Crow tags

padohaodha

Hi, I'm not a bird watcher by any means but have noticed a crow..could be a rook...big fella anyway...with a long white tag on both legs..like cable ties... now maybe that's all they are but was wondering if they are used for identification purposes...can't really be a fluke that it has ties on both legs.he has no bother flying or walking.living in the countryside.Anybody able to shed light on this?

OpenYourEyes

Took a quick look at the website for colour-ring projects and there's nothing that fits. The fact that you describe them as 'long' sounds like they might be cable ties. Similarly, the fact that there's one on each leg too is strange. It sounds like they are cable ties, in which case they definitely shouldn't be on a bird like that. What part of the country are you in?

carj

Could they be GPS tags? They often have a long antenna?

OpenYourEyes

carj wrote: »

Could they be GPS tags? They often have a long antenna?

Some do alright, but they wouldn't be leg-mounted as it'd cause the bird a lot of difficulty. They'd be carefully positioned on the back if they had an aerial. And there wouldn't be two of them either.

whyulittle

Jesses maybe?

OwlEye

Are they rigid like cable ties or trailing like jesses?
Perhaps it's a captive Raven that's slipped its handler?

padohaodha

Sorry lads.was busy.Theyre long white flexible looking plastic looking..in co.limerick

recedite

I'd suspect some nefarious activity here.
Like maybe somebody had him tied down as bait for other crows, but he escaped.
If that's the case, I can't see how the cable ties can be got off him. And they won't rot or fall off. But maybe he'll just get used to them and carry on with a crow's life.