The Homing Pigeon

Most of us have gotten lost before.  Maybe we took a wrong turn or tried to navigate through an unfamiliar place.  Until the GPS was invented, getting lost was a pretty common occurrence.  The fact that we, the most intelligent beings on this earth, can get lost so easily makes one animal just that much more amazing.

The homing pigeon has astonishing navigation abilities.  Over and over again the homing pigeon has been taken far away to a place it has never been.  Once it is released the pigeon will find its bearings and fly straight back to its nest.  Some of these birds have been recorded traveling as long as 1,100 miles back to the exact spot where home is (Walcott, Charles. "Pigeon Homing: Observations, Experiments and Confusions," 1996).

This ability has stumped scientist for years.  There are many different theories about how the homing pigeon can do this.  Some think it detects the earth’s magnetic field through some sensitive particles on top of its beak.  Others think it uses distinct smells in the atmosphere to find its way home.  The most recent theory suggests this pigeon is able to hear sound waves from the earth (which are at an incredibly low 0.1 Hz) and somehow use this to help guide them home (Popular Science).  No matter the theory, scientists are still looking for the facts.

So let’s get this straight.  For generations scientists have been trying to figure out how the homing pigeon is able to go directly back to its nest from an unknown location over a thousand miles away (ibid), and yet they claim evolution as an undeniable fact?  What a completely and utterly outrageous claim!  In addition, why would the pigeon develop such an ability in the first place?  What “survival of the fittest” situation would cause a pigeon to know how to make the enormous 1,100 miles journey back to its nest?

If we are willing to accept the truth, we will see that evolution doesn’t offer us the answers, God does.  These animals clearly show design and intelligent handiwork.  God created animals like the homing pigeon to show His magnificence.  He has made these animals so that we will marvel at His power and intelligence (Isaiah 55:9; Psalm 147:5; Isaiah 40:21-31).