How homing pigeons keep navigation simple when winging their way home together

When it comes to flocking together, homing pigeons use a simple strategy to find better ways home, according to a recent report. The study, published in the journal eLife, suggests that homing pigeons use simple route averaging when navigating as a group. eLife's editors say the work addresses an important question, and provides compelling evidence based on multiple models and data on how homing pigeons can generate social routes from solitary ones.