Jens Thalund
Well-known member
On facebook, someone posted a picture of a metalring, he had found while using a metal detector in the mountains close to Tangier, Northern Morocco. The ring, with the inscription "Reykjavik 1767" could be traced back to 1953 (se below)
Gudmundur A. Gudmundsson This ring [Reykjavik 1767] is Icelandic and was carried by a Pink-footed Goose (Kortnæbbet gås) marked in Thjorsárver, Central Iceland, in July 1953. In 1953 Sir Peter Scott led a second expedition to ring Pink-footed Geese in Iceland after the first 2 years earlier when 1151 geese were ringed. The 1953 expedition was even more successful as they managed to ring at total of 8756 geese (4856 young and 3900 adults). These rings have produced 2090+1 recoveries and recaptures abroad primarily in Scotland and England. In the first autumn the recoveries showed a more westerly arrivals to UK than expected and three first year birds were recovered in very unusual places: 1 in the Canary Islands in September, 1 in the Azores in October and 1 in Spain in December. We can only guess, but is seems not unlikely that the Pink-footed Goose ringed with [Reykjavik 1767] was caught in the same storm as the 3 juveniles and brought to the shores of Marocco and later possibly carried to the mountain top by a raptor to be found by a metal detector 66 years later.
It seems pretty likely to me, that the goose reached Morocco in 1953, when the other strays turned up in the Canary Islands, Azores and Southern Spain … I don't even know, if Pink-footed Goose is on the Moroccan list?
Cheers
Jens
Gudmundur A. Gudmundsson This ring [Reykjavik 1767] is Icelandic and was carried by a Pink-footed Goose (Kortnæbbet gås) marked in Thjorsárver, Central Iceland, in July 1953. In 1953 Sir Peter Scott led a second expedition to ring Pink-footed Geese in Iceland after the first 2 years earlier when 1151 geese were ringed. The 1953 expedition was even more successful as they managed to ring at total of 8756 geese (4856 young and 3900 adults). These rings have produced 2090+1 recoveries and recaptures abroad primarily in Scotland and England. In the first autumn the recoveries showed a more westerly arrivals to UK than expected and three first year birds were recovered in very unusual places: 1 in the Canary Islands in September, 1 in the Azores in October and 1 in Spain in December. We can only guess, but is seems not unlikely that the Pink-footed Goose ringed with [Reykjavik 1767] was caught in the same storm as the 3 juveniles and brought to the shores of Marocco and later possibly carried to the mountain top by a raptor to be found by a metal detector 66 years later.
It seems pretty likely to me, that the goose reached Morocco in 1953, when the other strays turned up in the Canary Islands, Azores and Southern Spain … I don't even know, if Pink-footed Goose is on the Moroccan list?
Cheers
Jens
