We are now training with a younger group of pigeons.
Friday at 7km, Saturday morning at 19km.
It went quite smoothly. The group consisted of 30 pigeons between 75 and 95 days old. It was time they started training on short trips. Two pigeons stayed away from the first two training flights.
Today, a short training flight from Rumst (29 km) was planned for the afternoon.
When the alarm went off at 7:30 a.m., I saw on the news that Quievrain and Noyon would not be released early due to bad weather and poor conditions on the flight line.
In Hoevenen, the sky began to clear, with the sun shining regularly, and I quickly decided to load the youngsters and go for the training flights, as the pigeons would probably arrive around noon/shortly after noon.
I put 28 pigeons in the basket and headed for Rumst. On the way, I was already having some doubts. Here and there, the sky was clouding over, but a few kilometers further on, the sun was shining again. It was mainly on the side where they were not supposed to be that it was grayer.
When I arrived in Rumst, I waited a few minutes and then released them anyway.
Regret always comes too late…
On the drive home, the sky clouded over more and more. I hope that turns out okay…
8:30 a.m. release, in normal days they will fly home in an hour. As long as no pigeons arrive, there is no need to panic.
At 9:51 a.m., a single pigeon arrived. It was a young pigeon that had arrived a few hours after the others (who were in a group at the time) from the 19 km race the day before, 1/28. A group would surely follow soon.
Not…
At 10:40, the second youngster arrived.
Complete arrival times:
9:51 a.m.
10:40 a.m.
11:15 a.m. – 15 – 40 – 41 (7 pigeons)
12:05 p.m. – 15 – 35 – 58
1:02 p.m.
2:42 p.m.
3:07 p.m.
4:15 p.m. (GPS pigeon)
5:40 p.m.
6:50 p.m. (GPS pigeon)
7:40 p.m.
24/28 back at home. At 11 a.m. this morning, I wouldn’t have dared to think this, but they are trained…
As you can see from the arrivals, I had fitted two pigeons with a GPS ring.
Unfortunately, I had only set it to 6 hours of history, so they both dropped out between 2:50 p.m. and 3:10 p.m.
But we might be able to find some useful information. Why does it take so long for some of them to return home?
After reading the data from the first pigeon, I noticed that after leaving Rumst, the pigeons flew west towards Reet, Boom, Puurs, and Lebbeke, and then continued along the line to Dendermonde (9:01 a.m.). In other words, they went in the wrong direction.
They then headed north towards Waasmunster before continuing on to the Moerbeke region (09:21).
They then fly on to the Ghent-Terneuzen canal, but instead of crossing it, they turn back southwards via Lochristi and Wetteren (09:49). Via Serskamp and Lede, they head towards Opwijk and then continue on to Rumst (10:25). Yes, they return almost two hours later, 500 meters from the releasing site.
You would think they would head home now, via Hove and Mortsel, entering Antwerp (10:40 a.m.), but they turn back again. Back south along the Schelde to Londerzeel (11:04 a.m.). From Londerzeel to Mechelen (11:16 a.m.) towards Vremde (11:36 a.m.) via Borsbeek and back into Antwerp (11:45 a.m.).
South again along the Schelde, this time to Schelle, before turning off again to Rumst, where it pass again at 12:03 p.m. To rest and have a drink at the Spaarbekken.
A few minutes later, continue via Reet to Aartselaar (12:33 p.m.) and on to Zwijndrecht (1:00 p.m.). Continue to the Dutch border, cross it, and take a half-hour break. Then via Meerdonk (1:10 p.m.) it returned via Beveren to Kruibeke and again south to Kalfort, where it took another half-hour break. It left again for Breendonk (3:06 p.m.) and a few minutes later the signal was lost.
At 4:15 p.m., the pigeon arrived back home, with a distance of 340 km recorded on her tracker!
Now we knew something…
See the overview of the route taken. As you can see, it is a jumble, but logical if she returns south 3 to 4 times. We will never know why…
If you compare the arrivals of the pigeons, I suspect that the first pigeon left the group fairly quickly and found her way home alone.
That pigeon 2 must have dropped out somewhere too.
That pigeons 3 and 4 dropped out when passing Antwerp at 10:40 a.m. and found their own way home.
That the pigeons arriving at 11:40 in a group of 7-8 pigeons probably did the tour and broke away somewhere and did not make the loop again.
At 6:50 p.m., GPS pigeon 2 arrived. I read the data and determined that both GPS pigeons and possibly part of the group stayed together until 11:39 a.m. (add 1 hour for the time zone). Between Borsbeek and Laar, both pigeons split up.
We will never know the reason for the split, nor why they continue to make so many laps. But it is certain that these two GPS pigeons, and possibly others, covered a considerable distance in a group between 8:30 and 11:39. The arrivals at 11:40 a.m. may have been part of the breakaway group, as the arrivals are not exactly at those times.
The yellow GPS pigeon flew a few more laps, passed Hamme at 12:42 p.m., and continued searching a little further, stopping at 1:25 p.m. to drink at the Spaarbekken in Rumst. After that, it flew in the wrong direction again to Brussels Expo, took another drink break at Kasteel van Bever, and then returned via Mechelen towards Rumst. At 2:40 p.m., the signal is lost a few kilometers from the morning’s release point, with a total distance of 335 km on the clock. At around 6:50 p.m., she arrives and recovery can begin.
