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There is a word in German, ‘arrow stork‘, which refers to a migratory bird that is pierced, without dying, by an arrow in its wintering region. Thanks to the pfeilstorch, scientists were able to get closer to the migratory phenomenon of birds.
In the zoological collection of Rostock (Germany) there is a stuffed specimen of a white stork that has an arrow eighty centimeters long attached to its neck, a weapon of Central African origin. Apparently on May 21, 1822, this specimen was shot near the German city of Klürtz, when the hunters prepared to pick it up, they observed the arrow in surprise.
The pfeilstorch, of which more than twenty are known, proved that birds could migrate long distances during the winter months and that it was highly unlikely that they hibernated at sea.
Birds also hibernate
One of the first to address why birds disappear from our sight for a few months was the philosopher Aristotle. In his work ‘History of Animals’ he wrote that the effects of the cold were presumably responsible for some species -such as cranes- moving to warmer areas, while others took refuge in holes to ‘hibernate’, as was the case with the swallows.
The Greek thinker went further and even admitted that in some species there was a transmutation, it was thanks to her that, in his opinion, the robins (Erithacus rubecula) became redstarts (Phoenicurus sp) with the arrival of summer.
Most likely, the first to ‘mark’ birds were the ancient Egyptians, who placed a closed metal ring on peregrine falcons – a bird associated with the god Horus – as soon as they were born.
We know that Roman officers during the course of the Punic Wars received a raven from a besieged garrison, suggesting that this method was established practice. the roman statesman Quintus Fabius the Painter (254 B.C.-201 B.C.) linked a thread in the leg of birds to send their messages.
The first to ring was a Dane
In any case, it was not until the late nineteenth century (1890) that the Danish ornithologist Christian C Mortensen (1856-1921) first ringed common starlings with aluminum rings for scientific purposes. He placed them on the tarsus of the birds to avoid possible discomfort. This scientist numbered each ring and included his address -remit-, a method that was perfected over the years.
It is estimated that Mortensen, throughout his professional life, came to ring around 6,000 birds, thanks to which he was able to learn about some of the migratory routes of these animals. Since then the system has prevailed as a marking technique, the birds are captured by means of nets or traps made for this purpose and then a ring is placed on them with certain information.
In the 1930s, the system was already implemented in more than twenty countries, including Spain, although it is true that it was not until 1952 that we began to launch important ringing campaigns. These companies were made using rings with Aranzadi remittance (species, locality, capture method).
In 1963 the European Committee for ringing (1963) and a decade later a computerized database for the recovery of birds, both within and outside Europe, ringed within the European Union for Bird Ringing (EURING).
With the ringing, the aim is to discover the migratory routes, the breeding and wintering areas, the resting places of the birds, to study the relationship between climatic factors and the migratory cycles, as well as to study postnuptial dispersion. In addition, ornithologists can learn about the longevity of birds, their survival curves, the regular process of plumage replacement (molting) and biometrics.
Pedro Gargantilla is an internist at El Escorial Hospital (Madrid) and the author of several popular books.
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