Ringing this month was definately marked by the progress of the ongoing Water Pipit Project, in total 50 Water Pipits (Anthus spinoletta) were captured, 40 new and 10 recaptures. Some of the recaptures have been wintering every year in the reserve for the last 4 or 5 years at least!. You can follow the progress of this project on Schlammwiss website. (click for more information)
In total, 435 birds were ringed and recaptured of 32 species. It was a good month compared to other years and as usual more spring migrants show up the first time during this month.
Some of these are White Wagtail (Motacilla alba), Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (2 birds ringed and recaptures from each). 1 Skylark (Alauda arvensis) and 1 Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) were also first of season. As expected, the top species for this month that peak the migration back to their breeding grounds in this period were Robin (Erithacus rubecula) (64 ringed and recaptures), Dunnock (Prunella modularis) (55 ringed and recaptured), Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) (28 ringed and recaptured) and Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) ( 95 ringed and recaptured).
We also noted a small movement of Wrens (Troglodytes troglodytes) with 18 birds ringed and recaptured.
Other interesting species ringed were 3 Firecrests (Regulus ignicapilla), 1 Short toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla), 3 Redwings (Turdus iliacus), 2 Coots (Fulica atra) and 2 new Water Rails (Rallus aquaticus).
The special threat for this month was a Little Grebe that we caught in the net while flying from one pond to the other!! We did not ring a lot Little Grebes (Tachybaptus ruficollis) during the years for obvious reasons as this species don't fly around but prefer the water where they are well adapted to dive and swim, so finding the bird in the net was a surprise.
Although usually the month of March is a quite one for bird ringing as most of the migrants or summer visitors have not arrived yet, it is always a pleasure to see the first spring migrants and the first signs of breeding after the long winter months.
Thanks as usual to the team for the effort they make in our station .
Working time: 114 hours
Autor: Joseph Dunlop
Other activitys:
- New Update for the waterpipitproject --> read more
Visit of our members from the Schlammwissteam:
-
Pallas's leaf warbler in Belgium -- (Jim, Raoul, Charel, Guy) --> see photos below
- Ringday -- (Jim, Cedric, Joseph, Raoul, Charel) --> read more
Kommentar schreiben