They are well-honed flying machines, trained from birth to return home from wherever they are released.
But there has to be an exception to every rule – meet Piercy the pigeon, the bird who didn’t come back.
Despite being Yorkshire born and bred, Piercy lost his bearings when he landed in the Highlands and fell in love with a local shop.
The clue to where he came from was in a numbered ring on his leg and, despite an attempt to release him in the Central Belt to fly back to Redcar, Piercy was determined he was relocating.
Within 24 hours, he was back in Dingwall, almost 400 miles away, desperate to enjoy the comforts of the Original Factory Shop in the Ross-shire town’s High Street.
Now Piercy’s owner Mike Preston has decided to give up the son of a champion racer to be adopted by his foster family, which has been looking after him for the past few weeks.
HGV driver Steve Bethel, 49, keeps racing pigeons and his 27-year-old daughter Danielle works at the shop.
When Piercy flew into the premises five weeks ago and wouldn’t leave, Danielle decided to feed the wayward bird.
Meanwhile, Danni’s dad researched the ring number and discovered that it came from North Yorkshire and arranged for a friend to drive it south of Edinburgh in the hope it would find its way home.
But, less than 24 hours later, Piercy was back at the shop, determined to stay.
Steve, who caught the bird on its first visit, was called in to catch him once more and took him to his home a short distance away.
Steve said yesterday: “Mike has decided to let us adopt the bird because he feels that he has found a new home and doesn’t want to distress him.
“It was difficult for Mike because Piercy is a fine specimen and the son of a champion racer. But we are delighted to have him. He is in a big cage in our conservatory for the moment before we introduce him to our birds.
“But hopefully the next time he races, he won’t get lost.” Steve added.
Some years ago, another homing pigeon from Yorkshire with a poor sense of direction had to be rescued by helicopter after landing on a North Sea platform.
The pigeon was christened Lomond after becoming marooned on the Lomond platform, 120 miles east of Aberdeen in 2005.
No ship would take the bird to Aberdeen because of a thick mist, and she was instead put on a helicopter that took her to Glasgow. and on by courier van to Yorkshire.