Pigeons of War

Category: Cold Weather

  • Pigeons in the Arctic: Part III: Sir John Ross’s 1850-51 Search for the Lost Franklin Bay Expedition

    We’ve previously written about how Arctic explorers relied on homing pigeons in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Recently, we uncovered facts demonstrating that Royal Navy personnel brought homing pigeons with them as they searched for the Lost Franklin Bay Expedition in the 1850s.  Given that homing pigeons were very much a novelty amongst…

  • Pigeons in the Arctic, Part II: Cold Weather Training

    With origins in Northern Africa and the Middle East, homing pigeons clearly aren’t meant to be in the Arctic.  Yet, these birds have repeatedly found themselves recruited for service in one of the coldest, most inhospitable regions on the planet.  This week, we’ll take a look at the US Army’s attempts to prepare its Pigeon…

  • Pigeons in the Arctic, Part I: Polar Expeditions

    With origins in Northern Africa and the Middle East, homing pigeons clearly aren’t meant to be in the Arctic.  Yet, these birds have repeatedly found themselves recruited for service in one of the coldest, most inhospitable regions on the planet.  This week, we’ll take a look at two polar expeditions—one civilian, one military—involving flights near…