How Far ??

[foggy11]

Hi ..

 

Just out of interest,,,

 

How far do you think Pigeons will travel , if they have to , once you've pushed them of a field that they were feeding on..

 

ie. if your field is the only food around for say 3 miles are they gona b***er off somewhere else???

 

I know its not science but an estimate would be good...

 

Cheers....

[Sinistercr0c]

Wood pigeon are sedentary by nature, and most online articles I've read about them give their ranges to well within a 6 - 8 mile radius. Push 'em off a field and they're just as likely to land in the same one after having gone on an circuit of the area, as land anywhere else (if your lucky that is)......

[Beardo]

Sedentary in the UK, not on the continent though!

[foggy11]

Sedentary...?

 

Have to look that one up......

 

Im only a simple country boy ....and thats a long word....

[Sinistercr0c]

sed·en·tar·y (sdn-tr)

adj.

1. Characterized by or requiring much sitting: a sedentary job.

2. Accustomed to sitting or to taking little exercise.

3. Remaining or living in one area, as certain birds; not migratory.

4. Attached to a surface and not moving freely, as a barnacle.

 

[foggy11]

Yes ....

 

I looked it up tooo...

[Cookiemonsterandmerlin.]

I have seen pigeon flight roughly 10 clicks many years ago it was a clear spring morning .

 

I was shooting linseed on the downs outside of swindon and you could see the flight with binos coming from swindon town out off coate water and burdrop woods.

 

They where in a long line for the whole length one of my first hundred bags.

 

I think birds in certain areas like the fens have a larger radius 25 clicks and the same with the barron downs where roosting woods are few and far between.

 

Summer time only 5 and 8 clicks like most have said.

 

All the best OTH

[blackthorn]

sed·en·tar·y (sdn-tr)

adj.

1. Characterized by or requiring much sitting: a sedentary job.

2. Accustomed to sitting or to taking little exercise.

3. Remaining or living in one area, as certain birds; not migratory.

4. Attached to a surface and not moving freely, as a barnacle.

 

liked 4. would make shooting them a little easier

[Harnser]

Their flight distance is a trade off with how much energy they have stored up . Flying takes much more energy than walking . A pigeon with an empty crop and no stored energy as in severe weather conditions wont want to fly too far there for will hang around in an area longer .

Wood pigeons are quite capable of flying long distances if the weather conditions permit it , low pressure days with a tail wind . I am of the opinion that the woodie likes to stay in a local area so long as food is available . He will soon move on if the food supply runs out . Remember that the woodie is a big heavy bird compared to other flyers and dosent fly for the sake of it . The only birds that seem to like flying and can cover vast distances with little effort are the raptors and the gulls .

Harnser .

Edited February 9, 2010 by Harnser

[anser2]

I agree with what has been said about the pigeons not usually moving far , but years ago when wildfowling on the Wash there used to be a flightline out of the Sandringham Woods , across the flat fens and across the River Ouse to disapear out of sight to the west. Those birds must have traveled a distance of at least 14 miiles every morning as the Sandringham Woods were the only ones on the line the birds were taking in those days ( new woods have since been planted on the Fen land.