This morning a wonderful young lady, called Megan, from Tayside Bird Ringers came to our garden to ring some of our birds. In a 2 1/2 hour session she managed to ring 31 birds, a mammoth task for one person & as I was not qualified to help other than with recording the data she got from the birds.
First the birds were caught in a mist net (like the Male Siskin in shot 1), then very carefully extract them (shot 2) , placed in a bag, before :-
1/placing the appropriate size ring on their right leg.
2/ sexed & checking how old they were (by feather shapes, colour & how worn).
3/ if they had been brooding (by checking their brood patch)
4/ length of wing (from shoulder to tip)
5/ weighing them (in various size containers)
6/ releasing them.
Some of the birds like the Siskin were easy to collect the data from, but the Greater Spotted Woodpecker was a different kettle of fish, it was not so much the beak you had to worry about, but the very sharp claws it uses to grip on trees. Poor old Megan needed a couple of plasters for the blood that was drawn. Surprisingly enough apart from the Woody the Blue Tit was a bit feisty & had a fair peck on it.
The 31 birds were collected in just 4 sessions with the earlier ones being most productive, I think mainly down to the fact that as the saying goes “The early bird catches the worm”, or in this case the fact that the birds know that by 9am I would have been out daily to fill the feeders. After collecting the birds on each session, the net was rolled up so that for 30 minutes the birds could feed freely & not get caught up while feeding, then we let the net out for 15 & go from there. The exception to the rule was the 2 occasions we caught the Woody’s & you need to get to them asap.
The bird totals were made up as follows:-
14 Siskin, 6 Chaffinch, 2 each of Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird, Woodpecker & 1 each of House Sparrow, Dunnock, Blue Tit.
So below in order are , Male Siskin, Great Tit, young Male Blackbird then mature Male. Followed by ringing, weighing & releasing a male Woodpecker.
A most enjoyable morning, on a very warm summer bank holiday in Perthshire. Was hoping to get down to the Highland Games at the castle, but never made it so something for next year if I am still about.
