Homing: On Pigeons, Dwellings and Why We Return

by Jon Day

As a boy, Jon Day was fascinated by pigeons, which he used to rescue from the streets of London. Twenty years later he moved away from the city centre to the suburbs to start a family. But in moving house, he began to lose a sense of what it meant to feel at home.

Returning to his childhood obsession with the birds, he built a coop in his garden and joined a local pigeon racing club. Over the next few years, as he made a home with his young family in Leyton, he learned to train and race his pigeons, hoping that they might teach him to feel homed.

Having lived closely with humans for tens of thousands of years, pigeons have become powerful symbols of peace and domesticity. But they are also much-maligned, and nowadays most people think of these birds, if they do so at all, as vermin.

A book about the overlooked beauty of this species, and about what it means to dwell, Homing delves into the curious world of pigeon fancying, explores the scientific mysteries of animal homing, and traces the cultural, political and philosophical meanings of home. It is a book about the making of home and making for home: a book about why we return.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Animals, Birds, Science, Memoir, Autobiography

Audible Audio

First published May 19, 2020

Reviews

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Homing explores the affinity many people have with this unique breed of bird and what they can effectively tell us about our philosophical yearning to belong and having a place to call our own to return to in order to recharge. It is so much more profound than just a book on birds, and one thing is for certain this will change your view of them the next time you encounter them in the street or by the seaside. It's an information-rich, thought-provoking read and is part memoir of author Jon Day and part emotional ode to the diminishing art of pigeon fancying. It charts his return to pigeon keeping at a time when he felt disconnected from the world and illustrates beautifully the healing power of nature.

Day also joins a pigeon racing club, one of the few to survive in his area as the sport declined in popularity, and takes part in a race from Thurso, Scotland to his home in Leyton with each alternate chapter updating us on the pigeons' progress as they navigate around such issues as the weather and predators. It's not necessary to know anything at all about the sport as all terminology unique to pigeon fancying is explained clearly and concisely in the text; I thoroughly enjoyed learning about a new topic. Being a philosophy graduate I appreciated Mr Day discussing the topic of homecoming and how important it is to our mental health situation in both a physical and spiritual way.

A fascinating read written with real care and consideration; you can tell how much Day appreciates these birds. Highly recommended. Many thanks to John Murray for an ARC.

[Liina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pigeons are a bit silly with their rocking heads and cooing, always in groups, always shitting on your car when you have just washed it. Majority of people think of them as a nuisance but I love them and have always suspected that they are more intelligent than people give them credit for. I've wondered why do we never see the tiny pigeons as we do see seagull babies in the city. Where do pigeons nest? How can they survive in a hostile urban environment?

Jon Day's Homing talks about that and a lot more. It is a memoir, cultural history of a home and nature writing about birds. And it all comes together beautifully.

Day entwines his own move to a new neighbourhood, becoming a parent and being confused about what it means to create a new home with his first attempts of pigeon racing. The idea of pigeon racing is that they always return home. They are released from far away and those who fly home the fastest win. They always find a way home. How they manage to do it has been marvelled at for hundreds of years. There is fascinating historical information about pigeon racing and pigeons in general in the book. There are also heaps of cultural references about home as a concept. And if that is not enough a very thorough bibliography for further reading.

The only shortcoming of this book was the almost complete lack discussing ethics of pigeon racing. The birds are well kept and groomed and of course, and live safer lives than feral birds. But there are also some methods that are far from ethical and considerate.

Books that squash a lot of different genres and ideas into one often fail as they lose focus. Homing had it all nicely balanced. It is an informative and at the same time very moving and personal book. I hope it makes more people respect pigeons and see them as beautiful and smart birds as they are, not as unloved vermins.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kind of just wanted to read a "pigeons are low-key cool" book, so personally I could have done with some more pigeon fun-facts and some less Heidegger (e.g.). But still a good read!

[Leonie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book about homing pigeons and a personal account of what home actually is.

[Michelle Dodd (Creaney) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, particularly given the subject matter. I shall enjoy expounding various pigeon anecdotes to, no doubt, bemused friends. Need to go, off to become a pigeon fancier...

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ubiquitous pigeon is an amazing bird when bred for racing. Its average body temperature is slightly higher than other warm-blooded species, making them more resistant to pathogens. It is one of the few creatures to recognise themselves in a mirror. Nature's fastest bird accelerating from 0-60 mph in under 2 seconds and can comfortably fly at 50mph all day long. These seemingly unknown facts litter this highly readable account of pigeon racing, a hobby sadly in decline. Jon Day also poses the question of what we think of home, a question analysed by some of the world's greatest writers. Running through this narrative is his experience of living in East London and starting a young family with a loft of pigeons. Jon Day describes with great skill his passion for this niche hobby. Recommended.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

On homing, set against the weird and wonderful world of pigeon fancying you can get lost (and found?) in.

Day (and Addis reading the audiobook with his various accents that suck you in) take you on delightful, investigative trips from Day's London home base. You learn so much about pigeons, for whom I have so much more respect now. I was surprised to find out pigeons can find their way home from more than a thousand km away, they recognise people in photos, themselves in videos... I still don't understand pigeon post, though :)

Despite fancying himself, Day offers an admirably balanced and unbiased view - he's not afraid to include the negatives about pigeons in cities, keeping pigeons as pets or making them compete, and includes views from pigeon fanciers through scienticts to pest control!

I love that he chose the common pigeon as the main protagonist, not a lion or an elephant but something we all take for granted, are sort of disgusted by, think we know... The book showed me there is so much I didn't know about the pigeon and makes me wonder what other gems I'm missing close to home...

Sometimes you need to leave home in order to learn how to get back to it, to better understand what it means. But to develop devotion, you need to give it your attention.

Thanks to Tim for the recommendation, the book became a tender companion during a difficult time.

[Viktor Lototskyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do you know about pigeons? Apparently, it's quite an interesting subject with its, still alive, own world with clubs, unions, races, auctions, breeders and stuff.

An interesting book, most of it is almost a biography story of a guy in nowadays England, who decided to get pigeons, train them and eventually participate in races.

The remaining parts are about pigeons' history, behaviour, biology, with some philosophical thoughts about home and what it means.

[Ruth Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting thoughts about life, parenthood and the meaning of home, amongst quite a bit of information about keeping, breeding and racing pigeons. I knew nothing about keeping pigeons before reading this book, but I am not surprised to learn that a reasonable amount of time and effort is required for racing pigeons with any hope of success.
This is a very readable book and I enjoyed learning more about these often unappreciated birds.

[Leoniepeonie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up by complete chance in a secondhand bookshop, right by the sea, in Somerset. I'm so glad I did!!!! An absolutely beautiful, thoughtful and moving exploration of the idea and meaning of home. Pigeons could have easily been a clumsy vignette for that exploration, but Day's feelings for them that spanned curiosity, admiration, respect, and that veered into and back out of obsession - and settled lovingly in kinship - were just so immersive. It was fascinating and I loved how the book was enmeshed with science, art and a history of human-pigeon relationships. I simply flippin loved this book!

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging and enjoyable read from the opening page to the last. The book centres around the surprisingly interesting hobby of pigeon-keeping, while alongside runs a beautifully written exploration of the meaning of home.

[Isolde Welby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does exactly what it says on the tin, and does it well. Lovely, understated prose and good ratio of memoir-philosophy-pigeons. My only wish was for more parenting anecdotes.

[Professor Weasel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was really interesting, informative, and moving! I learned a lot about pigeons, and I liked all the reflections on what it means to build and have a home.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smart dual narrative with parallax timelines which reminded me of the film Dunkirk, with a pigeon's flight from the north of the country unfolding at the same time as the author's longer gestation of his fascination with pigeon-fancying develops. Wearing its Sebaldian influences transparently, this is a quietly confident meditation on what a home is, why it's important, and what it means to return. The scientific evaluation behind pigeons' homing behaviour is also extremely interesting.

[Tim Roast · Rating 4 out of 5]

In another world where I had unlimited time and energy I'd keep birds. But in this world I am happy to watch TV programmes on them such as the BBC Timeshift episode "Flights of Fancy: Pigeons and the British" (which was fascinating and featured a good scene of a liberation taking place as a race started) and read books about them like this one called "Homing".

"Homing" follows the author's first "year with the pigeons" as he becomes a pigeon fancier. His first year is spent being fascinated by them, introducing them to his young daughter (and later his baby son – there’s a nice passage where his birth is told), training the birds for races, racing them on the shorter races as they are less than a year old and then the into his second year where the birds are old enough to enter the Thurso Classic, “one of the longest and most prestigious pigeon races in the club calendar”, a 504-mile race down the length of Britain for his birds.

Through the book he also explores the idea of home, what it means to him and his family as they are new to the area and not so rooted, and what it means to the pigeons as “the pull of home is for pigeons perhaps more powerful than that felt by any animal”. In part he hopes that “the pigeon’s domesticity and love of home” might help him and his wife (pigeon widow?) to have a more complete feeling of home themselves. Indeed the author writes that getting a bird back from the Thurso race “might confirm the sense of rootedness I had been seeking since Ivo [his son] had been born. If I could get a pigeon back from Thurso, I thought, then I might finally feel properly homed in turn.”

The author is also an English Literature lecturer so the book is quite academic-y in places with lots of references to various works and papers, some academic, some literary including poems. For example he opens chapter 8 with “In a paper entitled ‘Superstition in the Pigeon’, the psychologist B. F. Skinner…” Indeed there is a 9 page bibliography section at the end listing all of the references the author has used as he has exploring the theory of homing, the experiments done on pigeons to understand this and so on. For me the best bits of this book are probably the real-life bits where he is talking about his real-life experiences with the birds and the things he’s done for and with them, e.g. training, or about his trips to see his fellow flyers and their lofts or his ride-along with the pest exterminator and so on.

So I enjoyed this book, but it has a few parts which felt like extended essays of the type his students might write.

[Paula Maguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book which was featured on 'A good read' It was beautifully written and chronicles the author's relationship, getting a 'proper' job, moving to a new home in East London, and having children. He decides to buy some racing pigeons following a childhood fascination, in an effort to plant himself and make a home in his new, not particularly welcoming surroundings. Through him we learn so much about the history of racing pigeons, the pigeon racing culture all told in chapters that are interspersed with mini chapters that work like a commentary on a pigeon race from somewhere in Scotland? to his home.
Some highlights were;
nursing his first pigeon ( a road rescue called 'Psych' ) back to health and 'Psycho' following him to school. describing their feathers 'a pointillist iridescence their mating dance a 'paso dobles' when courting they coo sweet nothings at each other. Joh Meets Natalya , they move to leyton an have baby Dora, - 'Outside the fanciers stood smoking , cupping their roll ups against the rain/ 'Darwin was a pigeon fancier - Stories of how sympathetic station masters transport the baskets to a distant destination and release them to fly home. Kavanagh who's poem 'Innocence' described the way that attending to the world on your doorstep however constraining it may feel at first could provide access to universal truths - poetry depends on depth not breath. A gap in a hedge, a smooth rock surfacing a narrow lane.
History of racing pigeons from Sumatrans, Romans, Paris siege, journalists on the Tour De France - and WW1 and 2
The rise & fall of pigeon fancying in the UK and Europe. Rasing his flock ' ranging' pigeons being used for Aerial Photography - How cameras and CPS take awy the unknowable mysteries of flight - The 'Tyranny of technology - A beautiful but slow READ.

[Andrew Spink · Rating 3 out of 5]

Large parts of this book were enjoyable and interesting. It is filled with all sorts of interesting stories and factoids about pigeons. For instance, that they use smell as well as the earth's magnetic field and the sun for navigation and that whilst flying they only use 5 calories an hour (though can that really be true? I use that to take two steps).

The author mixes his own personal life (to be honest, not that interesting) with what was going on with his pigeons. Some natural history writers do that very successfully (Rob Cowen, for example in Common Ground), but in that case they do that because of parallels that they draw between their own lives and their observations. Jon Day tries to do that with the notion of home, but it doesn't really work. I think that is because he doesn't really go into details about how territories work with birds.

He does cite quite a bit of science, but surprisingly it is nearly all really old. Darwin and Freud are cited at length, but then he doesn't say anything about modern evolutionary science or psychology. Likewise, he mentions 19th century work on how birds use magnetism for navigation, but nothing on modern work. One thing that I found a bit irritating is that he gives that nutter Rupert Sheldrake credibility.

I read this book in the Dutch translation by Hanneke Bos. It was mostly excellent, with only the odd phrase reading like a literal translation of the English. There were one or two amusing mistakes. For instance, 'oranje kratten' were almost certainly 'sinusappelkratten' (that is the fruit, not the colour) in the original. Probably the average Dutch reader would appreciate some more help with all the pace names.

The book reads easily and I did enjoy it, but it was also a little disappointing, with all the dated science.

[Fiona Stocker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kind of book that feels like a precious discovery. Erudite, engaging, and with insights into a whole other world you knew nothing about beforehand.
Jon Day writes about his developing love of the ancient tradition of pigeon fancying and racing. But as with the best books of this ilk, there’s so much more to it than that. He extrapolates the theme of ‘homing’ to look at what ‘home’ means, why it’s important, how our sense of home develops and why we return to home.
The chapters alternate between learned research and history, personal accounts of setting up home and family with his wife, and stages in the race from Thurso, the northernmost point in the UK from which races start. These chapters I especially relished as they become an epic adventure and you’re willing the pigeons on and flying with them over the North Sea.
I loved this book so much I bought a copy for my husband for Christmas (that’s another way of saying I bought a copy for myself) and wrote a letter to the author about it. Still haven’t sent it, not sure whether to go ahead. It’s an idea I like, harking back to the old days of snail mail and fan mail, and I for one would love a paper letter to appear in my letter box. On the other hand it might just seem weird and a bit intense. So, undecided.
The book though, I can thoroughly recommend, an unusual, gem of a piece. I'm looking forward to adding it to my bookshelves. Sorry, my husband's bookshelf.

[Bronwen Griffiths · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books where I learn something new and I learnt a lot reading this book - on the history of homing pigeons and our differing attitudes to pigeons in general, as well as Day's own attempts to keep and fly a flock of pigeons and his contacts with the local 'pigeon fanciers' of East London which I found fascinating. But Day's book is more than this. It is also a book about what home means to us, and it contains snippets of his personal life - settling down in a place and having a family. I read the book while I was away travelling and it resonated with me. Like the pigeons I love 'flying' away but I love to return to home.

[Lauren Savill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a book on the psychology of the home touching on homing pigeons, turns out this was actually extremely pigeon-heavy. I know more about pigeons than I ever wished to. I'm pigeoned out. I find myself in club smoking areas spurting out facts about pigeon auctions and feather distribution to groups of bemused and concerned strangers. However as a keen traveller it was very insightful to read about a completely opposing approach to leaving home, which I think was useful. If you're interested in pigeon racing this is a great book. If you love travel it's also probably worth a read.

[Audrey Baughman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never before did I know that racing pigeons was a sport. "Homing: On Pigeons, Dwellings and Why We Return" is a beautiful account of the sport. Day juxtaposes the innate ability of pigeons finding their way home, with his own experiences of developing his life, rearing children, and creating a home for himself and his family.
Day's fascination with pigeons began as a child, when he and his friend helped nurse a pigeon named Psycho back to health. When Psycho ends up flying away, Day is devastated. His experiences as a child are eventually what leads him to begin to train pigeons as an adult: starting with a pair, named by his daughter Dora as Eggy and Orange. As the author's life develops, so does his ability to train pigeons. He practices the association of the pigeons: making a noise every time he feeds them, so they will know when to return home.
Before this book, I did not know about the amazing ability of pigeons to find their way home, even from hundreds of miles away. Day outlines how they use landmarks and senses to find their way home, and this is ultimately the most important skill in the sport. Eventually, Days pigeons embark of the journey of more than 500 miles home, in the Thurso Classic.
This book is an amazing, detailed account of pigeon homing, and how the author found his own sense of home. I learned in detail about how pigeons are not pests, but rather beautiful, intelligent birds. I would recommend this book.

[Abby]

As soon as I knew this existed, I had to read it. I am here for the pigeon content–the history of humans and homing pigeons as well as the mysteries of the homing instinct and the nitty gritty of pigeon-keeping. There is so much I never knew when I was actually tending and training birds. I remember searching the library and then the internet for help and coming up with virtually nothing. Maybe that was the time and the place–New Mexico, 2007–or just the fact that I was less good at researching then. Anyway, I would not have found anything like the aging-but-active culture of fanciers Jon Day encountered when he took up pigeon-keeping in greater London.

As for the book, I was not disappointed. This is pretty solid, and functions as a good bibliography of writers engaging with the idea of home. Day sort of acknowledges many things in passing–the gendered dimensions of home and wanderlust, the absolute plight of homelessness in modern cities–without engaging with them in a very meaningful way. But he does deal with Europe’s particular double-edged evocations of homeland and his own almost-Nazi heritage with a certain determination.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first became interested in racing pigeons and how homing works after watching a Timeshift documentary on them, much like a few other reviewers. I was elated to pick up this book not long afterwards, and wasn't disappointed - I was hoping it was going to be as sentimental as the documentary had rather than a clinical account of numbers and losses and unnamed birds, and Jon Day has delivered. He doesn't have the stomach for culling weaker birds and feels guilty separating them from their nests and mates, worries over his family and if he is devoted enough to them. It really is a book about loving small things and looking after them, and growing alongside them on the way. It did feel a bit padded out, and my attention wandered a little whenever Day became too entrenched in the philosophical side of things - surely nobody needs to give that amount of weight to Freud's opinions this many years on - but for the most part the rest of it was gripping and I read it pretty quickly compared to my usual speed.

[Ellie T · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book at random from a display at our local library and am so glad I did. The story of a young man's fascination with homing pigeons and his decision to take up the hobby/obsession just as he attempts to settle into a life of domesticity seems very honest. I would love to hear his partner's view on the matter but it does seem to unite them as a family activity. I also wonder if he's still a fancier or if the others demands on his time were too great.

So, lots of fascinating (and I genuinely mean that) information about homing pigeons, which I sometimes had to pause to share with my family. And a lot of ponderings on what home means and how homes can be made. Because that's what Jon wanted to do when he was uprooted from his London life, with his partner and small child.

[Kerry Hullett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had no idea that pigeons were such an interesting/intelligent bird and found this enlightening. However, I did find some of the detail about holding them and cleaning up their 'shit' a bit repulsive. This is really a series of essays on home, environment, family life etc written in the form of 'flights of fancy'. Most fascinating was that the working class fanciers of London outskirts took him to their heart despite the fact that he turned up to one of their meetings wearing an artists smock. Can't help wondering if the situation had been reversed i.e. a tattooed effer and blinder and turned up at a polo match would he have good the same warm welcome?

[Joana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book about the several meanings of home. We follow the author's adventures with keeping homing pigeons but they are often metaphors for other aspects of home-life: finding a home, forming a family, becoming a parent, our relationship with our community, where we feel at home and also when we are made to feel homeless or homesick.
The themes seem a little scattered sometimes: the pigeons, then an episode of home life, then a review of an important theory about homing...but they form a charming collection and, in short, it is a contemplative and moving memoir. Also a perfect quarantine book!

[Shell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't even have the slightest passing interest in pigeons, but I adored this book and hope I can persuade someone else reading this review to give it a go. It's about a man who gets married, has children and finds a hobby that consumes all his spare time. I had no idea that pigeon racing could be so interesting, although some of it was rather sad. I'm glad that John always thought of the welfare and happiness of his birds first even if it meant not having the greatest advantage in the races. The book also focuses on the importance of home to all of us and the different way home is our sanctuary.

[GustafR · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book made me appreciate and like pigeons! Lots of fascinating insights there, and the affectionate, semi-close relationship between the author and the pigeons really come across.
I really like his reflection of why he likes racing pigeons: releasing them to come home means a period of unknowing and uncertainty, which is rare in the current era of smartphones and google maps.

I also enjoyed the various reflections on home, though none landed quite as much as the pigeon-centric content.

I'm currently vaguely considering the possibility of a pigeon coop in my garden, which I guess is testament to the impact of the book!

[Gemma Milne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an astounding read - I loved every second of this book. It's the story of Day learning to race pigeons, but it's also a stunning ponder on the concept of home and I ate up every single word. The structure of the book is clever and unexpected, but such that it keeps you hooked - you really do go on multiple journeys in this book. I also now have a newfound respect for pigeons which, considering I live in the centre of London, is pretty impressive on Day's part..! Highly highly highly recommend this.

[Geoff McArthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pigeon racing is one of those esoteric hobbies that if you have an interest , finding a book is a special event in itself. I’ve never raced pigeons but as a kid had a unfulfilled wish to do it. The whole business amazed me, especially the super power these birds seemed to have to home. This was the next best thing, Day talked about all the things that I wanted to know about. And he writes beautifully. Also check out this beautiful song about pigeon racing

https://youtu.be/y97SXJR8cVo?si=M2Tzo...