1500 Pigeons lost

[remcook]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040722/ap_on_fe_st/lost_homing_pigeons

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Organizers of a race for homing pigeons were still scratching their heads in wonder Thursday after about 1,500 of the birds, famous for their ability to find their way home, went missing during the contest.

[Rxke]

This is seriously weird...

I hope they do a follow-up on this, most often you see news like this (the mystery stuff, like the 'yeti' arm or leg found in Russia, or those millions of spider waving one huuuuge net...) and then... Silence.

What could it be? The Aurora alert something to do with it (magnetic disturbance, no?)

[remcook]

good point!

I have worked with pigeons since 1960 and have never experienced anything like this," Nilsson said, adding that the birds might have been thrown off course by subtle changes in the earth's magnetic field.

didn't connect it to the aurora alert.