posted July 24, 2004 02:54 AM         

AP-STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Organizers of a race for homing pigeons were still scratching their heads in wonder Thursday after about 1,500 of the birds, famous for their ability to find their way home, went missing during the contest.

Of the 2,000 pigeons let loose last week, only about 500 have returned to their lofts after the 150-kilometer (93 mile) flight between the cities of Ljungby and Malmoe in southern Sweden, said Lars-Aake Nilsson of the Malmoe Homing Pigeon Club.

"The weather was perfect — no rain, no thunder and no strong winds," he said.

In past races, the birds, all of which sport electronic identification tags around their feet, made the journey in about two hours.

But at Sunday's race, something went wrong.

"I have worked with pigeons since 1960 and have never experienced anything like this," Nilsson said, adding that the birds might have been thrown off course by subtle changes in the earth's magnetic field.

The pigeons have a natural homing instinct and are believed to navigate by the sun and the magnetic waves of the earth, Nilsson said.

"And even though some are lost to hawks or hazards like power lines along the way, many more should have made it back home. It's a mystery," he added.

He said there have been no reported sightings of the missing birds anywhere in southern Sweden. He declined to say how much the birds were worth.

"It's not so much the economic value as it is a loss to the sport," Nilsson said. "It takes about two years to breed a racing pigeon."

posted July 30, 2004 08:49 PM         

astro junkie (i think) mentioned something the other day about homing pigeons getting disoriented because of the magnetic shifting of the poles (or something - i'll try and find her comment). it caught my attention because my dad called last week and said he found this pigeon with a band around its ankle (do pigeons have ankles?) -wandering around the park. it could fly - wasn't hurt - just more like dazed and confused. he put it into a fenced-in yard to protect it from bigger critters. he called me to find out if i knew who to call! turns out the little guy took himself off the following afternoon.

*searching searching*

posted July 30, 2004 09:53 PM         

This is not the first of relatively recent reports of animals acting strangely. There was a story about pelicans and another species not being able to mate, partly because the water level was so high that the little critters the birds would naturally feed upon were gone.

But so many animals rely on the magnetic field, like turtles, many insects.

Not sure what else you wanted me to help add to this. Let me know.

And it would be foolish for us humans to think this does not affect our brains as well. Afterall, we are completely electromagnetic beings.

posted July 31, 2004 02:50 AM         

Thanx for the link. Interesting.

BTW - have either of you ever heard of HAARP? I dont know too much about it - but it is something top secret the government is doing up in Alaska that people think is affecting the energy grid. Some think they are trying to control the weather. .....scary.

astrojunkie,

quote:

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But so many animals rely on the magnetic field, like turtles, many insects.

And it would be foolish for us humans to think this does not affect our brains as well. Afterall, we are completely electromagnetic beings.

---

.....I completely agree.

posted August 13, 2004 02:59 AM         

"... Pockets of superheated gas several times the size of Earth have been discovered swirling like bathtub drains high above the planet.

The vortices seem to suck high-energy particles from the Sun into Earth's otherwise protective magnetic shield ..."