Titchfield Haven, Bird Ringing Update - 26th October 2014

Today's ringing session had a very end of season feel about it, which was not helped by the dull and dreary conditions. Bird wise, the numbers were low, with only 21 birds captured which included two retraps and a control. The most numerous species was Chiffchaff, with nine new birds ringed, bringing the total for the year to 607. Two more Robins elevated the total to 87, which is the highest total in a year for this species. Cetti's Warbler numbers are also still building and two new birds today has taken the total to 60 for the year, evidence of a good breeding for this species. 

A re-trap Kingfisher was a colourful highlight amongst the dreariness of the day; this bird was a juvenile female, and one of 11 new birds ringed this year so far.

Juvenile Kingfisher

Juvenile Kingfisher

The Siberian Stonechat is still loitering at the Haven, and today it was tantalisingly close to our ringing area, but did not venture in, although I was able to grab a couple more pics of it.

Siberian Stonechat - Titchfield Haven

One of the Common Stonechats did make the mistake of venturing in though. This bird was a very straight-forward individual to a age and sex. The mainly dark throat and face are clearly evidence of a male bird and there was an obvious moult limit in the wing.

Juvenile Male Stonechat

Wing of Stonechat, note the juvenile alula, primary coverts, primaries and secondaries. The
lesser, medium and greater coverts are all post juvenile, as are the tertials.

Common Stonechat - note the abrasion on the edges of the primary and secondary
feathers and the contrast between them and the post juvenile tertials. The tail feathers
are also juvenile and heavily abraded. Also note the colour and dark centres of the rump
feathers, in contrast to unstreaked, salmon pink rump of the Sibe Stonechat (from previous posts)

Our Goldcrest total has also been steadily building and now stands at 38 birds; today we did not catch any unringed birds, but a juvenile male that we caught late on turned out to be a control which was nice. I will add the info to the ringing recovery page once I hear back from BTO HQ.

Control Goldcrest caught at the Haven today.

There wasn't much else to report with regard to vis-mig, a flock of 31 Linnets flying west was the most notable record, otherwise the only passerines recorded were a Grey Wagtail and a couple of Greenfinch's.