ringed wood pigeon

[darrenb47]

i shot a woodie the other day with a ring on .. im puzzled ...i have sent it to the nat history museum .(the ring)

just wondered if any one else has come across this .

Edited August 18, 2010 by darrenb47

[sitsinhedges]

Maybe it was engaged

[yickdaz]

i shot a woodie the other day with a ring on .. im puzzled ...i have sent it to the nat history museum .(the ring)

just wondered if any one else has come across this .

yes i shot a crow about 18 years years ago with a ring on;i sent it to adress on the ring and they send you back the details of were and what year it was ringed and how many was in the brood at the time of ringing ..i also have one at home somewhere off a woodie that i shot at the end of june;reading this post has just reminded me of it.

[Beardo]

keep us updated on this, sounds interesting

[Whitebridges]

I think i'm right in saying the best place to send a recovered ring to would be the British Trust for Ornithology. HQ is:

 

The BTO

The Nunnery

Thetford

Norfolk IP24 2PU

 

e-mail: info@bto.org

 

 

They do good work and are a lot less Nazi than the RSPB.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Whitebridges

[darrenb47]

will do .......

[M ROBSON]

I've only ever seen 1 woodie with a ring on. We get plenty of geese and ducks though.

[thinxs]

I was in Paris on Monday and saw a wood pigeon with a 2" square tag on its wing with some letters on it. I assumed it was some sort of research.

[Highlander]

So a) was it definitey a woodie? and did you mention you'd shot it? Could be interesting!!!

 

Some rings are for return to the British Museum, some to the NH museum in fact there's lots of places listed that ring birds, send 'em back to the address on the ring!

[Whitebridges]

Apart from recovering a ring off a Red Necked Phalarope which was passed to a"ringer", what exactly is the correct process to follow if you recover bird that is ringed?

There is a chance that you may recover a bird that hasn't fallen to the gun.

[Highlander]

Simply send it to the address on the ring with a brief note about the date found, where and maybe circumstances.

[scolopax]

You do not need to send the ring away, or even write to them, just fill in the details on this website and they will get back in contact with their information on the bird:

 

eurings website

[Gobfish]

am I alone here............ if I shot a pigeon (however legitimately) and it had a ring on it, I'd be tempted to keep my mouth shut. Surely sending back the ring and informing someone that you shot ithe bird it came off can only fuel the tree hugger mentality

[Highlander]

am I alone here............ if I shot a pigeon (however legitimately) and it had a ring on it, I'd be tempted to keep my mouth shut. Surely sending back the ring and informing someone that you shot ithe bird it came off can only fuel the tree hugger mentality

 

As long as we're talking Woodpigeons then you're doing/have done nothing illegal so why be shy about it. DO NOT be one of the silent ones stand up and be proud of what you do! The reason birds are ringed is to gather info about them which they can only do if the rings are returned and lets face it we need to know a hell of a lot about Woodie!

[Gobfish]

As long as we're talking Woodpigeons then you're doing/have done nothing illegal so why be shy about it. DO NOT be one of the silent ones stand up and be proud of what you do! The reason birds are ringed is to gather info about them which they can only do if the rings are returned and lets face it we need to know a hell of a lot about Woodie!

 

If I sincerely believed that infornation was being gathered impartially and the subseqeunt information being distributed unbiased and not used as a banner waver then I would do exactly as you suggest. However I have to view it sceptically as I suspect that any info gathered could and would be distorted and used against us. If the BASC was gathering the info I would hand over everything without hesitation, but anyone else makes me suspicious. Remember the famous fox in a snare picture used in the antis campaigns yet when the truth about it came to light out it received very little publicity, the damage however had already been done. I'm proud of my country pursuits and hide it from no one, but having said that I won't give fuel to those that oppose me.

[al4x]

assuming it wasn't partaking in a race at the time then all is good.

[Beardo]

If a bird (for instance a pigeon) is feeding with feral/woodpigeon then is it no longer racing and has infact gone feral?

[the running man]

If I sincerely believed that infornation was being gathered impartially and the subseqeunt information being distributed unbiased and not used as a banner waver then I would do exactly as you suggest. However I have to view it sceptically as I suspect that any info gathered could and would be distorted and used against us. If the BASC was gathering the info I would hand over everything without hesitation, but anyone else makes me suspicious. Remember the famous fox in a snare picture used in the antis campaigns yet when the truth about it came to light out it received very little publicity, the damage however had already been done. I'm proud of my country pursuits and hide it from no one, but having said that I won't give fuel to those that oppose me.

I share ure doubts,and if hypotheticaly shot a bird with a ring,ide say nothing.

[M ROBSON]

What a load of rubbish!!!

 

Hundreds of ringed birds get shot in the UK every year. I have a collection of rings from Geese, Ducks, Snipe, dozens of them, and a single woodpigeon ring. The people who collect the data are not "Antis" and are not going to "use it against us". They just want to trace where their bird has gone. I know some of them well.

 

Anser2 off this site has done a huge amount of ringing in the past.

 

Mark.

[Cranfield]

I have shot many wild birds with rings (mostly widgeon and teal) and sent the rings off, in all cases I have received a potted history of the birds noted movements since being ringed and a "thank you".

[Dr D]

I agree, I have shot dozens of ringed birds. mostly teal. Really interesting to see where they have come from. I don't think the research is anti-shooting. It is proper science and helps conserve our sport for future generations.

[the running man]

I say nothing because years ago I was telling someone about the woodie with a ring,and he went off on one claiming its illegal etc etc etc,trying to explain it was with feral pigeons and had in fact hung up its racing spurs and gone back to nature fell on deaf ears,he even called the cops and rspca, I no longer speak to the guy,and never say anything if myself or my friends shoot one. Its just not worth it. Those are my reasons for keepin quiet.

[anser2]

The information from wild ringed birds are a vital tool for the conservation and future of the species. Until recently i used to be a BTO bird ringer and I have never come across an instance where any of the information from ringed birds have effected anyone’s shooting. Indeed The British Trust for Ornithology depends on people including hunters returning bird rings and if they upset the shooting community from the misuse of any information gathered from ringing they know a major source of information gathers would be lost.

 

I have ringed a few wood pigeons over the years , but never had a recovery. Pigeons are very hard to catch and only about 1,000 wood pigeons are ringed in this country per year and the majority as nestlings. Given the high mortality from nestlings from predators other than man , in reality its probable that only a few hundred ringed wood pigeons are flying around the country at any one time . I have always thought a serious ringing project where 50,000 + wood pigeons were ringed a year would help answer some of the mysteries surrounding the birds. Do we get winter migrants from Europe ? How do the birds move around the country and so on ?.

 

Some would say they like such mysteries , but is a changing countryside where new crops and farming methods are developing coupled with an uncertain climate such information could help aid the future of the species. Remember Gobfish , for our shooting to continue we need something to shoot at. Any information that adds to our knowledge of a species can only be for our benefit.

 

One quick note for anyone finding a ringed bird. return the information of what it was , where and when it was found to the address on the ring or on the BTO website and you will get a letter in return on all the known movemets of the bird. There is no need to return the ring and if you do still enclose a small note including the ring number as there have been a number of cases where the metal ring has torn through an envlope while in the post and been lost. Without that vital ring number the information is usless.

Edited August 26, 2010 by anser2

[pegasus bridge]

i remember a letter in sporting gun a couple of years ago from a chap who shot a ringed woodie - he sent it off and found out the bird was 5 years old, and was tagged just 8 miles away. always makes me keep an eye out for them now, i would definitley send it off - just because a woodie has a ring on does not make it illegal to shoot it.

 

racing pigeons are a different matter - but if they get lost - the chances are the owner would not want them back anyway.. an old boy i knew who kept racing pigeons would neck them if the got lost and returned anway.

[monkeyboots]

had a mate who shot teal and widgeon last year that where ringed they sent off the rings and they got a letter back that birds where ringed in finland with dates age etc etc