Sunday, February 08, 2009

Garden ringing

Goldfinch wing
How old is this Goldfinch? Click through to find out...

Another ringing session in the garden today. A few interesting things: we only retrapped one bird, a Dunnock. Even at the last session, when no ringing had been done for 13 months, we had 5. The Great Spotted Woodpecker and Starling that was caught in January are still around, as are a few ringed Coal Tits, and we saw a Marsh Tit but didn't catch it, so clearly they're not all dead - they're just somewhere else.

The Blackbird was an adult male with a long wing, weighing about 120g, so maybe he's come from Scandinavia. The Kestrel was a female and was hanging onto the net by the tips of two toes when we got to it. Nearly the one that got away...

We caught:
  • Blue Tit, 23 (12 adults)
  • Chaffinch, 10
  • Great Tit, 8
  • Goldfinch, 5
  • Dunnock, 3 (1 retrap)
  • Blackbird, 1
  • Greenfinch, 1
  • Kestrel, 1
  • Robin, 1
Previous sessions: 3 January 2009; 17 November 2007

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

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