Bird Flight in the North Atlantic

Problems

For many years the flight of birds has used by humans. Mainstreamed in large cities like New York, ‘carrier pigeons’ have been around for many years. Small notes can be written and attached to specially trained birds to be sent to a receiving carrier. Upon observing this my question is, could this be used to send not only notes but small packages? This is my project and I will be testing it over the next few weeks.

Hypothesis

Can carrier pigeons carry not only notes, but small packages? If this was used more often, would it be cheaper and used more, would it revolutionize our society, or take it a step back in technology?

Materials

3 birds- 12 oz., 14oz., and 16oz.,

3 styrofoam shapes- ball, square, and rhombus

3 acrylic items- small, medium, and large

3 wood samples- oak, pine, and cedar

A small scale that measures in grams and ounces

Procedure

First I borrowed the birds from a friend I know that is actually a fan of carrier pigeons and was glad to lend them to me. I weighed the birds and found three that were each 2 ounces difference in weight. The birds were very calm and easy to work with, they were trained to reach their destination in the quickest manner. In about a week, they learned how to get from my house to my friends’. We timed each bird’s flight without a package, we tested three times and took the average in minutes. My friend lives approximately 5 miles from my house. Then the real experimenting began. First, we started with the styrofoam shapes. All three of the birds waited patiently while they were tied onto their leg and the timer was set. Each bird had no problem, seeing that styrofoam is an extremely light material the birds delivered with no extra effort than they would a small letter. Next the acrylic objects, a little tougher for the birds. When first tied on the birds noticed it was more weight than they were used to. The takeoff was a little delayed with a little struggle, but once in the air they took off like normal. As like the takeoff, the landing was a little unstable as well. The bird stumbled upon landing due to the weight pulling on its leg, and having such a heavy object to not land on. Acrylic was the heaviest object, but not too heavy as to hurt the bird. Next, was the wood samples, oak, pine, and cedar. All light materials, that come in small cubes that you could buy at any craft store. The birds easily carried the wood as they did the styrofoam. This was the end of the testing. Now, it was to say farewell to the birds I had been seeing everyday for almost a month and log my scores. Doing these experiments taught me a lot about bird flight which I hope can help me out in Biology, but it also showed me a cool way to send messages to friends. Well, at the moment, just one friend, seeing that carrier pigeons are not the number one mail service.

Results

Time over 5 miles

Bird One- 12 oz 20:57 minutes

Bird