). Conditioned suppression/avoidance as a procedure for testing hearing in birds: the domestic pigeon (Columba livia). Behavior Research Methods 45(2), 383-392. doi.org