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I am a pigeon fancier and I raise, train & race homing pigeons. I have heard talk about that a person can attach a "leg band" (put around pigeons leg) which has a GPS computer chip embedded in it, as the pigeon flies home you can actually watch the flight path of that pigeon, in REAL TIME on your computer monitor. What you see on the screen is a GIS map of the area in which the pigeon is flying and you watch a"RED DOT" move over the map therefore allowing you to view your pigeons flight path. You can also move the mouse over one of the red dots and it will display the pigeons band number that you previously entered this date in the program. This would be a valuable tool for me as I could watch how the pigeon flies home in turn allowing me to try other options for training the pigeons for racing season.
The only info I have read on this subject is that a "mini flight recorder" is attached on the back of the bird. This would not work for me as that device would add extra weight which would dramatically slow the pigeons speed down.

Hi,

I think the weight will aways be a problem. For real time tracking you need a transmitter witch has to have coverage by a network. The most heavy weight will always come from the battery power every transmitter has needed.

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Yes I agree with Wilfried here. I can well believe what you say about a recording device (even a modern solid state one) being too heavy for a pigeon. For a radio tag/transmitter, the electronics would be about the same weight perhaps a shade lighter, but you need a second antenna and you need the batteries to power a transmitter (transmitters almost always take more power than a receiver).

When you hear of wildlife tracking like you are talking about, they are usually larger animals (eg. whales) or for birds, large raptors.


Richard

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Hi there!

There actually are tracking devices available for small sized birds, for example solar powered so that a battery is not needed.

I have found the folowing:



9.5 gram solar powered: PTT-100 9.5 gram Solar PTT

This is for birds starting at 300 gram in weight, a pigeon can weigh up to 2000 gram according to wikipedia.



This one is just 2.5 grams:

Micro GPS tracking device for wildlife with optional remote data transfer