Sunday, March 15, 2009

Now that's a beak

Male Green Woodpecker
Note ragged, bleached secondaries

Male Green Woodpecker
Male Green Woodpecker

Male Goldfinch
Male Goldfinch (note the red behind the eye)

Another enjoyable ringing session at Beeston today. The sun shone, the wind was gentle, butterflies (Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Brimstone) fluttered, five Buzzards thermalled overhead and we were brought bacon butties and cups of tea. And caught 72 birds!

33 were Greenfinches (and one of those was a control - a bird that someone else had already ringed, somewhere else). The Green Woodpecker and a Starling brought a bit of variety to proceedings. A super-fat Chaffinch weighed 27 g and had a wing length of 93 mm (it could be on its way back to Scandinavia); many of the females were carrying plenty of fat, showing as a smudge of yellow on their chests.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

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