The bird...

Not the same as the finger!

Driving to work this morning a pigeon swooped right down in front of me as I traveled north on I-5. This particular bird was doing 60+ mph fro at least a minute, which would equate to at least a mile (hey I'm not self-disclosing on my speedy driving habits) right in front of my bumper.

So I got curious - how fast do pigeons normally fly and was this an anomaly? See http://www.speedpigeon.com/ .

I also found out that specially bred pigeons race and are capable of finding their way home from a distance of over 1000 miles away flying at speed in excess of 80 mph.

So as I doubt I was drafting a racing pigeon, but my garden variety guy was probably just winging it out to the local prominent statue or freeway underpass to hang and poop with his friends.