The homing instinct of pigeons has made them popular for the sport of pigeon racing. A young bird’s training begins when it is about seven weeks old. This training consists of giving it short exercise flights, teaching it to recognize its owner’s call, and teaching it to enter inside of its cote, or home. The next phase of training is started when the bird is about four months old. The pigeon is taken short distances from its home and is released. These flights are gradually extended from three miles to 100, miles as the bird’s stamina increases. When the bird is ready, the owner may enter it in a race against other trained pigeons. The owner take their birds to a central meeting place where all the birds are tagged and released simultaneously. A bird is not considered to be home until it has entered its cote and its owner has removed the tag and inserted it into a clock that records the bird’s arrival time. Because owners live at varying distances from the release point, the first bird home may not be the fastest flier. The bird that makes the best time flying the distance home is the winner.

The popularity of homing pigeons is due to their instinct for racing.