Sunday 14 April 2013

A bit of Green & Red

Quality rather than quantity at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve yesterday before the wind stopped all ringing for the weekend (again).

7 captures:

Blue Tit = 1 retrap
Dunnock = 1 new
Chaffinch = 2 retraps
Green Woodpecker = 1 new
Goldfinch = 1 new
Coal Tit = 1 new



Above: An adult male Green Woodpecker


Above & Below: That same Green Woodpecker. I do think they are marvelous birds. The red in the malar strip (below the eye, surrounded by black) makes this a male.



I love these close up head photographs of birds in 'the ringers grip'. They make great computer backgrounds!

The last two weekends, I've seen the Green Woodpeckers bombing around chasing each other all over the place, high and low, through the trees, over the grassland, onto the BT poles. It's either a terratorial thing (e.g. male chasing male) and/or a breeding thing (e.g. male chasing female).


Above & Below: A Goldfinch. The facial red showing behind the eye and black nasal hairs make it a male. I mentioned in my last post it was nice to catch the first two of the year & this was the third.


I didn't take a photograph of it but the final bit of quality was a new Coal Tit. A Chiff Chaff was singing briefly from the tops of the trees and a lone swallow was seen heading east but that was it for summer migrants. Elsewhere on the reserve a Yellowhammer was hanging around. Some Fieldfare (around 20) were also knocking around.

Unless I get some recoveries through, my next post will be in a few weeks time with photographs from Sardinia and/or CES ringing sessions news as the new season starts when I get back. Perhaps there will be a lot more summer migrants around and the wind will have died down by then?

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