Racing pigon flown onto our boat

[Noelex]

Sorry I know nothing about racing pigeons, but one has flown onto our yacht anchored of Canouan in the Carabean. We have given it some water and seed (which it seemed very grateful for). I hope this appropriate. 
 

It has blue and black band on its feet. The blue band reads 932. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

cheers

John

 

 

 

[sapper756]

A photo of bird and both bands would be very useful 

[Noelex]

Thanks for the reply. Below is a photo.

The bands are:

Left leg: Bright blue band with WCC 2023 and in large numbers 0932 above this a black bandwith  002 in a grey typeface.

Right leg: Dark blue band with no numbers. 

[sapper756]

WCC2023 0932

can anyone identify the origin of this ring?

[glencameron]

3 hours ago, sapper756 said:

WCC2023 0932

can anyone identify the origin of this ring?

The only area I can find with WCC rings is South Africa so potentially the pigeon has an amazing story to tell. 
 

it’s only a baby 2023.

I will continue looking as that seems to incredible .

[JCN]

Wow...My initial towered OLR bird maybe Florida Mexico or Cuba not sure any others in that region...then I looked closer cuba is still 2000 kilometers away ...Mexico and Florida be double that 🫣

[Noelex]

Thanks everyone. Here are some better photos of the tag:

[sapper756]

Are there any stamps on the wings?

[Noelex]

5 hours ago, sapper756 said:

Are there any stamps on the wings?

I am not confident holding the bird and don’t want to stress it. I am sure it is easy if you know what you are doing but I do not.

 

[Noelex]

8 hours ago, JCN said:

Wow...My initial towered OLR bird maybe Florida Mexico or Cuba not sure any others in that region...then I looked closer cuba is still 2000 kilometers away ...Mexico and Florida be double that 🫣

JCN, it is certainly a small world. We hauled our boat out at Ardrossan Christmas 2021 to antifoul. We had spent the pandemic at anchor in the Hebrides.

[Noelex]

I understand from my limited reading that the removable blue plastic ring with no markings on his right leg may indicate he was lost while racing?

[blue lad]

Western cape Australia maybe? 

[JCN]

19 hours ago, Noelex said:

JCN, it is certainly a small world. We hauled our boat out at Ardrossan Christmas 2021 to antifoul. We had spent the pandemic at anchor in the Hebrides.

Certainly is yes. Fantastic. Would be amazing to be able to trace the owner of the bird to see where it has come from and how on earth it has ended up where it is.

[JCN]

20 hours ago, Noelex said:

I understand from my limited reading that the removable blue plastic ring with no markings on his right leg may indicate he was lost while racing?

That ring is an electronic chip ring it's used to record it's arrival at its home loft when racing so yes the bird has most likely been lost during a race. The other ring is its life ring with year of birth in this case 2023...the unique number for that year to I'd the individual pigeon and the organisation which the owner is a member in this case WCC that's the interesting part as nobody seems to be able to identify where WCC originates from 

[Noelex]

2 hours ago, JCN said:

That ring is an electronic chip ring it's used to record it's arrival at its home loft when racing so yes the bird has most likely been lost during a race. The other ring is its life ring with year of birth in this case 2023...the unique number for that year to I'd the individual pigeon and the organisation which the owner is a member in this case WCC that's the interesting part as nobody seems to be able to identify where WCC originates from 

Thanks for the information.

This pigeon’s journey has sparked my curiosity. It is not impossible he is from South Africa, as many birds hitch rides on boats and crew often feed them. If this is true we should not stop feeding the bird in the hope he will make his way home.

A cattle egret took refuge on board our yacht last November midway across the Atlantic. He left about 10 days later when Barbados came into view on the horizon.

We had a racing pigeon join us for about 30 hours on one North Sea crossing from the Netherlands to the north eastern tip of Scotland. If any of your birds sent across water arrive very late, but not particularly tired, consider they may have been given a lift.

This affectionate pigeon is showing no sign of leaving (he is not confined) and has unfortunately become quite attached to us, softly nibbling at our toes and fingers and cooing lots, dozing wherever we are sitting. It is difficult keeping him out of the interior. We are hoping to find someone ashore who can give him a home.