Solved mysterious colour ringed cormorants - untraced colour-ringed cormorants finally recognised

WI - Cormorant Research Group

Colour-ringing

updated on 12-10-2007

Colour-ringed cormorants
Great cormorant (P. carbo) and Shag (P. aristotelis)
list of solved mysteries

Based on replies sent to the cr-coordinator or the webmaster,
or posted to the colour-ring birding group

Country of sighthings
Belgium - France - Germany - Italy - Spain - Poland - The Netherlands - UK

Left tarsus	Right tarsus	Locality and date	Observer	Note	Posted on Solved by
		Alsace / France	E. Schmitt	Bird born and ringed in UK

Left tarsus	Right tarsus	Locality and date	Observer	Note	Reporto to
+		Saaraltarm Besseringen, Germany several obs. in Oct. & Nov. 2003	Emil Pinter, Rolf Klein & Martin Buchheit	Adult bird Left: below metal ring, above small GREEN ring without inscription Right: K1L (white) on GREEN ring posted on 26 Nov. 2003	Mystery solved on 1 Dec. 2003 Bird ringed in Denmark

Colour ring Style, colour and code	Leg	Date yyyy / mm / dd	Observer Ringing scheme	Note
	?	1996 03 31	Italy	Mystery solved on 30/11/00: bird ringed in Poland on 12 June 1993
	?	1995 11 28	"	Mystery solved on 30/11/00: bird ringed in Poland on 9 May 1995
	?	2000 02 27	"	Mystery solved on 30/11/00: bird ringed in Poland 22 June 1997
	?	1998 01 24	"	Mystery solved on 30/11/00: bird ringed in Poland 22 June 1997
	?	1997 03 00	"	Mystery solved on 30/11/00: bird ringed in Poland 27 May 2000
	Right	19960228, 19961019, 19961025, 19961031, 19961112, etc.	"	Mystery solved on 15/06/2003: the right color ring was GREEN bird ringed in Denmark, June 1996
	?	1999 11 01	"	Mystery solved on 24/11/00: bird ringed in Netherlands
	?	1996 03 13	"	Mystery solved on 24/11/00: ringed in Netherlands
	?	1991 11 20	"	probably ringed in Netherlands if a bar was not recorded (S / J)

Left tarsus	Right tarsus	Locality and date	Observer	Note	Posted on Solved by
or		Hel harbour (Pomorskie) 22 Sept. 2000	Szymon Bzoma	age unknown	mystery solved by T. Bregnballe on July 2002: GREEN 01C was ringed on 6 June 1999 in the colony at Mågeøerne, near Bogense, NW Funen, Denmark, 55.35N-10.07E.

Left leg ring style, colour and code	Right leg ring style, colour and code	Locality and date	Observer	Note
		Gijón, Spain, 22/10 and 25/11/2000	Juan Julio Fernández-García	mystery solved: the bird was a Shag not a Great Cormorant
		El Abra port, Getxo, Vizcaya, Spain 26/01/2000	Javier Elorriaga	mystery solved - the exact ring code was H \| X

The Netherlands

Left tarsus	Right tarsus	Locality and date	Observer	Note	Posted on / Solved by
		Oostvaardersplassen Flevoland, The Netherlands 09.04.2002	Mervyn Roos	ring-colour "light brown"	mystery solved by Jacob Sterupt on 11/4/2002 the true original ring-colour was RED (not brown) and code 03R the nestling was ringed at the Kidholmene colony (Kolding, East Jutland 55.31N-09.36E) on 26 May 2000.
		The Netherlands	several	adult Great Cormorant left GREEN C14 right GREEN with a bar in the middle	mystery posted on November 2003, solved on 5/12/03 by Jacob Sterupthe Jacob Sterup The vertical bar reported on the small ring is probably not an inscription but merely where the plastic overlaps and the white inner layer can be seen. Therefore it sounds like one of the Danish birds from 1996. Green C14 was ringed at Yderste Holm, Stavns Fjord in 1997, and does not have any small, green ring, so it cannot be this bird. However, 11 Cormorants ringed on Yderste Holm in 1996 with the code C 1 letter (C1H, C1J etc.) were given green helping rings. Interestingly, one of these, C1U, was seen in 1997 and 1998 at the same place from where the "mystery" bird has been reported.