ArticleDie Naturwissenschaften2019
When flocking is costly: reduced cluster-flock density over long-duration flight in pigeons.
Article in Die Naturwissenschaften, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Duration-aware unsupervised segmentation reveals collective movement modes in homing flights of pigeon flocks.Movement ecology · 2026Article
- Changing Flight and Flocking Dynamics of Homing Pigeons (Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Pigeons in a flock go cheap: a re-evaluation of the energetics of flying in cluster flocks.Biology letters · 2025Article
- A multi-scale review of the dynamics of collective behaviour: from rapid responses to ontogeny and evolution.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
- The role of wingbeat frequency and amplitude in flight power.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2022Review
- Fine-scale changes in speed and altitude suggest protean movements in homing pigeon flights.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Artificial mass loading disrupts stable social order in pigeon dominance hierarchies.Biology letters · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Birds which fly in coordinated cluster-flocks can benefit through the formation of group-level structures and patterns which can deter predators by visual confusion. Though unlike V-formation flight, cluster-flocking increases the energetic cost of flight, particularly in denser flocks. Cluster formations therefore provide a unique opportunity to investigate trade-offs between increased work rate (e.g. higher flap frequency) and other benefits of flocking. As part of a routine 9-km training flight release, a flock of six homing pigeons (Columba livia) with 5 Hz GPS and 200 Hz accelerometer biologgers attached flew an alternative trajectory totalling 177 km and 256 min of flight. We provide the first evidence that during a long-duration flight, pigeons' pairwise and group-level distances increased (i.e. group structure changed), while flap frequency decreased over time. This implies that as birds tire during long-duration flight, the ultimate functions of cluster-flocking-primarily anti-predator benefits-are overridden by the proximate costs of flying close to conspecifics.
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Registered trials
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