Why do pigeons heads bob when they walk ?

Question

We've all seen them, the flying rats, but when on the ground they are comical.

Answer 1

they think theyre egyptian

Answer 2

Many people tend to think that it's a matter of "balance". However, though this hypothesis sounds logical, experiments have determined that the head-bob of pigeons is rather related to vision.

I'll quote an old answer of mine (see bottom link):

Head bobbing has been hypothesized to be related to vision.

When a bird's head is still, the images can form on the retina without the blur of motion.

Now you're thinking: but the head is not still, it's bobbing!

However, this is a visual effect, and in reality the head is keeping immobile, while the body moves. Head bobbing increases the stillness of the head during walking, running and landing.

Head bobbing is not caused by an anatomical link of feet to neck or something like that; instead, it's synchronized with the movements of the feet, and although this could and has suggested a biomechanical function (balance, like our arm-swinging movements during walking), experiments have proven that head motions are determined by visual stimuli rather than biomechanical or inner-ear stimulation.

From a research paper (pdf format):

http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Text/TrojeFro...

Answer 3

There heads are too big