The four-year-old pigeon, from Gateshead, turned up around 4,000 miles away in the US after he went missing on a fairly routine journey from the Channel Islands to his home in north-east England. Bob set out three weeks ago on what was supposed to be a 10-hour journey home. Instead, he landed at the home of a confused Alabama resident after apparently hitching a ride on a ship across the Atlantic. Alan Todd, Bob’s owner, said: “He wouldn’t have flown that far. It was covered in oil – it could have been an oil tanker.” After being discovered in Mexia, Alabama, on Wednesday, the pigeon was turned over to an animal shelter in nearby Monroeville that is caring for it. Staff at the Monroe County Alabama Animal Shelter reported that while Bob was underweight, he had been checked by a vet and still looked “pretty good.” Megan Bryan and Monica Hardy, who supported the bird, added: “He’s looking good, he’s doing great.” Map of Bob’s journey. The team at the shelter had put out a call on social media in an attempt to locate Bob’s owner. Using the bird’s distinctive leg bands as a clue, they found the North of England Housing Association, where they were directed to Todd, who has since been reunited with his pet several times via video call. Todd said: “He’s obviously being looked after really well – when I saw him yesterday he didn’t look in good shape but looking at him today he looks a lot better in a day.” Despite the distance, he plans to travel to the US to bring the bird back to his home in Winlaton near Gateshead. Domestic pigeons are usually able to return to their roosts after traveling extremely long distances using magnetoreception, meaning they can sense navigational information from the Earth’s magnetic field. Flights of 1,100 miles have previously been recorded.
