For the Birds

A ton of fascinating history went into the making of His Lass to Protect. One of the most interesting and fun things I got to research was the use of messenger pigeons in the medieval era!

Medieval messenger pigeons (also called carrier or homing pigeons) were an undeniably fast way to get messages in or out of war zones. The only way to stop them was with a trained hawk or a very accurate and quick archer. It was the fastest means of communication at the time--a pigeon could cover the distance of a twenty-days' walk in less than a day.

These pigeons are believed to use magnetoreception (which allows them to sense the earth's magnetic field like an internal compass) to find their way home. They've been known to return to their home nest across distances of over 1,000 miles!

Trainers also increased the incentives for a bird to return to its nest faster. Food was a good motivator, but even better were sex and jealousy. Pigeon handlers would introduce a new male to the mate of a male about to leave on a mission. The bird would return faster if he saw that a new suitor was sniffing about back home.

It was so much fun to incorporate this research into His Lass to Protect. To see this history in action, make sure you grab your copy! Happy reading!