From where doves sleep, their life expectancy directly depends. As civilization develops, we leave less and less space for wildlife. This can be seen in the example of birds in the city, which are forced to settle in attics or under the roofs of houses. How they rest, in what position and how many hours, you will learn from our article. And we will also tell you if they close their eyes during sleep and if they lose control, forgetting about predators.

Pigeon life in the city

In the daytime, city pigeons are visible to everyone. They roam in whole flocks in parks and squares, as well as in squares, feeding on all possible ways, including from human hands.

At night, these birds seem to dissolve and completely disappear from view. However, with the first rays of the rising sun, they again appear in the direct line of sight of a person, once again filling the familiar space. And it is completely incomprehensible to many citizens where these birds live in the city and where they spend the night.

The following places can be used as shelter:

• attics;
• niches in the walls of buildings;
• alleys, squares and parks;
• economic objects.

Regarding where the pigeons spend the night, it should be said that the birds remain true to their instincts. These city birds are not very comfortable in the trees. They feel much better at various architectural objects, especially those where you can hide from the weather.

Better sleep - longer life

The average life expectancy of one individual in the conditions of the city is approximately 15-20 years, but cases have been recorded when individual birds lived to 30 and even 35 years. When compared with those pigeons that live in wild nature, then the difference in this matter is very significant, because most of them live no more than 5 years. This is due to constant anxiety, the expectation of an attack by predators, and therefore, pigeons systematically lack a good rest.

In the city, feathered individuals have more opportunities to find good conditions for night sleep. You just have to be very careful and arrange lodging for the night in places inaccessible to cats.

Those pigeons that live at home are much better protected from the adverse effects of various factors. Breeders monitor the health of their pets, including their sleep, provide them with proper care and a balanced diet. The better and fuller the sleep, the longer, subject to other conditions, the life of a feathered pet will be.

Sleep time depends on the time of year

AT normal conditions to see how doves sleep is quite difficult. For example, wild birds can twist their nests in the crowns hardwood trees, respectively, it is very difficult to see them from below.

During sleep, the position taken is in many ways reminiscent of the one in which chickens sleep - the body of the bird is in the nest, the head is hidden under the wing and the paws are tucked under themselves. They arrive to sleep already in the evening, when dusk sets in. The duration of sleep is highly dependent on the time of year, pigeons are diurnal birds, so the duration of their rest is equal to the duration of the night, this also includes twilight hours.

Based on the foregoing, the night rest of the pigeons continues until it becomes light, that is, 13-14 hours - in winter. In summer, birds sleep less - about 8-9 hours.

Features of pigeon vision

In urban buildings and structures, you can see pigeon nests by climbing into not the most common places, at least for humans. These can be ventilation ducts and shafts, a place between the roof of the house and its covering, for example, slate.

The impossibility of night flights of pigeons, associated with the peculiarities of their vision, dictates the need not to disturb the birds at night. Photoreceptor cones, which make up the retina of pigeons, react only to daylight; at night they see almost nothing.

This feature of vision implies that sleeping birds can fly out of the nest in fright and, due to their poor orientation in space, run into an obstacle dangerous to health and even life. However, the appearance of light (even artificial) quickly brings the bird into a cheerful state, he believes that morning has come and it's time to get up.

Usually during sleep, pigeons close their eyes and can completely turn off for 10-15 minutes. This is enough to give their brain a rest. By the way, this state is used when catching birds, which we talk about in the article “How to catch a pigeon with your hands or a rope.”

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A long time ago, close to 5000 years ago, a man tamed a wild pigeon. This bird stands out among others, its ability to tame, train, participate in competitions. For some, pigeon breeding is a sport or a hobby, for others it is a purposeful pastime, and for others it is aesthetic satisfaction and the meaning of life. But, even the most caring and loving pigeon breeder will not be able to properly care for and breed birds without thoroughly knowing the structural features of the pigeon's body. After all, pigeons have many features, but the main one is how pigeons see.

The most important and especially developed sense organ of a pigeon is its vision. So what is the phenomenal vision of a dove? The fact is that the speed of viewing video frames in a pigeon is 3 times higher than the ability of the human eye.

Even now, there are many unknown and scientifically unexplained facts regarding the functional abilities of the eyes of pigeons. But experienced pigeon breeders assure that with a careful study of the pigeon's eye, one can determine not only his health and emotional state, but even his energy reserve.

For example, if a person is able to perceive 24 cards per second, then the pigeon's eye looks at 75 frames per second. Also, a structural feature of the eye in pigeons is a wave connective tissue that can change its density from transparent to dark. Thus, it makes it possible for the pigeon's eye not to react even to the blinding radiation of the sun.

The eyes of pigeons are located on the sides of the head, they have, quite, big sizes. The eyeball of a pigeon's eye is a flattened spherical shape, the iris of the eye is supplied with many pigments, and it also acts as a movable diaphragm, allowing pigeons to see for hours in bright sunlight.

But, the dove belongs to daytime birds, and at dusk its visual acuity is greatly reduced. To increase the field of view, there is no feathering around the eyelids of the pigeon eye. The eyelids are internally lined with a junctional epithelial membrane that creates the nictitating membrane at the inner corner of the eye.

It is also called the "third eyelid", and it serves to cleanse the front of the eye. The eyes of pigeons are inactive, because the muscles of the eye are very poorly developed. Depending on the color of the iris, pigeons are divided into dark-eyed and light-eyed.

Moreover, in dark-eyed and light-eyed pigeons, the reaction to the same source of bright light will be different. In light-eyed pigeons, the pupil narrows less than in dark-eyed pigeons, and the iris repels light rays more.

In the structure of the eye of pigeons there is a small dimple that acts as a telescope, and all because this dimple is full of light-sensitive cells that magnify the image. Also conducting experiments with the vision of this bird, the researchers suspected that pigeons have light-sensitive skin.

Also, in the eyes of pigeons, you can approximately find out their age, since with age, the color depth and saturation of the iris change in pigeons.

Pigeon vision has been studied for many years. Lots of discoveries, but no less mysteries. This topic is being discussed very vigorously, but the fact remains: the dove is not only a symbol of peace, it is also a very smart, devoted, fast learning bird.

Igor Nikolaev

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Pigeons have sharp eyesight. Thanks to their eyes, they are able to navigate the terrain well. The features of bird vision are passed on to their offspring by inheritance. During breeding work, attention is paid not only to the exterior of the female and male, which form a parental pair, but also check vision, hearing, and look at flight characteristics. Eye color is determined by the component of the pigment substance, which is located on the iris. What is the structure of the eyes of a dove? What determines their color?

Eye sign

The pigeon's eyes are large and deep-set. They are located on the sides of the head, closer to the beak. They have been protected for centuries. Some breeds have a warty layer around the eye. It is protective, prevents dust from entering the mucous membrane. If a bird sits calmly on a parapet or on a branch, its eye color is gray, then this means that it is sleeping, its eyes are closed. Gray is not the color of the iris. This is the third eyelid that covers the eye. The dove does not know how to blink, removing dirt from the mucous membrane. This function is performed by the third eyelid. It is mobile. Located in the inner corner of the eye. The eyelid periodically extends, wetting and cleansing the mucous membrane of the eye.

Some individuals of flight breeds, in addition to the eyelid, have voluminous outgrowths above the eye, which prevent dust and small insects from entering the mucous membrane. Such protrusions are typical for sporting breeds of pigeons. Instead of protrusions, birds may have scutes. They are a century ahead. They seem to hang over the eye. Shields are a sign of good flying qualities in pigeons.

Pigeons' eyes

The eyeball can be seen as a collection of circles. They are clearly visible in bright light, so the inspection of birds is carried out under an electric lamp or in bright sunlight. The light will not hurt the pigeon's eyes. Thanks to the iris, which determines the color of the eyes, and which is the diaphragm, birds quickly adapt to the penetration of bright light. Unlike other birds and animals, pigeons can look at the sun for a long time. When examining the organs of vision, the iris is immediately visible, but it is not the first layer of the eye. Between the iris and the pupil, colored circles are found, which are the sign of the eye. According to them, the sports characteristics of the bird are determined:

• The top layer of the eyeball forms the pupil. It is small, round in shape. When examining a bird, it is necessary to find out how well the sphincter muscle works, which contributes to the constriction and expansion of the pupil. On this layer, an image of objects is formed. It is also called the terrain recognition circle. The high-flying pigeon has an active and mobile pupil. In light-eyed birds, the pupil is less mobile than in dark-eyed individuals. If this function is not well developed, then the bird will rise to a low or maximum to a medium height;
• around the pupil is an adaptation circle. It is slightly paler in color than the pupil. It is believed that the richer the shade of the adaptation circle, the better the flight qualities of the bird. The pigment may be unevenly distributed throughout the circle, the best option is black on the underside;

• when examining the eyes of a bird, a correlation circle is clearly distinguished. It comes from the pupil, capturing the iris layer, then spreads throughout the eye. Doves with good abilities to navigate in space, the correlation circle has a stellate structure. In young animals, it is pink. In individuals of the older generation, it is dark, up to black. Experts say that the black color of the correlation circle indicates the bird's superpowers. It is extremely rare;
• the correlation circle is framed by the iris. It is yellow-red in color, in pigeons it may darken with age. If the iris is wide and takes the place of an adaptation and correlation circle, then the high-flying qualities of the bird will be reduced, but the homing of pigeons is at a high level. If the iridescent layer is excessively expanded, has a discontinuous color, then this indicates an individual with poor flying qualities and dubious mental abilities. Such a bird may get lost, will not show good results;
• around the rainbow layer there is a circle of pigeon health. With an adaptation circle, it should have the same color and size. An extended or narrowed circle of health is characteristic of individuals with poor reproductive functions.

When examining a bird, the period of use of antibiotics is taken into account. When using drugs in the eyeball, changes occur. The pupil is not able to quickly respond to brightness light beam, to display high-quality surrounding objects. The use of medicines reduces the ability to navigate the terrain.

eye tint

The color of the eyes of both humans and birds depends on the pigment of the iris, on the concentration of blood vessels and fibers. The fibers that make up the iris are blue. A high concentration of blood vessels gives the eyes a red color. At the same time, the fiber density is low. The pigment, melanin, is always black or dark brown.

In addition to melanin, there is another substance on the iris that provides the eyes with yellow and green color. This is lipochrome. Other shades are the play of light, the quality of the refraction of its rays. Together they form yellow, pearl, amber, orange colors and shades. At exhibitions, they always consider what color doves have eyes? It must match the breed of the bird.

How often many of us in our lives have to see pigeons, and at the same time, how little we know about them. All known information about our cooing neighbors most often boils down to the fact that they eat seeds and various cereals (who will pour what), do not fly away for the winter and love to shit from roofs. We have no time, and no need to learn more - we think. Meanwhile, the world of even the most familiar animals for us can be very exciting.

Why, when walking, doves nod their heads - a question that, probably, each of us has asked himself at least once. But for many, along with other questions about the life of these birds, it still remains a mystery. For those who nevertheless decided to become a little closer to our feathered neighbors, this short story has been created. In particular, let's try to figure out why pigeons have such a funny walk.

General information about pigeons

The weight of an adult pigeon usually varies from 200 to 650 g. Most often on the streets we see rock pigeons, which are one of 35 existing species. This genus of birds can be found in countries located on three continents of the earth: Africa, Eurasia and Australia. The life of a wild pigeon usually does not last more than 5 years. In captivity, they live 2-3 times longer, in rare cases even reaching 35 years.

Since people learned how to create new breeds of pigeons, more than 800 have been bred. Of these, about 200 are in Russia. The peculiarity of these birds is known to fly to their native nests even when they are hundreds of kilometers away from them. They can reach speeds up to 100 km/h. The ancient Greeks, Persians, Romans, Jews and Egyptians learned to transmit various news through them. In many countries, pigeon mail operated officially, it was especially actively used during the war.

Strange pigeon gait

We are so accustomed to these feathered creatures that we either do not notice them at all, or everything in their behavior seems to us quite ordinary and understandable. But sometimes watching pigeons in a public garden or at a bus stop can lead us to some questions.

For example, why do doves nod their heads when walking? This strange gait seems very uncomfortable, it seems that it is given to them with with great difficulty. But this is only at first glance. In fact, if they were created with the ability to move in this way, then there was a need for it. In nature, nothing happens in vain.

Explanations of the pigeon gait

There are many hypotheses about why pigeons nod their heads when walking. Some believe that in fact the effect of a nod is created visually, but in fact the bird does not move it, moving only its body. The reason for the peculiarity of the pigeon gait is sometimes explained by the need to maintain the balance of the body. To this end, small birds usually jump, and large ones waddle.

Someone believes that the structure of the dove, or rather the location of its eyes, is the cause of this phenomenon. The fact is that the eyes of the bird are set on the sides of the head, and therefore it has And precisely in order to see the whole picture in front of it at once, it makes a sharp nod when walking.

What did one experiment show?

In 1976, a scientist set up a very interesting experiment with pigeons. He placed the bird in a cube, where he installed a special treadmill so that the dove does not have the opportunity to get off it. The purpose of this experiment was to test whether the bird would nod its head in such an environment.

As it turned out, in such conditions, the birds stop nodding their heads. Watching a pigeon run on a treadmill led the scientist to the conclusion that they needed the nod to stabilize the image. In the process of running on a treadmill that moved with the pigeon, the need to stabilize the visible environment disappeared. According to this study, the most reasonable explanation for this question lies in the way pigeons see. By the way, if you blindfold a pigeon, it will also stop nodding when taking a step.

Unique pigeon vision

The difference between pigeon vision and human vision is that a person perceives the movements of objects, seeing 24 frames per second, and for this a pigeon needs to see as many as 75 frames. Therefore, they perceive everything that happens around them as separate pictures, which means that they notice an object approaching them at the last moment.

And although the vision of a dove is inferior to a human in this, it has clear advantages. None of us can boast of the ability to see as far as these birds. Just imagine, a dove is able to see an object at a distance of three kilometers. Assessing this advantage, the United States even used their help in search and rescue operations.

How much we still do not know about our usual, it would seem, environment. We see pigeons so often and know so little about them. Knowing why pigeons nod their heads when walking, it will be much more interesting to watch these birds. Now you can try to imagine how the world looks in their eyes and become a little closer to them. Let's notice the world around us, because it is very interesting and beautiful.

Somehow we discussed such a phenomenon as homing - the instinct of returning home, which is provided by the ability to navigate and navigate. They reasoned after they were taken far, far away from home.

But of course the most illustrative example of the homing function is the DOVE. After all, it is not in vain that pigeon mail existed and exists for a very long time in human history. You can take a carrier pigeon, put it in the trunk of your car, and drive hundreds of kilometers - to places where the bird has never been before. Let go and she will find her way home. Cases have been recorded when pigeons made their way back 1800 kilometers.

Scientists have a hard time explaining how pigeons do this. There have been many studies and experiments. During World War II, America squandered a lot of money on a research project codenamed "Project Pigeon" that was exploring the possibility of using carrier pigeons in a guidance system. A screen was placed in front of the bird, onto which an image of the terrain was projected, “broadcast” from the nose of the guided munition. The pigeon was required to peck at a screen with electrical contacts, thus keeping the "sight" on the object. Nothing came of them, however.

So how do doves find their way home?

Thanks to orientation, they are able to determine their location in space and carry out purposeful movements. And navigation is the most complex form of spatial orientation, which determines the ability of animals to choose the right direction of movement during long-distance flights. All orientation processes occur with the participation of memory. The navigational abilities of birds are provided by genetic memory, and they have to remember specific landmarks. Orientation processes include components such as information from external environment sensory organs that perceive it, analyzers that process signals, and orientational behavior.

The functions of landmarks can be performed by objects and phenomena environment, which are characterized by certain identifying features. It could be outlines locality, smells, sounds, or the location of the Sun, Moon, stars and much more. Birds know some types of landmarks from birth, while they learn the meaning of other landmarks as a result of training and gaining experience. Perceiving information about landmarks, birds make a decision taking into account the current situation and then make purposeful movements.

Pigeons serve as an excellent model for scientists to study the ability of birds to navigate. Despite the long period of their use and study, some questions about how birds taken hundreds of kilometers from home orient themselves remain unanswered. It has not yet been finally clarified whether pigeons are guided by a mental spatial map or by memorized landmarks, and to what extent the sense of smell and perception of the magnetic field are involved in this process. Perhaps there are other environmental factors that scientists do not yet know or do not take into account. Many scientists believe that a whole complex of the most diverse ways of orientation is involved here, each of which turns on at the right time.

For example, data from radio observations of pigeons with a miniature transmitter with a battery and a 50 cm antenna placed on their backs show the following. Pigeons do not return to the house in a straight line, but change direction quite often. However, the general direction of movement of birds remains correct. Apparently, after each deviation, one or another way of orientation is triggered (depending on whether it is day or night, the sun is shining or the sky is covered with clouds). And in this way the pigeons correct the trajectory of movement. Solar compass and biological clock. Many animals are guided for navigation by sunlight. These are crustaceans and spiders, fish and toads, turtles and alligators and, of course, birds, including pigeons. The solar-compass orientation of pigeons has such features. 1. To track the change in the azimuth of the Sun, they need to become attached to a system of fixed landmarks on the earth's surface (mountains, trees, the location of the nest). Young pigeons, who already know how to navigate near the dovecote according to local signs, must spend about a month learning to navigate by the Sun.

To teach the course of the Sun to pigeons, as well as to bees, it is enough to observe only half of its path. Scientists believe that the possibility of a wide extrapolation (prediction) of the course of a sundial indicates the existence of some kind of complex calculation apparatus in the central nervous system pigeons. In addition, birds flying across the equator have enough a complex system adaptation of the internal solar compass to the required direction of movement. Such an amazing ability to acquire knowledge about the movement of the Sun is innate in them. 2. In order to introduce a certain correction for the displacement of the luminary during the day, pigeons use their biological "clock" - the innate ability of their body to navigate in time. The action of these mysterious "clocks" is based on the strict periodicity of the physicochemical processes occurring in the cells. So, in the experiment, birds were taught to move in a very different compass direction. For example, they were transported to a point with a different geographical longitude, which is why the internal countdown of the time of day of the pigeons diverged from the local one.

But during testing, they always changed their course by an angle close to the change in the solar azimuth for the period that corresponded to the mismatch of their internal and local time. Since astroorientation is impossible without the measurement of time, one rightly speaks of the orientation of animals, and pigeons in particular, in space and time. And what is more important - when the sun is not visible in the blue sky, birds use the effect of light polarization, and in the pre-morning time - the light of dawn. And even in cloudy weather, they navigate by the brightest part of the sky - for example, pigeons and swallows find their way home. That is, animals are given a wonderful opportunity to respond flexibly to changing lighting conditions so as not to go astray. Sunglasses. Seemingly small pigeon eyes are actually almost the entire head. They are simply covered with plumage and skin. Pigeons do not see well in the dark, and attempts to breed a nocturnal breed of postal birds that “work” during the sleep of daytime raptors did not lead to anything.

If you look at the eyes of birds, then in their retina there are more light-sensitive cells than in other animals. Especially densely, such cells fill a recess - the central fossa, which acts as a kind of spyglass to enlarge the image. And near this spyglass there is an organ that seems to have nothing to do with vision - the so-called scallop. But why is this bloodshot fold, similar to the furs of an accordion, as if pressed by a huge blind spot into the keen eyes of a bird? Since scientists know that nothing superfluous is given to the body of any living being, certain studies have been carried out. They convince that the scallop is akin to dark sunglasses. Thanks to him, the birds look at the sun without blinking, and thus the "blind spot" helps migratory birds during migrations, and pigeons - in carrying out courier tasks. Special vision.

Interestingly, the pigeon's eyes can select from the field of view only the information that he needs in this moment, and does not notice the other. One of the US aviation firms invented an electronic eye, or rather a model of the retina of a bird's eye (145 light-sensitive photoreceptors and 386 neurons - artificial nerve cells). Such a model is able to determine the direction and speed of the object, its shape and size. The "eye" can, for example, recognize a bomber and a missile and not notice other flying objects. And due to the fact that the vision of a pigeon is many times sharper than that of a person, the rescue society in the United States has developed a program to use trained birds to search for and rescue people at sea. They will fly helicopters along with rescue teams.

As soon as the pigeon sees the orange flag (the generally accepted signal for help), it will give the command a prearranged signal. Pigeons are able to see with their skin. And here is another amazing fact, which is also included in the decoding of the bird orientation system. Ornithologists lit up a pigeon's nest one night and saw their amazing reaction - blind chicks that hour began to shake their heads, frightenedly flap their small wings and even gave a voice. A flash of light produced such an effect even when a light-tight cap was put on the head of the chicks. But if they covered the body, and left the blind eyes outside, then the birds did not notice the light. There can be only one explanation for this - pigeons see with their skin! It remains to be determined what biochemical processes underlie this phenomenon, but scientists immediately suggested that light-sensitive skin somehow helps pigeons find their way home.

orientation in the geomagnetic field. The Earth's magnetic field is also often considered as a possible reference point for maintaining the course of birds and other animals. After all, our planet is a happy exception among others, since it has and own life and its own magnetic field. And the connection of these two global phenomena undoubtedly exists, which is reflected, among other things, on the processes of orientation of animals. The Earth can be represented as a huge uniformly magnetized ball, and the compass needle at any point on it is set along the horizontal vector of the magnetic field. It is known about the existence of a kind of biological compass in some living organisms, such as termites, cockchafers, whales. Even bacteria "feel" the Earth's magnetic field.

It has been established that each of them contains a compass - a crystal of magnetite. Magnetic particles were found in different parts of the body of 60 species of living organisms - in the brain of bees, the body of salmon, the abdominal cavity of carrier pigeons. Biologists have found similar formations from magnetite crystals in the human brain. And since there is nothing useless in the organism of either animals or humans, they probably turn on at the right moment and for certain purposes some kind of magnetic instinct. In the late 1970s, the American zoologist C. Walcott conducted a series of biological experiments on carrier pigeons. On the head and neck of the bird, he fixed the conductors and passed through them electricity by creating an artificial magnetic field. Pigeons, as a rule, immediately lost their orientation. This became an argument for those who claimed that pigeons are able to "equal" to the Earth's magnetic field. There is also evidence that the electromagnetic pulses of powerful television stations confuse pigeons and prevent them from finding the right path. But there are other experiments in which tiny strong magnets were attached under the wings of birds. They distorted the natural magnetic field, but the birds did not notice this and traveled hundreds of kilometers home. Therefore, the "magnetic version" of bird orientation is not the only one. Do pigeons navigate by smell?

In recent years, the hypothesis about the long-range orientation of carrier pigeons by smell has been tested. This hypothesis seems doubtful to many, since in this case it is necessary to take into account the following:

When a familiar smell is detected, the pigeon should not fly with the wind, but in the direction in which the wind with the familiar smell was blowing during training at home.

The pigeon must have such a spatial map in which each compass direction corresponds to a certain smell.
The compass direction during training and at the location is determined using global fields - geomagnetic or astro landmarks.
curvature air flow in atmospheric vortices (cyclones and anticyclones) can introduce an error in the choice of the compass direction.

It would seem that this shows that when the pigeons return, they cannot use the smell, but everything is more complicated than it seems. It turns out that pigeons with impaired sense of smell are not able to find the way to the house, although they fly hundreds of kilometers along the right path in search of it. But, in the end, they settle on other people's dovecotes. According to some scientists, the dove does not use the field of smell as a guide - the familiar smell only includes other ways of orienting. And the source of the smell can be found, guided by spatial organization the field of concentration itself. Pigeons hear infrasound. Ornithologists have proven that pigeons hear infrasound - sound vibrations less than 10 hertz.

And the receptors that perceive it are located somewhere inside the pigeon's ear. Infrasounds are born, for example, by various natural disasters - thunderstorms, earthquakes, which propagate thousands of kilometers in the atmosphere. This is probably why pigeons anticipate weather changes and earthquakes well. In addition, scientists do not exclude the possibility that birds use infrasound to navigate long-distance flights.

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