Sunday morning was taken up with Fylde Ringing Group’s (FRG) Turnstone Project, the catching and ringing of the local wintering population of those phenomenal ocean wanderers, Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres.
I met up with the other guys at Fleetwood Marine Lake at 8am, Ian, Seumus, Huw and Graham, all of us keen to have the first go at the Turnstones during this winter. The Turnstones here spend a lot of time mopping up the leftovers of food scraps which local people put out for the now extremely tame wildfowl.
For weeks Seumus and Ian had put out food in a small section of the same grassy area whereby when the opportunity arose, a whoosh net would be set to catch Turnstones alone, and hopefully no meandering Mute Swans or wandering wildfowl.
Turnstone
Everything came good when plenty of Turnstones showed up for a hearty breakfast of chicken feed, resulting in a catch of 31 of the target species plus a few Starlings trying to get in on the act. One Turnstone was a recapture, a bird first ringed 23rd January 2012, and an individual which in the intervening period may have travelled to Iceland or perhaps further, the high Arctic of Alaska or Greenland.
Each Turnstone we catch is now given a standard BTO metal ring, a colour ring, and a coloured leg marker bearing two letters. In this way we hope that wader watchers in Europe and North America will be able to report their sightings to the ringing group. If any readers of Another Bird Blog should see one of these marked Turnstones, they can report it here via the comments section and I will ensure that they receive all information relating to the bird.
FRG Turnstone Project
Leg markers
Turnstone
Turnstone
After the Turnstone catch was processed and completed I took the opportunity for a photograph or two. The lately coming-to-bread Scaup has taken up with a few Tufted Duck and for whatever reason is now less keen to have her picture taken. There were a few Goldeneye and a good number of Redshanks knocking about the two-lake complex, both species adept at keeping their distance from prying lenses.
Scaup and Tufted Duck
Redshank
Goldeneye
The next Turnstone catch should be in January but in the meantime be certain that there will be lots of birds featured on Another Bird Blog, so stay tuned.
During this week Another Bird Blog is linking to I'd Rather Be Birding, Stewart's Photo Gallery, and Weekly Top Shot, so be sure to check them out.
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16 comments:
Looks like you had a successful day. From Findlay
Hello Phil,bonitos los Vuelvepiedras.Un abrazo
Wow, awesome closeups of the Ruddy Turnstone. Love the ducks too, especially the Goldeneye. Happy Birding and have a great week ahead.
Nice to see the Goldeneye!! Another great series. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
What a wonderful series of shots... looks like you had a busy and good time birding! Thank you for sharing on Weekly Top Shot #61!
It is wonderful to imagine the travels of that bird between its encounters with you. Beautiful Goldeney shot as well!
I'm trying to imagine what it would feel like to hold that little turnstone in my hand! Do you get training about how to do it without giving them a heart attack? They don't look afraid. Sure makes a good closeup of these adorable little fellows.
Very interesting that you too have a program going to band and flag Turnstones. Birdwatchers down in South Australia and Victoria have been doing that for quite a few years and over the last couple of years have also been adding geo-locators to the flags. They have had some amazing results.
A lovely post and Turnstones are a favourite bird of mine to watch.
Your images are superb.
Great blog Phil. I'll keep my eye out for any ringed Turnstones round my way.
I got quite excited a couple of years ago when I noticed a colour ringed Red Necked Stint on the beach. I got home and checked where it had been ringed.........Siberia perhaps? Kamchatka? Nope, it was just ringed just up the coast in Hokkaido.......
Sounds like a good day. I'll keep an eye on the beaches for any ringed Turnstones!
that redshank photo is marvelous!
Wow! That is very interesting! I would love to work on something like that!
Hi there. The banding group I go out with puts satellite trackers on Ruddy Turnstone that they (I've never been on this trip!) catch on King Island - thats an island between the mainland and Tasmania. I really like these world birds.
Cheers and thanks for linking to WBW - Stewart M - Melbourne
Sounds like a lot of fun. Lots of data for people to study. One of these times, I'll be ready to do this,but I admit that am fearful of harming the bird...therefore I haven't volunteered with banding events like we do for our hummingbirds here. It's probably all in my mind
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