I woke early this morning and as I knew Barry was ringing again decided to nip down the the Haven before work. I don't know why, but just had a feeling that I ought to. The conditions were perfect for ringing, but the clear overnight conditions didn't bode well for the Barred Warbler still being there, but I did it all the same. There was an early flurry of activity with the a handful of Grasshopper Warblers, loads of Blackcaps and a scattering of other species in the first round. The same theme continued for the second round until we got to the jetty net, and there it was, the Barred Warbler. It was pretty much in the area where it had been released, which unfortunately is not really viewable from anywhere, not even our ringing area, so will be tough to pin down in the field.
The bird had lost weight from when it was originally caught two days ago, and had no fat and a muscle score of 1. In this condition I suspect it will need to feed up before moving on. Based on the colour of my hands after handling it, it has been gorging itself on blackberries, so may fatten up quite quickly.
It was a first winter bird with a grey iris as opposed to the yellow one of an adult. The large bill, with pale pink basel part of the lower mandible was extremely prominent. The wing coverts and tertials were pale fringed but not a prominently as some that I have seen, but overall it was a cracking bird. I think you can imagine how pleased I was to catch up with it.
 |
| Barred Warbler - Titchfield Haven |
 |
| Barred Warbler - Titchfield Haven |
 |
| Barred Warbler - Titchfield Haven |
 |
Barred Warbler tail - note the shorter, greyer and pale tipped adult feather
contrasting with the other juvenile feathers |
 |
| Barred Warbler - undertail coverts showing darker centres with pale fringing |
No comments:
Post a Comment