Ringing Gold

I met Andy up at Oakenclough at 0630 for a long overdue ringing session, the first one of the autumn here. The morning was overcast but there was no rain in the forecast. And with a wind speed of 10mph there seemed good cause to expect a reasonable catch of birds. 

The Office

Following a somewhat steady start the appearance of flocks of Goldfinches flying in from surrounding areas gave a boost to our eventual numbers. We were far from disappointed with a total of 63 birds of 11 species and totals as follows: 40 Goldfinch, 4 Chaffinch, 6 Coal Tit, 3 Blue Tit, 1 Great Tit, 3 Goldcrest, 1 Blackcap, 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Robin, 1 Treecreeper.

Goldfinches are certainly beginning to flock in some numbers in recent days. This morning we initially thought there to be 100+ birds in the area. This was a clear underestimate as two or more flocks may have been involved whereby a catch of 40 is indicative of 200 or more Goldfinches. 

At this time of year we expect that the majority of birds caught will be juveniles of the year rather than adults however even we were surprised to find that of today’s 40 Goldfinch, 39 were juveniles and just one an adult. More interesting still was that this single adult proved to from elsewhere as the ring number beginning with Z690 was not one of our own. The ring number will be forwarded to the BTO and the original ringing details notified to us in due course. 

Goldfinch

In contrast to the adult male above, most juveniles are still at the stage where they cannot be sexed with any certainty by their plumage. While the one below is as buff/brown as many of today’s birds, a wing length of 82 mm coupled with the large bill and black nasal feathers indicate a male. 

Goldfinch

Treecreeper

Chiffchaff

Willow Warbler

Blackcap

Goldcrest

The ringing kept us busy but in addition to the birds mentioned above we noted 1 Buzzard, 5 Pied Wagtail, 1 Common Sandpiper, 15 Lapwing, 3 Siskin and 45+ Swallows.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.