• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Leg found w/ ringband (pic included) (1 Viewer)

Hello all,

I found this bird's leg in Chicago on Goose Island and would love to find out more information about it. I noticed the ring band and thought that I needed to take a picture and post it on the forum. I'm not sure exactly if this is the order in which the text started but it read as is: AU 2011 MWC 6565

Any information on this poor creature is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    189.8 KB · Views: 195
Hello all,

I found this bird's leg in Chicago on Goose Island and would love to find out more information about it. I noticed the ring band and thought that I needed to take a picture and post it on the forum. I'm not sure exactly if this is the order in which the text started but it read as is: AU 2011 MWC 6565

Any information on this poor creature is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Looks like a racing pigeon leg & bands. Certainly the printed band is closed - ie not a split band, therefore placed on a young chick in captivity. The printed band contains bird ID/tracing details. The plain pink band appears to contain a microchip which (if things had gone to plan) would have registered the bird's return to the loft of origin.

Perhaps this type of banding is done on other birds in the US, but if that was found in Europe, it would be a racing pigeon.


Mícheál
 
Last edited:
Yes, it's a racing pigeon.

AU is for the American Union (of racing pigeons), and MWC is for a Milwaukee club, and 2011 is the year it was born. I got these details:

Club Name : MILWAUKEE WESTERN CONCOURSE
Club Code : MWC
Club Secretary : FRED HOPPER
City : WAUKESHA
State : WI
Phone No. : 262-547-7717
Email Address : fhopper 'AT' wi.rr.com

from here: http://www.pigeon.org/bandlist.php

So Mr Fred Hopper would probably like to hear about it.

The pink ring contains a PIT tag (passive integrated transponder), which is the same thing that you use to microchip a cat or dog. A receiver at the entrance to its home loft would record it had it got home.
 
[...] The plain pink band appears to contain a microchip which (if things had gone to plan) would have registered the bird's return to the loft of origin.[...]

Mícheál

Agree with Racing Pigeon. But the 2nd band may be a rubber band with a number as we used them decades ago (removing them from the pigeon in the loft, putting it in a plastic container of a special size and so into the clock).
Hence microchips aren´t cheap and there are allways birds missing in a race it would be a bad idea to use microchips, IMHO. But I don´t know about the current races nowadays.
 
Agree with Racing Pigeon. But the 2nd band may be a rubber band with a number as we used them decades ago (removing them from the pigeon in the loft, putting it in a plastic container of a special size and so into the clock).
Hence microchips aren´t cheap and there are allways birds missing in a race it would be a bad idea to use microchips, IMHO. But I don´t know about the current races nowadays.

Microchip rings are put on many birds as standard when they are ringed as chicks - they are closed rings and so on permanently. They are cheap, about the same as a standard ring, as the chips themselves cost only pence and the rings are just plastic (no alloys or printing as on standard rings).

The chips are read and logged as the bird enters the loft. All it has to do is pass over/through a scanner, like at a supermarket checkout. These can be fitted in a loops of any size around any opening, or as platforms.

Welcome to 21st century pigeons, Stonechat1!
 
Thanks Alf for your remarks.
I´m not in the racing sport since more then 20 years, have only contact now to exhibition birds/pigeons/poultry and they are all ringed with the standard type ring ( aluminium/plastic with laser engraving or printing like the OP´s photo shows).
 
Warning! This thread is more than 11 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top