Abstract
In this work, we studied the properties of pigeon flight trajectories over combined cross-country and urban terrain. We considered GPS tracks of pigeons returning home from two distant sites; birds flew separately and finished at the same endpoint. Spatial analysis of flight paths and directions was used to identify “flight corridors” and regions of interest along the bird trajectories. The visual characteristics of the territories over which pigeons flew were calculated using remote sensing data from open sources. The resulting distinctive zones along flight trajectories and visual features of the landscape were compared. It was found that the “flight corridors” correspond to real objects and areas in the terrain. The results of study showed that spatial features of the terrain can be reflected in the routes of pigeon flights and it is possible to identify sets of significant objects and areas based on the data about flight paths. In the study spatial data were processed using the geographical information system QGIS.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blaser, N., Dell’Omo, G., Dell’Ariccia, G., Wolfer, D.P., Lipp, H.-P.: Testing cognitive navigation in unknown territories: homing pigeons choose different targets. J. Exp. Biol. 216, 3123–3131 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.083246
Lipp, H.-P., Vyssotski, A.L., Wolfer, D.P., Renaudineau, S., Savini, M., Tröster, G., et al.: Pigeon homing along highways and exits. Curr. Biol. 14, 1239–1449 (2004). http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982204005160
Jiménez Ortega, L., Stoppa, K., Güntürkün, O., Troje, N.F.: Vision during head bobbing: are pigeons capable of shape discrimination during the thrust phase? Exp. Brain Res. 199, 313–321 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1891-5
Schiffner, I., Siegmund, B., Wiltschko, R.: Following the sun: a mathematical analysis of the tracks of clock-shifted homing pigeons. J. Exp. Biol. 217, 2643–2649 (2014). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24803461
Vyssotski, A.L., Dell’Omo, G., Dell’Ariccia, G., Abramchuk, A.N., Serkov, A.N., Latanov, A.V., et al.: EEG responses to visual landmarks in flying pigeons. Curr. Biol. 19, 1159–1166 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2009.05.070
Wiltschko, R., Wiltschko, W.: Avian navigation: a combination of innate and learned mechanisms. Adv. Study Behav. 47, 229–310 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.asb.2014.12.002
Pettit, B., Flack, A., Freeman, R., Guilford, T., Biro, D.: Not just passengers: pigeons, Columba livia, can learn homing routes while flying with a more experienced conspecific. Proc. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 280, 20122160 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2160
Bovet, D., Vauclair, J.: Picture recognition in animals and humans. Behav. Brain Res. 109, 143–165 (2000). http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0166432800001467
D’Eath, R.B.: Can video images imitate real stimuli in animal behaviour experiments? Biol. Rev. 73, 267–292 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.1998.tb00031.x
Herbranson, W.T., Karas, E., Hardin, G.: Perception of angle in visual categorization by pigeons (Columba livia). Anim. Behav. Cogn. 4, 286–300 (2017). http://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/article.php?id=1093
Biro, D., Freeman, R., Meade, J., Roberts, S., Guilford, T.: Pigeons combine compass and landmark guidance in familiar route navigation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 104, 7471–7476 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0701575104
Mann, R.P., Armstrong, C., Meade, J., Freeman, R., Biro, D., Guilford, T.: Landscape complexity influences route-memory formation in navigating pigeons. Biol. Lett. 10, 20130885 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0885
Pettit, B., Flack, A., Freemain, R., Guilford, T., Biro, D.: Not just passengers: Pigeons, Columba livia, can learn homing routes while flying with a more experienced conspecific. Proc. R. Soc. B. Dryad Digital Repository (2012). https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.53f4b
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Zaleshina, M., Zaleshin, A. (2018). Spatial Features of Terrain Reflected in Pigeon Flights. In: Creem-Regehr, S., Schöning, J., Klippel, A. (eds) Spatial Cognition XI. Spatial Cognition 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11034. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96385-3_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96385-3_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96384-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96385-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)