Ringing at Beeston

We we were on track to get the 2,000th bird ever to be ringed at Beeston today, and so we did. And at least it wasn't a Dunnock or Blue Tit (though they're nice in their own ways, we catch them all the time). It was a handsome male Goldfinch.

Male Goldfinch - the 2,000th bird to be ringed at Beeston

We also caught a handful of Siskins, which we don't normally... The first bird of the day was an adult male which was laden with fat (fuel for migration) and weighed in excess of 16g. The other Siskins we trapped were more around the 13g mark. Quite a big difference for a small bird.

First bird of the morning - an adult male Siskin

Smallest, lightest bird of the day - a male Goldcrest, which tipped the scales at less than 5g!

Male Reed Bunting caught in the garden

Mistletoe - untouched by birds!

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

Seed-munchers

Been playing around with digiscoping garden birds through the double glazing...

Sometimes the results are pretty good, considering

Chaffinches

Rook

Good light seems to be the biggest factor (it's really dull today)

Greenfinch

Other times they are not very good, but it's nice to have a record of what's been visiting the garden

Yellowhammers

Reed Bunting

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

When Blue Tits turn bad

We did some more ringing in the garden this morning. When Derek arrived it was raining steadily and we didn't think we'd be able to get any nets up at all. After a cup of coffee, things brightened up and we put up one 40' net.

We stood in the kitchen and watched birds flying over, under and round the side of the net. It was pretty dispiriting! Eventually we caught two Blue Tits and a Great Tit simultaneously, and then it got windy. So things weren't looking too good.

Fortunately, despite the wind and occasional drizzle, we did OK.

We caught two Reed Buntings (we've had as many as 15 in the garden at the same time this week), which was pretty good. This one's a male. The pale flecks on his head will soon wear away, revealing smart, plain black feathers underneath.

For a while it looked likely that the Reed Buntings would be the highlight of the morning. Then we caught this bird:

A Great Tit, you say. Not very interesting, surely. Well, the thing about this Great Tit is that it already had a ring, and it wasn't one that we'd put on. So it's come from somewhere else. In itself, that's interesting enough (we'll have to wait to find out where it was ringed).

The extra-interesting thing was that the ring was a size larger than normal - a B ring (AAs are the smallest, for things like Goldcrests and Willow Warblers, then As, and Bs are usually for birds like Greenfinches).

When young Great Tits are ringed in the nest as chicks (or pulli as ringers like to refer to them), they need the next ring size up. This is because their legs are actually fatter while they're developing!

The ring still fits OK now that the bird is a thinner-legged adult, but hopefully the person who ringed it will be really pleased to hear that one of their pulli has made it to adulthood. The reason that Great Tits have such huge families (up to 9 eggs) is because many of them - 62% on average - will die in their first year. So this guy has beaten the odds.

Now you want to know what happens when Blue Tits turn bad, right?

We take great care when handling birds, but it's a shame that Blue Tits do not reciprocate. Everybody thinks they're cute and fluffy, but this is the truth: they are fierce biters and nippers. It wouldn't let go and actually made Derek's finger bleed.

Anyway, here are today's totals:

• Blue Tit, 17 (+ 4 'retraps' we'd caught before)
• Great Tit, 11 (+ 4 retraps, including the special one)
• Greenfinch, 1
• Dunnock, 1
• Reed Bunting, 2
• Coal Tit, 2

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

Wot no Marsh Tit?

Did a bit more ringing in the garden this morning. With a total of 37 birds caught (of which 8 were ones we'd ringed before), it wasn't one of our most impressive sessions.

A tactical error (of leaving a fat block out in the bush where the birds hang out) meant we had a slow start. Moving the fat block over to where the others feeders were sorted that out.

We even failed to catch a single Marsh Tit, when last time we'd caught one before we'd even finished putting the net up!

So the adult male Reed Bunting we did catch helped to make up for that disappointment. He's a nice example of feathers and how their wear affects a bird's appearance. See, all those browny-buff bits on his head will wear off in time for the breeding season. Like this. Weird as it seems, the Reed Bunting will look dapper once his feathers have worn away a bit more.

People get confused when they see birds that don't match exactly the illustrations or photos in their books. But feathers are constantly changing and wearing away, so birds hardly ever match the books. After all, nobody's told them what they're supposed to look like.

The scores on the doors:

• Blue Tit, 10 (+ 7 we'd ringed before)
• Great Tit, 8 (+1 retrap)
• Chaffinch, 5
• Greenfinch, 4
• Dunnock, 1
• Reed Bunting, 1

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

Nene Washes

There was the mother of all rainstorms approaching but fortunately she passed by to the east.


Meadow Pipits were fairly obliging this evening, sitting on fenceposts.


A few Linnets bathed in the fresh puddles.


Post-bath preening took place nearby.


This male Reed Bunting was one of several to pose nicely.




I've finally joined the Shortie Club! This bird was hunting the meadows and stopped for a rest a little way ahead of me.

digiscoped photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

No White Wags here...

Ferry Meadows Country Park, this evening

Everyone else is photographing White Wagtails (Motacilla alba alba, that is, as opposed to our Pied Wagtail M. a. yarrellii) these days, so I thought I'd be different.


Female Reed Bunting


Male Chaffinch


No subject too distant (not when they're this big, anyway...)


A stretch, then it's time to go feeding again... Common Terns (the left one is ringed).

The good news at the park tonight was that there are now cows on Heron Meadow, so now we'll know where to look for wagtails and pipits.

Talking of wagtails, I dropped in at Tesco on the way home. There's a Pied Wagtail roost there and birds congregate in the car-park before taking their places in small trees for the night (I counted more than 60 birds there last week).

As I made my way over to the centre, something caught my eye. In the shadow of a BMW, a love story was being played out.

He was singing furiously.
She stood still.
He spread both his wings, almost like a wader doing a broken-wing display, stretched, bill thrust forward, shimmying towards her, being seductive.
She lunged towards him, her bill thrust forward, rebutting him. Go away.
He retreated, in fear of receiving a peck.

The process was repeated two or three times until he obviously got bored with receiving the same response and flew off. I continued my journey towards Tesco, realising that someone had been staring at me staring at the wagtails. They probably thought I was going to nick the BMW's hubcaps...

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

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