The finish line was in Spain. How did this racing pigeon end up in Nova Scotia? [Video]

When a Spanish fancier released his eight-month-old pigeon for its very first race, the plan was for it to fly to Majorca from Ibiza, approximately 120 kilometres over the Mediterranean Sea. 

Instead, the bird ended up some 5,000 kilometres across the Atlantic Ocean on Sable Island, a remote sandbar off Nova Scotia.

David Fernández said the competition began Feb. 22 when hundreds of messenger pigeons were released from a truck on the Spanish island of Ibiza, including pigeon No. 9,550.

But when it didn’t get back to its dovecote — a structure that houses pigeons — after a few hours, he feared it might have been attacked …