But I thought some of you might be interested in the Dawn Patroller's adventures today.
While I was enjoying my morning of not doing very much, (and recovering from a wonderful meal last night with lots of red wine at the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses) he was away at Loch of Strathbeg where they were bird ringing.
A fine mesh (Mist mesh) is hung between trees that traps the birds without harming them.
Gently removed.
They are placed into a bag. Its dark inside which reduces the bird's stress.
Gently placed, head down, again to reduce stress, the birds are weighed.
And measured, wing to tip.
And ringed.
All the information is put onto a computer and if anyone finds a bird which has a ring on there is also a website on the ring (poor bird, carrying all that info!) so you can inform the British Trust for Ornithology. Rings do come in different sizes for each species!
Willow Warbler.
Once all the info has been recorded the birds are taken back and released.
Blackbird.
Greenfinch.
Goldfinch.
Male Chaffinch.
Tree Sparrow on the left, House Sparrow on the right. According to the experts of the day rare to see the two together, they should visit our garden......
Yellowhammer.
A good day for all involved. Wonder how they manage to ring the White Tailed Eagle?
As big as me, but worry not, it was ringed when a chick, before releasing, and the tag can be checked with binoculars. This is Ralf. Called such as his tag includes the letters.
We do a weekly bird count of the birds in our garden, why not do the same, although it becomes addictive! Check out British Trust for Ornithology web site http://www.bto.org/
If you see Ralf in your shrubbery do let me know.
7 comments:
I will let you know if Ralf visits Canada! This was such a great post, I enjoyed it so much.
I also want to thank you for the kind words today on my blog, my pity party is officially over, pulled up my big girl pants and moving on, with life, cause its all we have isn't it. take care my far away friend,
That sounds like a good project to track birds. We have bird feeders and bird baths and plants that give berries so our songbirds are happy in our garden.
Really interesting though surely they are nesting at this time of year ?
Lovely to see so many species close up !
The nets are not near nests but on flight paths to feeding areas. Everything is done very quickly.
How fascinating. I'm still learning to tell different birds apart, both by sight and by song. It's something I wish I'd been taught when young. And of course my children have less than zero interest!
P.S. The photo on your header just now is amazing - I love the sun just hitting the top of the wave in the bottom right of the photo.
Hello, I've just come across your fascinating post on bird ringing. These are some lovely pictures of some wonderful little birds - and of Ralph, of course.
How wonderful to see these birds up close like this :D
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