Up close and personal with garden birds

With the tree seed (alder, birch etc) finally running out, Siskins are flooding into gardens. This male was a 'control' - a bird already ringed somewhere else when we caught it

Here's a female Siskin - less colourful but still beautiful. See how fine the bill is for getting those seeds

Another male, the first I caught in my garden

Here's another tree seed-munching finch, a Lesser Redpoll

and a female Goldfinch

Here's a Nuthatch, the third I've caught in the garden

I 'retrapped' her 15 days later. Here's a close-up of the claws that mean Nuthatches can climb down trees headfirst

I originally caught this Treecreeper on New Year's Day 2012, so it was good to see it's still going strong

A Goldcrest, Europe's smallest bird, weighs about 5g (the same as 5 paperclips)

And a male Great Spotted Woodpecker

Read more about bird ringing in the UK on the BTO website

She's got her eye on you

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker

photos taken with iPhone 4S

Bright and beautiful

I've been ringing in my garden again.

I caught my first Goldfinch, a young male

Red which extends behind the eye shows it's a boy

And with a narrow, worn tail like that, he has to be one of last year's young (see how much more quickly the white bits wear)

I think we've met somewhere before...

It was the fourth time I'd caught this female Great Spotted Woodpecker (can't tell how old she is though). I've ringed four woodpeckers in the garden but this is the only one I've re-caught. 

As a repeat offender (or maybe frequent flyer) I think she needs a name... Since my neighbour Laura put the ring on, and Laura's from Finland, I've decided on Käpytikka, the Finnish name for Dendrocopos major. See you again soon!

At the bottom of the garden...

Hurray! I've finally got my first set of rings. My joy was tempered slightly by the cost, but poverty is all part of being a ringer. So I've wasted no time in trying to catch birds...

These ones are in my new garden. I have mostly been catching Blue and Great Tits, but there have been a few other bits and pieces, too.

Birds about to be extracted from the net

Treecreeper (check out the talons). They always look grumpy

Long-tailed Tit

I caught three Great Spotted Woodpeckers in one afternoon. Damage to my eardrums and hands was not inconsiderable, but I've recovered. Ear defenders would be handy, though.

Great Spotted Woodpecker (female)

Great Spotted Woodpecker (male)

Blue Tit with wonky bill, but it was in good shape so still feeding OK

While at my parents' over Christmas, I couldn't resist trying to catch some of their garden birds. It was mostly a fruitless exercise (someone down the road is clearly sucking in birds from miles around) but I caught a few (no, really, a few. Three Dunnocks and a Robin. Woodpigeon, Collared Dove and Goldfinch all wriggled out before I could extract them!).

The first bird to get one of my rings - a Dunnock. Dull brown eye says it's a young bird

Another Dunnock - bright reddish-brown eye says it's an older bird

My first rings

Rings around the world

Well... rings that have travelled from one part of Bedfordshire to another.

Reed Warbler, ringed at Willington last year, caught near Sandy this year

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker, which won't have travelled anywhere

Turtle Dove nest - empty now, but did contain two chicks (they were eaten)

Pliers

The ringing book. 'DUNNO' is for Dunnock, not... 'dunno...'

Ruler and callipers

Fat reserves for ringers

FinchFest

Female Goldfinch (the red stops midway along the eye, not behind it)

Male Greenfinch

Male Great Tit, with super-wide black belly stripe

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker (with red on nape)

Time for some more garden bird ringing.

• Greenfinch, 12 (+ 1 retrap)
  
• Great Tit, 12 (+ 1 retrap)
  
• Blue Tit, 11 (+ 1 retrap)
  
• Goldfinch, 7 (6 were male!)
  
• Chaffinch, 3
  
• Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 (male and female)
  
• Dunnock, 1
  
• Robin, 1
  

Greenfinches seem to have made a comeback, as they've only been present in small numbers lately. Where have they been? 

All the retraps had been ringed on the last session, on 8 February. Where are those birds now?

Previous sessions: 8 February 2009; 3 January 2009; 17 November 2007

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Feed me... feed me now

'Are you there, Dad?'

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

Great Spot

Terribly dark, but here's one of our regular garden visitors.

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Lodge gardens

The sun came out this lunchtime so I thought I'd better make the most of it while it lasted...

Crocuses

Daffodils

Honeysuckle

Bramble leaves...

Woodpecker hole

I think this (Great Spotted Woodpecker) hole must be quite recent. The edges look fairly fresh (there are even a few downy feathers snagged on the rough wood) and there's sap oozing from around the hole.

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

Ringing

Pics from this morning's CES ringing session at Ferry Meadows.


Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker




Juvenile Kingfisher


Female Reed Bunting 'control' - originally ringed by someone else at another site - click here for details.

Somewhere around 120 birds were trapped this morning - Chris's 100th CES visit to FM - from about 4am to 12.30pm when we packed up. We had the first juvenile Reed, Sedge and Garden Warblers of the year, plus what seemed like the entire juv Great Tit population of Cambridgeshire.

The weather conditions were good to start with, since it was overcast and not too breezy. Unfortunately, the vegetation was dripping with rain from the previous day, and it got hotter and more windy as the morning went on. There was a lot of deep, squelchy mud underfoot - as usual - and the mosquitoes took a toll on us - as usual. No amount of insect repellent seems to make a difference.

I felt like I made huge progress today. Extracting birds from nets is really tricky and it requires patience, a bit of problem solving, dexterity and a cool head! Today I finally felt like I was getting there. I'm still very slow (Chris can do about ten birds in the time it takes me to do one), but now I feel like I've got the basic hang of it and from now on I'll be able to get faster. Something clicked today. Hurrah!

What's on my iTunes: Gold - Ryan Adams

Ringing

Click here to read about ringing and for useful links.

An early start this morning for my first proper ringing session at Ferry Meadows this year. Chris, my trainer, had told me that when he visited the site last week, there had been water in places that reached above his knees! I have now ordered a pair of waders, but it's still a waterproof trousers, wellies and waxed jacket job, as usual.

Fortunately, the water level had dropped by this morning, leaving lots of deep, sloppy mud to contend with. At this stage in the season, the vegetation on the site (lots of willow carr, reeds, rosebay willowherb, nettles etc., plus my favourite, water mint) isn't too high, but it grows at a terrific rate and before long there'll be stingers taller than I am!

Chris was onsite before me and had the mist-nets up in record time. Altogether, 40 birds were caught in the nets during the morning (22 of which had already been ringed previously) - not a brilliant total, but considering the weather conditions (breeze and bright sunshine make the nets more visible to birds), not too bad.

A male Great Spotted Woodpecker was certainly biggest and noisiest catch of the day (photo above). Other species trapped included Sedge and Reed Warblers, Blackcap, Garden and Willow Warblers, Long-tailed and Blue Tits, Blackbird, Robin and Bullfinch. Two Reed Buntings were also noteworthy since they don't appear in the nets very often.

As a trainee, I'm on a steep learning curve. It takes many hours of practice, patience and perseverance to learn to ring birds. It's not easy and I'm still learning the skills and particular dexterity needed. Hopefully I'll get there eventually!

While it's a fascinating privilege to see birds up close, what I find most interesting of all is the phenomenon of migration. It's humbling to know that the tiny Sedge Warbler you've just released has been flying back to the same site from sub-Saharan Africa for the past four or five years (read a bit about Sedge Warblers here). It might only weigh 12g!

How does it find its way, which route did it take, where did it go, what did it see on the way...

A Nightingale singing from near the site was slightly unusual for Ferry Meadows.

What's in my CD player: Grand Slang - City Slang 1990-2000 (various artists, including Lambchop (of course), Tortoise, Wheat[us], Yo La Tengo and Calexico. Brilliant!)