Showing posts with label IPMR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IPMR. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Back To The Hills

It’s a while since Andy and I met up at Oakenclough. I guess we have been busy with the Linnet project down Pilling way which is now on hold until the local outbreak of the avian flu gets jetted out of town by the experts from DEFRA. 

About 12kms from the coast, outside the exclusion zone of the bird flu and on the edge of the Bowland birding during December and January can be quiet so we made no visits for weeks. Only recently did we start to feed here with Niger seed because as soon as the calendar heads into the shortest month we reckon to catch a few finches. These will include birds from the south and south east already making their way north even though it's just February. 

So we met up at 0715 for a spot of overdue ringing with an uneventful session yielding just 11 birds of 4 species for the IPMR database: 6 Goldfinch, 2 Siskin, 2 Chaffinch and a single recapture of a Coal Tit from 2016.

Outdoor Office

Goldfinch

Siskin - first winter female

Siskin - adult male

Today's Input

Other birds seen this morning - 2 Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard, 1 Pied Wagtail, 15 Oystercatcher, 15 Greylag, 18 Chaffinch, 1 Siskin. 

Meanwhile and back at home, the painting is done and I persuaded Sue to invest in a birdy rug to keep my feet warm in the office. How’s that for dedication to the cause of birding?

Indoor Office

Log in soon. There are always more birds on Another Bird Blog.



Wednesday, March 23, 2016

A Siskin Sheet

I hope regular readers are up for more news of the bird ringing at Oakenclough? It seems the best place to be at the moment with good numbers of finches continuing to pass through. Down at the coast the news from birders is that the lasting high pressure system is holding back migration. Early migrants like Chiffchaffs, Sand Martins and Wheatears seem hard to come by whereas winter birds like Whooper Swans and Pink-footed Goose are noticeable by their continued presence in good numbers.

I met Andy at the ringing station at 0630. We were later joined by Will who called in to trade birding gossip and to ring a few birds.

On a grey, cold morning we caught steadily for about three hours as both Siskins and Lesser Redpolls arrived from the south, some stopping briefly, others flying determinedly north and west. This was especially true for Siskin as their vibrant calls rang out from close to the feeders but also overhead as small parties flew over. Lesser Redpolls were not so numerous, as reflected in the ringing totals below. There was also a movement of Chaffinches with at one point ten or more in the tops of a couple of nearby trees.

Chaffinch

Following a catch of 22 Goldfinches last Friday the species’ status as a sometime migrant was confirmed by today’s catch of a single new bird and two recaptures. Suddenly at 1030 the feeders went quiet and overhead birds dried up. By 1130 we had decided to pack up and go home.

We totalled 31 birds today – 22 new and 9 recaptures. New birds: 12 Siskin, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Wren, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Robin. Recaptures; 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Siskin, 1 Great Tit.

The Reed Bunting proved to be a second year male.

Reed Bunting

Two male Siskins. The adult Siskin is on the right, the second year on the left.

Siskins


Lesser Redpoll

At each ringing session all the captured birds are entered onto a field sheet. The Information is later transferred to a database, Integrated Population Monitoring and Recording (IPMR) and each month a file of captured birds e-mailed to the BTO for inclusion on their master database.

Field Sheet - 23/03/2016

In the left hand column of the field sheet “N” indicates a new bird while “R” signifies a recapture. The system uses a five letter code for each species. Age “5” means a second year bird while “6” indicates an adult bird. We collect wing length as in many species this can be used to separate males and females where both sexes are similar. Weight at the corresponding time of capture is recorded as an indicator of general condition. At 14 grams one of today’s Siskins had a weight somewhat over the an average. Upon checking the amount of visible fat in the furculum, “little fork” or wishbone, the Siskin was found to have a fat score of 30, pointing to an individual in active migration.

Birding today - singles of Buzzard, Grey Wagtail, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Mistle Thrush.

The month of March is proving to be very productive for our ringing but with the weather due to change tonight there may be a lull in proceedings. Not to worry, there will be more news and pictures very soon on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday, Anni's Blog and Viewing Nature With Eileen.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

One Hundred And One

No, it’s not the England cricket team’s latest effort but today’s ringing total from Will’s garden.

More hurried phone calls and weather watching this morning led to a drive up to the Garstang garden for 0800 where the overnight heavy rain was just about petering out, but leaving the paddock in a bit of a muddy mess. Undeterred we put up two nets and caught 101 new birds: 82 Siskin, 16 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Blackbird and 1 Dunnock. Recaptures were 3 Siskin from recent weeks and 1 Chaffinch.

Siskin

Last week we thought the Siskin migration had dried up a little but this weekend saw a fresh surge of new birds to the garden area with Will's finch estimates of 200+ Siskin, 100+ Chaffinch, 6 Lesser Redpoll, 15 Goldfinch and 6 Greenfinch. After the morning’s hard graft and observations of birds arriving and leaving we thought today’s count was more like 300+ Siskin, 150+ Chaffinch, 4 Goldfinch, 2 Brambling, 3 Lesser Redpoll and 8 Greenfinch.

Today we looked for visible fat on each Siskin we caught, and a quick perusal of our field sheet shows that roughly 80% of them had fattened up ready for on-going migration. Individual weights varied between a standard and expected 11 grams but several birds tipped the scale at over 15 grams but one large male bounced the balance to 15.7 grams, more akin to the weight of a Goldfinch.

Siskin data

Siskin - adult male

Siskin - female

Siskin - female

Siskin- adult male

Siskin- juvenile male

Apologies then that today’s pictures are all Siskin. And now I really must sign off, I have over a hundred birds to enter into IPMR, the BTO ringer’s database.
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