DIY Pigeon Backpack

by adamvas

9.2K3710

Intro: DIY Pigeon Backpack

What if your pigeon could transfer a message, a USB disk or even a mobile phone (or camera)

Your dreams can now become true!!!

What is a homing pigeon?(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homing_pigeon)

The homing pigeon is a variety of domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica) derived from the rock pigeon, selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distances. The wild rock pigeon has an innate homing ability,meaning that it will generally return to its nest, using magnetoreception.
This made it relatively easy to breed from the birds that repeatedly found their way home over long distances. Flights as long as 1,800 km (1,100 miles) have been recorded by birds in competitive pigeon racing. Their average flying speed over moderate[clarification needed] distances is around 80 km/h (50 miles per hour) but speeds of up to 140 km/h (90 miles per hour) have been observed in top racers for short distances.

Because of this skill, homing pigeons were used to carry messages as carrier pigeons or messenger pigeons. They are usually referred to as "pigeon post" or "war pigeon" during wars.

STEP 1: Materials


Here 's all you will need:

1.a piece of cloth (e.g. an old t-shirt)

2.scissors

3.needle and thread

4.a zipper

5.a ruler

6.a marker

7.

two pieces of elastic ribbonv

8.a rectangular object (e.g. a cell phone)

9. of course a...........pigeon

STEP 2: Measuring

  • Place the rectangular object on the cloth and trace it΄s shape. I used a mobile phone but I suggest using something smaller
  • Draw a second line leaving some space from the previous one (that will be where you will need to cut).

tip:you don't need to be too accurate, but the more accurate you are, the better the aesthetic outcome will be...

STEP 3: Cutting

  • Now carefully cut along the outer line.

STEP 4: Sewing

  • sew up three sides (leave the forth one for the zipper)

  • carefully sew the zipper on the upper side

STEP 5: The Straps

You are almost there!

Now you should sew the elastic ribbons strongly onto the "backpack" from corner to corner.

The length of the straps should be somewhere between 10-15 cm, but you'll probably need to try it on your pigeon first...

tip: As you can see in the picture, I temporarily used a stapler in order to try the length of the elastic on the bird, before sewing it shorter at its final length.

STEP 6: Finished

10 Comments

vincent7520 7 years ago

Nice job.

A sleeping bag, a tent, a few cereal bars (whole grain of course), a head lamp and a Swiss army knife … Now this pigeon can travel for real !…

efthi 7 years ago

awesome!!

mary111 7 years ago

you got my vote!

great idea!

caitlinsdad 7 years ago

How much weight can a carrier pigeon actually carry or tolerate? You might start a trend of attaching gopro cameras to pigeons.

adamvas 7 years ago

I do not exactly know how much weight it can carry, but i am not sure that it could fly with a gopro (although i don't have one )

I believe that it would hold something smaller like this:

http://bit.ly/1Pznm75

I am going to try some small objects and update

parisusa 7 years ago

Gopro would be too heavy. There are much smaller camera

parisusa 7 years ago

Carrier pigeons were used as early as 3,000 years ago to pass news of the Olympics. The last official ones were used in India in 2002 (replaced by the Internet). Why not still use these cool bird's natural skills?! Nice Instructable!

skathari 7 years ago

That is awesome. It is a very unique idea and really clever. I will try it. It is prbably from the better entries in the "make it fly" contest!