Southern Pigeons?

I came across this about homing pigeons in The Science Times:

At first, the researchers found, the birds' routes were highly variable. But after a number of flights the birds began to follow the
same path from flight to flight, even though they were not necessarily the most direct routes home.

This route stereotypy, as it is called, implies that the birds use visual cues to navigate: they follow the same cues in order to reduce the memory load on their brains.

"We were also surprised that the routes were longer than they needed to be," Ms. Meade said. This implies that the pigeons use a chain of landmarks by themselves or in combination with compass bearings, but that they do not integrate direction and distance. If they did, Ms. Meade said, they would realize their routes are not the most efficient ones.

Is it possible that, in piegon brains, there's the rough equivalent of "follow the parish road for a spell, pass the whitewashed cypress barn, then take a left near the pecan tree just past the big live oak?"

Redneck pigeons--whod've thunk it?