Sunday, March 21, 2010

Spring ringing

Pied Wagtail This morning Jacqui came round to ring in the garden. It was a beautiful day but perhaps a tad too sunny for ringing (if the sun shines on the net, birds can see it more easily).

Things started slowly with a Dunnock we'd caught before.

But soon we hit the jackpot with a female Pied Wagtail! That was totally unexpected... I saw the male singing from the roof yesterday but never though we'd catch one! A lovely bird to handle... very soft feathers and with a beak totally ill-suited to vicious finger-pecking. Excellent.

We also caught four new Reed Buntings - all males. It was interesting to see the differences between them. One had lost almost all the brown tips to his black head feathers, but others were much scruffier looking.

It was a steady - rather than spectacular - catch, but that's just fine.

Here are the totals...

  • Chaffinch, 5 new
  • Blue Tit, 4 (+ 1 retrap)
  • Pied Wagtail, 1
  • Great Tit, 4 (+3 retraps)
  • Reed Bunting, 4
  • Goldfinch, 2
  • Greenfinch, 5
  • Dunnock, 1

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

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