# How Far Can A Pigeon See



## fastpitch dad

I had a conversation with a guy at the store the other day .
He asked how far a pigeon could see, and I told him I had no clue, but I would try to find a answer. I'm sure they can see for along way but how far...20-30-50-80 miles ,how far, of course I'm talking about when there flying.


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## george simon

fastpitch dad said:


> I had a conversation with a guy at the store the other day .
> He asked how far a pigeon could see, and I told him I had no clue, but I would try to find a answer. I'm sure they can see for along way but how far...20-30-50-80 miles ,how far, of course I'm talking about when there flying.


 HI FASTPITCH,Well I have been told by some that they can see 70 miles or so but I realy need to see it in writting by someone that has some understand of eye sight.I also will check some of the books that I have to see if there an answer to your question.This much I will say they do have good eyesight.  .GEORGE


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## MaryOfExeter

I was always told when they're flying up high, they can see about 65 miles. I have no clue if that's right or not, but I'm sure that would help in coming home if they could


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## ohiogsp

Have you ever been up in a small plane or something to get you about the height of a pigeon? Even we can see a long way when up high. I think pigeon vision is better then ours but I think on a clear day at that height I could see 40 miles+.


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## conditionfreak

It's a trick answer. They can see Mars and the moon , as you and I can also.

Seriously, I would assume that a pigeon can see as far as we can. To the horizon (curvature of the Earth). How far away can they identify something, might be a better question, but still not exactly correctly put, I would think.


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## brandonf

ttt for updates??


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## Big T

I know this, My pigeons can spot a hawk flying so high in the sky it look like a dot to me, but they saw it and knew what it was.

Tony


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## kalapati

well they say that the peregrines can see their prey 4,500 meters down below and the pigeons can see far more than that to avoid being a meal of the peregrines...lol

the pigeons also were used in an experiment by the US Coast Guard to help them find survivors because of their keen eyesight. here are some interesting links:

http://www.susanscott.net/OceanWatch2001/jun22-01.html

http://www.uscg.mil/history/articles/PigeonSARProject.asp



kalapati
SanDiego
http://bluebarloft.from-ca.com:81/Jview.htm


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## Alamo

My dad allways said a pigeon can see the Empire State building from 20 miles away on a clear day...So that`s my answer.....Alamo


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## jameswaller

it might not be as important as to distance of seeing but what is within the distance of sight for a prey animal,,pigeons have very keen wits,hearing and eye sight,,,they see in better color spectrums than we,--seeing uv rays of the sun,,they can hear so fine as to a light wind/airflow over the roof tops,,they can feel the magnetic lines of the earth,,and can calculate distance to objects,..they are masters-in the art-of flying--don,t believe me watch one,,they are distant relatives of prehistoric-veloca/raptors,,,.yes not long ago their distant relatives chased us down and we were the prey/go figure,..sincerely james waller


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## Big T

jameswaller said:


> it might not be as important as to distance of seeing but what is within the distance of sight for a prey animal,,pigeons have very keen wits,hearing and eye sight,,,they see in better color spectrums than we,--seeing uv rays of the sun,,they can hear so fine as to a light wind/airflow over the roof tops,,they can feel the magnetic lines of the earth,,and can calculate distance to objects,..they are masters-in the art-of flying--don,t believe me watch one,,*they are distant relatives of prehistoric-veloca/raptors,,,.yes not long ago their distant relatives chased us down and we were the prey/go figure*,..sincerely james waller


Now, now, the veloca/raptors were extinct when man came along. Otherwise we might be extinct. Great points on hearing and eye sight.

Thanks,
Tony


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## Airbaby

Thats some interesting theory's James Waller, i like your points on hearing and eye sight....now my whole thing is if they can see so well (and i believe they do) then why is it you hear about crash tosses from 5 miles, or 10 miles, etc. or even shorter...you would think all they have to do is get up and start to circle and they should easily be able to identify where home is with out using homing ability...especially if there sight is what its claimed to be.


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## Bezz

Hi all

If they can see the SUN i think they can see far enough!!! LOL

Bezz


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## Freebird loft

I agree with airbaby, I have heard numerous stories of losses less than 20 miles


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## MaryOfExeter

Yep, short tosses have a bad habit of ending badly. They're going to fly to burn energy and work those muscles. And if they're already 'home' (as in, they can see home and know where they are), they can take their time and do as they wish until they feel like going back to the loft. A lot of short tosses I've had, the birds did get home in good time, but they continued to fly for a long time before landing and running in. So if you think about it, they more they fly around doing nothing, the more chance they have of getting broken up or visited by predators.

Something I just thought about. There are two landmarks around here that we're using to our advantage this year. One of them you can see in the air from Washington, DC. It's big and on a hill. If we can see it from the air, I'm sure the birds can too, at a much greater degree. So we're doing a lot of training around those and in a line from them, hoping that they will see those and say 'Hey, I've seen that before!' and use that if in doubt of where to go.


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## SmithFamilyLoft

fastpitch dad said:


> I had a conversation with a guy at the store the other day .
> He asked how far a pigeon could see, and I told him I had no clue, but I would try to find a answer. I'm sure they can see for along way but how far...20-30-50-80 miles ,how far, of course I'm talking about when there flying.


 I don't know that anyone really knows for sure, except that we know their eye sight is much better then ours. If they can spot someone in the ocean from thousands of feet, when we can't, I'm guessing they can see a very long way off. Now, what impact that may have, who is to say ? I may have lost more birds on less then 20 miles training tosses, then from 330 miles, so go figure !


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## ali.hassouneh90

So the question is how come they can spot a freakin pergerine from so far away and they cant see me when i go to a store a few miles away lol?


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