Aerial Combats

This morning I visited Manor Farm Museum to check on the House Sparrows, and get some colour-ring combinations as part of my BTO RAS project. I had intended to get up early and set a couple of nets, but an alarm clock malfunction, meant that I arrived later than hoped and therefore did not have the time to open nets before the farm museum opened. It was still a worthwhile visit, as I managed to get 11 different colour-ring combinations, and counted at least 20 breeding pairs.

Un-ringed male House Sparrow

Colour-ringed male House Sparrow

After the farm I stopped off in the woods and checked on a few next boxes. There are only seven boxes and within those there were three broods of Great Tit and one Blue Tit. My next stop was Botley Wood; I was hoping to catch up on a few butterfly species and also any new migrants for the patch. 

The Common Buzzards were very active and one bird had a finely barred tail and therefore I presume it to be a 2nd CY bird. It was showing evidence of primary moult and as I understand it, spring moult is typical of a 2nd CY bird.

Common Buzzard

The warm and slightly breezy conditions were good for raptors, and as other species appeared the local buzzards engaged them in aerial combat. Two Hobby's were the first to drift over Botley Wood; they appeared not to be hunting but the buzzards were keeping a close eye on them.

Common Buzzard (top) and Hobby

Hobby

A Eurasian Sparrowhawk also put in a brief appearance and this was immediately shadowed by a buzzard. With this level of activity I presume the buzzards are nesting nearby and are keen to keep an eye on any potential predators.

Common Buzzard (top) and Sparrowhawk

A surprise species for the day was a Turtle Dove; once a regular breeder at Botley Wood, I have not recorded this species for at least two years.

Manor Farm Bird Ringing - February 2015

Saturday 14th February
This weekend has been fairly hectic for me. It started with a low tide wader count on a part of Portsmouth Harbour Saturday morning, which was fairly uninspiring. There were small numbers of Redshank, Oystercatcher, Turnstone, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew and a few duck and geese species, the most numerous being Dark-bellied Brent Goose. It was nice to see a few Goldeneye and Red-brested Mergansers, as I don't often see them around Hill Head or on my patch. Three adult Mediterranean Gulls, two in winter plumage one in full summer, were the highlight for me though.

After the wader count I headed to Manor Farm Country Park to set nets for the planned mornings ringing session. I was joined by Rob and Megan and we put up six nets and then furled them in readiness for the morning session. We did catch four birds in the process, one new House Sparrow, two Dunnocks, one of which was a retrap and one Robin. Whilst putting up the nets a large flock of mainly Black-headed Gulls flew over, I picked out one adult winter Mediterranean Gull, but nothing else. We had hoped to catch some Fieldfares or Redwings as they went in to roost, but there were very few birds around. A flock of 40 Fieldfare was the most I had seen in a while, but there was less than 10 Redwing around.

As the sun began to set the resident Little Owls started to get active, and were putting on a very vocal display. We eventually tracked down two birds; they were sat together preening each other whilst making and variety of squeaks and squeals to acknowledge their appreciation. Other birds were flying around the main car park and we estimated at least four birds being present.

Sunday 15th February
Sunday morning began with a pre-dawn start for me Chris, Rob and Megan and as we arrived we were serenaded by the resident Tawny Owls. The Tawny activity seemed to inspire the Little Owls again as they started calling again, but only for a while. The ringing session was fairly mundane as there were very few birds but the total did include six new House Sparrows so some new additions to my RAS project. We also caught 11 retraps which included one bird that was ringed over five years ago and one that was ringed 4 years ago.

A total of 34 birds were caught which included one Wood Pigeon, six Dunnocks, three of which were retraps, four Robins, two Blackbirds, one retrap, a Song Thrush, Chaffinch and a few Blue Tits.

In the afternoon I opened a net at home and added another 21 birds. The highlights were another male Chaffinch and a Greenfinch, but the total included two Long-tailed Tits, a Dunnock and a selection of new and retrap Blue and Great Tits. Of the Blue Tits one was originally ringed 3 years 256 days previously and another 5 years 189 days previously. One of the retrap Great Tits had been ringed 3 years 115 days previously.

Over the course of the weekend we caught 63 birds of 12 species, with 38 new birds and 26 retraps. It was disappointing not to catch any Redwing or Fieldfares, but they should be around for a few weeks yet.

Manor Farm Country Park - November 2014

It was an absolutely glorious start to the day this morning, and well worth the pre-dawn start.  We had arrived on site at 6:30 with the aim of getting at least some nets up and open before first light, and achieved that goal. Chris had to leave at around 9:30 so we limited ourselves to just six nets, which in the event was ample.

Sunrise over Manor Farm Country Park

The target species was as ever House Sparrow for my RAS project, and to colour ring birds for next years breeding season, but of course anything else that happens upon a net is also ringed. The session was very successful with a total of 33 birds ringed, 21 House Sparrow (16 new and five retraps), four Goldcrest (all new), two Dunnocks (one new and one retrap), two Robin (one new and one retrap) and three Blue Tits (two new and one retrap).

In a previous post I have discussed ageing House Sparrows in the winter, and have spent considerable time looking at the bill colour of birds, particularly males. The bill colour in males is a secondary sexual characteristic, and when sexually active in the breeding season, it becomes jet black. According to various published papers it reverts back to the pale brown or horn colour of females in the winter months.  Studies have shown that the change in colour is driven by the presence of testosterone, but one study concluded that the darkening of the bill was the result of synergistic effects of gonadotropins and testosterone (Anderson, T.R. 2006: Biology of the Ubiquitous House Sparrow - from Genes to Population. Oxford University Press).

Given that we are now at the end of November, the bill colour of male birds should no longer be black, yet two of the males clearly still had black bills.

House Sparrow - Manor Farm CP. This bird was originally ringed 2nd January 2010 and is now approaching five years since its initial ringing date

House Sparrow - Manor Farm CP. This bird was first ringed on 7th March 2014 so presumably bred in 2014

By contrast the bird below was ringed as a 3J on 22nd June 2014 and therefore is a first year bird and will not yet have bred. The bill colour of this male is the typical colour of a juvenile or female, indicating that the bird has yet to become sexually active. Another thing to note about this known juvenile is the extent of fringing on the head feathers, which is considerably greater than in the two known adult males.

First year male House Sparrow - originally ringed on 22nd June 2014 as a juvenile.

The three male below were all new birds. Given that I have been ringing at the site for over 15 years there is a pretty good chance that the majority of the new birds ringed each winter are juveniles. I admit I am never going to catch every single new bird at the site, and it is often surprising how many unhinged birds I see each visit, but a fair percentage of the adult birds at the site will be ringed.

Therefore looking at the images of the three birds below, the colour of the bill and the extent of fringing on the head feathers, could these three be juveniles too? Of the three the first bird is perhaps the least likely since it does have very dark lores and mask, and fringing is not as extensive as the other two birds below, nor in fact the known juvenile above. Looking at the two adult birds, they are showing very obvious white patches above the eye and where the black mask meets the grey feathers of the forehead, which the bird below is not exhibiting. Personally, I think all these three birds are juveniles.

House Sparrow Manor Farm CP, first ringed 29th November 2014

House Sparrow Manor Farm CP, first ringed 29th November 2014

House Sparrow Manor Farm CP, first ringed 29th November 2014

Whilst ringing the other birds of note recorded were one Raven, 27 Redwing, two Fieldfare, one Little Egret, one Grey wagtail, five Pied Wagtails and two Little Owls.

RAS Ringing at Manor Farm - June 2014

For the second time this weekend I was up at 5 am, this morning though it was for bird ringing rather than twitching. The plan was to visit Manor Farm Country Park in the hope of catching some House Sparrows for my BTO RAS project. I have blogged about the project on previous occasions so won't go through it in detail again. But for those who don't know, the aim is to catch or see as many previously ringed birds between the breeding season (March to September).

Adult Male House Sparrow

To make this easier, all of the birds I catch are ringed with a BTO metal ring on the right tarsus, and a yellow coloured darvic ring, with a single letter and two numbers, on the left tarsus. I started the project in 2000 and have to date ringed over 700 birds,

The Colour Rings used for my RAS Project

It is the peak breeding season for House Sparrows at present, and I had timed this visit in the hope that the first broods had fledged. We set six nets, around the farm buildings in locations that have previously proven to be good capture sites. Our first bird was a Carrion Crow, a species that I had not trapped at the site until last year, and now have ringed four. I think this reflects the number of birds present around the farm, which has increased dramatically in recent years. The next birds were a couple of Dunnocks and then we started catching sparrows. It was now 6:30 and the farm opened to the public at 10, so we had three hours to ring. 

It was a productive session that resulted in a total of 36 birds, of which 27 were House Sparrows. The total was made up of eight re-traps and 19 new birds, of which 15 were juveniles. Both adult and juvenile sparrows have a complete moult post breeding/fledging, therefore usually all wing and tail feathers will be replaced. Typically this will commence later in the season for adult birds, since they can have two or three broods. However, juvenile birds commence moulting in mid June, these will be the first broods.

Juvenile Male House Sparrow - note the white patch behind the eye and
rufous feathers coming through, more rufous feathers were present in the wing.

Of the birds we caught, five were in primary moult. This was generally not very advanced in that only the innermost primary had been replaced and the next was growing; all of the other feathers were old. One individual was in a curious state in that it had replaced all of its primaries, primary coverts and greater coverts, and only some of its tertials and secondaries (see below). It will be interesting to see how this bird progresses its moult, so hopefully I will catch it again over the next couple of weeks.

Wing of Juvenile House Sparrow

During the session we also caught a few other species that are breeders at the site; Wren, Blackbird and a couple of Greenfinches. The female was very tatty, but the adult male was still relatively fresh which was quite surprising for this time of year.

Adult Male Greenfinch

The only other species ringed was a juvenile Robin. I always say to my trainees that when you have a bird of a known age it is worth looking at features, such as tail feather shape and size, shape and colour of tips of greater coverts, so that they are familiar with the features when they catch a contentious bird. There was certainly no doubting this Robins age.

Juvenile Robin

A Possible Italian Sparrow Reported in Hampshire this Week - May 2014

Depending which side of the fence you sit, Italian Sparrow Passer italiae is either a species in its own right, a race of Spanish sparrow P. hispaniolensis or a 'stable hybrid swarm' as a result of mixing between House P. domestics and Spanish sparrow. I really don't know what to think on its status but when I saw a report of a probable Italian Sparrow, just up the road in East Meon, Hampshire, I decided to go and have a look. The bird was a male and the picture that was submitted with the report looked very good for the species, thats if it is one, so it was worth a quick visit.

The bird was first reported on 5th May, but it was not until 9th May that I was able to go, by which time some observers were already casting doubts on its identity. The suggestions were that it might be a hybrid between House and Tree sparrow, but undeterred by these claims I decided to go. The key features to look out for in male Italian Sparrow are;

• a brown crown, as in Spanish sparrow;
• white ear-coverts, again as in Spanish sparrow;
• upperparts and black throat/breast patch as in house sparrow.

Female/first winter Italian sparrows are indistinguishable from female house sparrows.

Reported Italian Sparrow - East Meon, Hampshire

I arrived at the site as the bird was sat deep in a pyracantha bush, so it was visible but only just. However after a couple of minutes of tantalising glimpses it jumped out into full view. My first impression was that it looked good, the crown was chestnut, the cheeks were white and there was the beginning of a white supercilium in front of the eye.

Reported Italian Sparrow (left side) - East Meon, Hampshire

The back and mantle also appeared a richer chestnut colour than the resident house sparrows and the black throat and breast patch fitted well. There was a slight flaw in the white cheek patch on the left side of the bird, in that a small black feather appeared to be present. Looking at the right side the same black spot was not present.

Reported Italian Sparrow (Right side) - East Meon, Hampshire

Head on the the features that indicate Italian sparrow show very well, the chestnut crown, white supercilium, white cheeks and black throat and breast. But on closer inspection there is evidence of some grey feathers in the crown.

 Reported Italian Sparrow - East Meon, Hampshire

The grey crown feathers are more evident in the image below. Initially I thought that this was just fringing to the tips of the feathers, which is typical on sparrows early in the season. The feathers on this bird appeared more prominent than just fringing with several feathers appearing to be grey.

Reported Italian Sparrow - East Meon, Hampshire

It is difficult to know what is going on with this bird, it appears to show a variety of features that make it look good for Italian Sparrow. However, the small dark spot on the cheek and the extensive grey in the crown suggest that there maybe both house and tree sparrow in its parentage, which seems to be the preferred choice by many birders. I am not totally convinced by this prognosis since the colouration of the back and mantle seem too rich for this combination, and the beginning of a white supercilium in front of the eye could suggest some Spanish. Whilst I was watching this bird I noted a second bird that whilst essentially a typical house sparrow did have extremely white cheeks and an extended white collar, so it would appear that something may have been added to the gene pool in this population.

What a difference a day makes....February 2014

Yesterday the south of England was being battered by hurricane force winds and heavy rain showers, but today was like a perfect spring day. Overnight the storm force winds had subsided, the sky had cleared and a light frost had carpeted the ground. During yesterdays poor weather the first Eurasian Siskins of the year turned up on the feeders in the garden, so in todays calm conditions I set a net in the hope of catching some. 

Pair of Siskins, the first in the garden this year

I opened the net just after dawn and before long had my first three birds, a Great Tit, a Blue Tit and a Eurasian Nuthatch. All three were retraps, the most notable being the Great Tit which was originally ringed on 25th June 2011, 2 years 236 days previously. The session was steady but mainly consisted of Blue Tits, with other occasional species namely Dunnock, Goldfinch, Long-tailed Tit and a new male House Sparrow. The House Sparrow had dark lores but still showed some yellow at the base of the lower mandible, suggesting that it was not in full breeding condition yet.

Male House Sparrow

In total I caught 33 birds, of seven species, 15 of which were retraps. The majority of retraps were of recently ringed birds, but three of the Blue Tits were originally ringed over three years previously, one on 5th December 2010 (3 years and 73 days previously), one on 30th October 2010 (3 years 109 days previously) and one on 10th August 2009 (4 years 190 days previously).

The spring like conditions and warmth from the sun proved popular with bumblebees, several buff-tailed’s were flying around the garden and a brimstone butterfly. The latter was sunning itself on bushes next too my ringing station, it took a while to get settled but eventually found somewhere  suitable for it to soak up the sun’s rays.

RAS Ringing at Manor Farm Museum, Botley

In the year 2000 I began ringing House Sparrows at Manor Farm Country Park near Botley, Hampshire. Initially the numbers of birds ringed was fairly modest but as more birds were ringed I decided to set up a BTO RAS project. I have previously written about the project on this blog, and it is one of the driving factors why I continue to ring birds at the site. Over the years, the numbers of birds I have ringed has fluctuated quite significantly, this has been due to a number of reasons. The main issue has been work commitments, which has limited the amount of time I could put into the project. But management practices at the site, and accessibility (the site is open to the public) have also played their part. 

House Sparrow with Inscribed Darvic Ring

Many years ago I began colour ringing sparrows as I thought that this would increase the recapture rate of the project. Sparrows are very clever and will remember a net site thereby making them difficult to recapture. I began using small plastic colour rings, but it soon became evident that the sparrows were removing them. I then started using overlapped rings, before ultimately settling on overlapped darvic rings with a letter and two numbers inscribed on them. 

Graph Illustrating Total Numbers of House Sparrows Ringed per Year (blue)
and Retrapped per Year (Red)

Since the year 2000 I have ringed 656 new birds and have retrapped 453. The longest lived individual recorded to date is 4 years 276 days, and the second longest is 4 years 267 days; there have only been three retraps of birds over 4 years during my study. According to BTO data the maximum recorded age is 12 years and 12 days, which was set in 1978, so an individual from this population has someway to go to get to that ripe old age. There have been several theory's about the decline of the House Sparrow including changes in farming practices (increased use of pesticides, cleaner farming, and changes in cropping regimes), loss of nesting sites and increases in predator species such as sparrowhawk. At Manor Farm these changes have not really occurred but nonetheless the population seems to be declining. I have witnessed sparrowhawks taking birds from a recently flailed hedge, so maybe that is the cause here.  

Ageing House Sparrows after their post juvenile/post breeding moult is not possible since the extent of the moult is complete for both adults and juveniles. I have not previously looked in detail at ageing birds, but there have been several suggestions by various authors in the past describing how to separate first year from second year birds. These include a less pure grey crown and broader chestnut edges in first year birds, a difference in the pattern on the upper middle secondary covert, and the colouration of the bill, specifically the yellow bill colour and fleshy lateral lobes at the base of the bill.

Two male house sparrows, note the all dark bill and paler check of
the left hand bird, but the yellow base and grey check to the right
hand bird

Over the last few weeks have started looking at the bill on some of the birds I have captured, although at this stage I cannot make any assessments as I am catching mainly new birds. However, in male birds I have noticed considerable variation in the colouration of the bill. This is illustrated above where the bird on he left has an all dark bill, and also a more defined head pattern and a whiter cheek. However the bird on the right has a paler bill with yellow at the base, a less well defined head pattern and greyer cheek. Unfortunately both birds were new birds so I could not confirm my suspicions that the bird on the left is an adult.

Adult male House Sparrow which was originally ringed on 2nd
January 2010 and retrapped on 30th November 2013 (3 years 332
days later)

One male bird that I retrapped this weekend was originally ringed on 2nd January 2010 (image above). Like the left hand bird in the previous image this bird had a mainly black bill, although not as dark as that bird, and a clearly defined head pattern. Interestingly this bird also exhibited a very well marked black face mask and dark lores. The cheeks are pale grey in colouration.

This male again had an ill-defined head pattern, pale horn
coloured bill with a yellow base

The image above illustrates another male bird, this time with an ill-defined head pattern and black mask, paler horn coloured bill with a yellow base. The cheeks on this individual are quite pale, but appeared slightly buff coloured as opposed to the dark billed birds which were greyer. I have yet to look in detail at female birds, but of the ones that I did the bill colour seemed to be fairly consistent, being dull pink in colouration with a yellow base. Over the next couple of years I will look more closely at this and maybe by the end I will be able to confidently separate adult and juvenile birds.

Female House Sparrow with dull pink bill and a yellow base.

In two sessions this weekend I caught 50 new birds and retrapped 12, of 10 species. The new species included 28 house sparrows, eight goldfinches, five blackbirds, three robins, two blue tits and single wren, great tit, nuthatch and carrion crow. Of the retraps the most notable were a long-tailed tit, that was originally trapped 2 years and 270 days previously, a blue tit that was originally ringed 2 years 269 days previously and three House Sparrows that were ringed 4 years 276 days, 3 years 332 days and 3 years 156 days previously.

More Birding on the Patch and Beyond...

With the weather set fair this weekend I was hoping to get in some spring ringing, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Instead I spent the time birding at various locations within my patch and on Sunday (April 21st) I ventured further afield to Hampshire County Councils Hook with Warsash Local Nature Reserve. Saturday began with another stroll around Botley Wood, every visit this week has yielded new species, but not today. Willow warblers, whitethroats, chiffchaffs and blackcaps, all seem settled on territories, and a fly over raven was a good record, but the best news was the return of my second nightingale of the year.

Male Nightingale - Botley Wood

I have been colour-ringing nightingales at this site since 1998 and so always spend a bit of time trying to track down a bird when I hear one. After a bit of of stalking I was able to track down a male in full song. Initially it didn't show its legs, but after a bit of maneuvering I got a good view. Unfortunately this bird was not colour-ringed, but its good to see new birds still returning to the site.

Male Nightingale - Unfortunately not a colour-ringed bird

My next stop was Manor Farm Country Park. I had been asked to do a dawn chorus walk on Sunday 21st and so thought I would go and have a look around to plan my route. But no visit to Manor farm would be complete without checking the resident house sparrows for colour-rings. After a couple of hours, and some very patient observing I had manged just two birds...not what you would call a raging success.

Male House Sparrow - Manor Farm Country Park

My patience was rewarded in a way though, as whilst watching a couple of sparrows I noted a couple of robins carrying food. Pretending not to watch, I was soon able to track down the nest to a metal jug hanging in a garden shed.

This Robin is clearly not an arachnophobic since it had a pretty big
Tegenaria sp. spider in its beak

The brood was snuggled down in the bottom of the jug, out of sight of predators and in the dry and warm.

Happy family Snuggled in their Nest

Fortunately, I had brought my ringing kit with me and quickly put a ring on each of the brood of four before moving on. 

Robins certainly do look better with Feathers

Ringing birds in the nest (pulli) is a valuable resource since it provides the precise age of a bird and its place of origin, and therefore in the case of longevity and dispersal studies it can be extremely useful. I will be watching this brood over the next week to see how they get on.

A handful of Robins

After a couple of hours at Manor Farm my next stop was Curbridge. I had timed my arrival with the falling tide, and by the time I got there it was pretty low. Several wader species were present, including two common sandpipers, 10 common redshank, two oystercatchers and nine greenshanks. Greenshank numbers tend to be at their highest in the spring at this site, with two or three birds usually spending the whole winter.

Three Greenshanks and and Oystercatcher

Whilst scanning the waders I noticed another medium sized wader on the mud and was pleased to see my first whimbrel of the year. The number of whimbrels present at Curbridge in the spring has previously reached over 100, but in recent years those numbers have dropped off, and now they rarely number more than 20 or 30 individuals, at any one time. 

Sunrise over the River Hamble

Sunday began with, what can only be described as, a ridiculously early start. I was up at 03:45 and at Manor Farm by 04:30, but I was not alone. The enthusiastic attendees for my dawn chorus walk arrived not long after me, and before long skylarks began to sing, along with little and tawny owls. Before long blackbirds, song thrushes and robins had joined in and the dawn chorus was in full song. We took a route around the park, and more by luck than judgement, were perfectly placed to watch the sun come up over the River Hamble. Great, blue and coal tits soon joined in the chorus, as did nuthatches, green and great spotted woodpeckers. A lone whimbrel fed on the inter-tidal and three oystercatchers flew overhead, kleeping as they went. Every year this dawn chorus walk seems to coincide with great weather and this year was just amazing, however hard it is to get up in the morning...on a day like this it is always worth it just to watch the sun come up.

Sunrise over the River Hamble

After a well deserved afternoon nap, a nipped out for a bit of of patch birding. There have been a couple of little gulls at Hook with Warsash over the last couple of days, so that seemed like a good place to start. I arrived in time to see both birds feeding over the lake along with an Arctic tern, which was an unexpected surprise. Both of the little gulls were 1st winter birds, one had a complete tail band and one just two dark tips on the outer tail feathers, so the two birds were easily separable. They fed over the lake for about 30 minutes before heading off north and up The Solent.

First Winter Little Gull

Other species present included lapwings, gadwalls, swallows, little egrets, redshanks, black-headed, common and herring  gulls, three oystercatchers a curlew and a very obliging whitethroat.
 

Common Whitethroat

More Bird Ringing at Manor Farm

Another pre-dawn start and a clear sky made for a fantastic sunrise this morning. But the clear sky meant another heavy frost, although luckily not as heavy a frost as last week.

Sunrise over Manor Farm - I. R. Phillips

With the ground not as frozen there were loads more birds around, with the most numerous species being thrushes, in particular Redwing and Fieldfare; over 100 Redwing and at least 50 Fieldfares were present. I set nets in the usual places and was eventually rewarded with four new Redwing, but the Fieldfares as usual were too canny. In total we caught 8 different species during the morning session, with the most colourful being a pair of Goldfinch's. The male bird was a cracking adult, with a bright red face, forehead and chin. The red on the crown, which extended well past the eye, and the all black nasal hairs, confirmed this bird as a male.

Adult Male Goldfinch

The wing of this species is striking, with a strong contrast between the part jet black and part bright yellow primaries. Ageing is usually possible by the presence of a visible moult limit in the greater coverts, which was lacking in this bird....

Goldfinch Wing

                                     .......and the shape and broadness of the tail feathers which were broad and rounded in this bird, thereby indicating an adult.

Adult Goldfinch Tail

A new female Greenfinch was nice, but much duller in comparison to the Goldfinch's. This bird was a first year bird...

Female Greenfinch

                                  ................and was aged by the presence of a moult limit in the greater coverts, and the shape and colour of the tips of the primary coverts. In the image below it is possible to see the pale tipped greater coverts, and the pointed and pale tipped primary  coverts.

Juvenile Greenfinch Wing

In addition the tail feathers were very pointed and abraded, as illustrated below.

Juvenile Greenfinch Tail

The other species that we captured included single Blackbird, Wren and Great Tit, a couple of Blue Tits and five new House Sparrows. As I have mentioned before the House Sparrow is one of the target species for the site as I am studying the population as part of a BTO Retrapping Adults for Survival project. All of the birds captured are fitted with a BTO metal scheme ring on the right leg and a yellow colour ring with three figures, on the left leg....so if anyone is in the area keep your eyes peeled.

Colour-ringed House Sparrow

The session ended with a total of 17 birds captured, so not great but a nice variety for the trainees.