Here's a project that is tracking Red-footed Falcons. If you click on the orange text box there's a neat Google Maps page where you can choose a bird and see its movements. Virag and Csalan seem to be the most restless at the moment. Will be great to see when and how they head south.
http://www.falcoproject.hu/en/content/show?dattype=sat_birds
Monday, 21 September 2009
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Holme Pierrepont - Saturday 19 September
About time too. The wind-free day we had been waiting for finally came - and what a glorious morning it was. We put up 14 nets and things were slow to begin with, but luckily this was not a sign of things to come. Flocks were active until at least 13:00h and we even found some Long-tailed Tits. 
We finished on 127 birds (including 15 retraps) and as one would expect, of this total >90% were young birds. The breakdown was as follows:
37 Blackcap
18 Long-tailed Tit
13 Chiffchaff
8 Great Tit
7 Dunnock
7 Robin
7 Blue Tit
7 Reed Bunting
5 Blackbird
4 Bullfinch
3 Chaffinch
2 Great Spotted Woodpecker
2 Song Thrush
2 Reed Warbler
1 Kingfisher
1 Wren
1 Garden Warbler
1 Lesser Whitethroat
1 Spotted Flycatcher
So apart from Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, summer migrants are now very much on the wane. Many of the Blackcaps had fat scores of 4 and 5 and were clearly either on the move or about to leave. At the other extreme, we are still catching Blackcaps that have only just started their post-juvenile moult. Below is an interesting young male bird. It had virtually completed its post-juvenile moult and yet it still showed extensive brown in its crown. These feathers were definitely post-juvenile as some still had sheath at the base. All were black at the base and the brown was in fact a broad fringe.
Otherwise it was a normal juvenile bird and below you can see the single old greater covert in the wing and a couple of faint fault bars across the pointed tail. 
One of the highlights of the morning was a young Spotted Flycatcher. Although we occasionally ring chicks in the nest at certain sites, catching free-flying birds is not even an annual event these days. For those of us who remember how common this bird once was it seems strange and not a little sad that we are now at the stage where they have become such a rarity. Note the spotting on the greater coverts which is the most obvious clue to its age.
It was in amongst a large mixed flock which also contained Long-tailed Tits. It's interesting to note that although we caught 18 of these, they were in several small flocks and we have still yet to catch or see what one thinks of as a typical big flock (20+) this year.
Other crowd-pleasers included 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a young male Kingfisher. Note the all black bill (no orange base to the lower mandible) and generally blueish (not greenish-blue) colour of the upperparts which enable us to sex it. Aging is based on the brownish (not bright orange) feet and a few remaining dark scallops on the breast.
Michael was out for the first time with us today. Not a bad start! (Note Kingfishers have a habit of lying still for several seconds before flying away suddenly.)
Away from the nets things had a very Autumnal feel. As we walked up in the dark about 45 Wigeon whistled overhead and through the morning Shoveler, Gadwall and Teal all put in an appearance. Black-headed Gull numbers have shot up, Meadow Pipits were more obvious too with perhaps 40 or 50 over in small flocks and a couple of Snipe were the first for a little while. Lastly, once the sun came out 3 Buzzards drifted over.
Pete
We finished on 127 birds (including 15 retraps) and as one would expect, of this total >90% were young birds. The breakdown was as follows:37 Blackcap
18 Long-tailed Tit
13 Chiffchaff
8 Great Tit
7 Dunnock
7 Robin
7 Blue Tit
7 Reed Bunting
5 Blackbird
4 Bullfinch
3 Chaffinch
2 Great Spotted Woodpecker
2 Song Thrush
2 Reed Warbler
1 Kingfisher
1 Wren
1 Garden Warbler
1 Lesser Whitethroat
1 Spotted Flycatcher
So apart from Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, summer migrants are now very much on the wane. Many of the Blackcaps had fat scores of 4 and 5 and were clearly either on the move or about to leave. At the other extreme, we are still catching Blackcaps that have only just started their post-juvenile moult. Below is an interesting young male bird. It had virtually completed its post-juvenile moult and yet it still showed extensive brown in its crown. These feathers were definitely post-juvenile as some still had sheath at the base. All were black at the base and the brown was in fact a broad fringe.
Otherwise it was a normal juvenile bird and below you can see the single old greater covert in the wing and a couple of faint fault bars across the pointed tail. 
One of the highlights of the morning was a young Spotted Flycatcher. Although we occasionally ring chicks in the nest at certain sites, catching free-flying birds is not even an annual event these days. For those of us who remember how common this bird once was it seems strange and not a little sad that we are now at the stage where they have become such a rarity. Note the spotting on the greater coverts which is the most obvious clue to its age.
It was in amongst a large mixed flock which also contained Long-tailed Tits. It's interesting to note that although we caught 18 of these, they were in several small flocks and we have still yet to catch or see what one thinks of as a typical big flock (20+) this year.Other crowd-pleasers included 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a young male Kingfisher. Note the all black bill (no orange base to the lower mandible) and generally blueish (not greenish-blue) colour of the upperparts which enable us to sex it. Aging is based on the brownish (not bright orange) feet and a few remaining dark scallops on the breast.
Michael was out for the first time with us today. Not a bad start! (Note Kingfishers have a habit of lying still for several seconds before flying away suddenly.)
Away from the nets things had a very Autumnal feel. As we walked up in the dark about 45 Wigeon whistled overhead and through the morning Shoveler, Gadwall and Teal all put in an appearance. Black-headed Gull numbers have shot up, Meadow Pipits were more obvious too with perhaps 40 or 50 over in small flocks and a couple of Snipe were the first for a little while. Lastly, once the sun came out 3 Buzzards drifted over.Pete
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Mick's Garden
After two wedding receptions on Friday and Saturday night, I needed a lie in this Sunday morning. However I did put up a net in the garden, it was pretty quiet but I caught another new bird, a coal tit!
Mick
P.S. You can just see the 3 old greater coverts in the picture...
Mick
P.S. You can just see the 3 old greater coverts in the picture...
Swallow ponderings
I mentioned to a Kenyan friend that we'd had good Swallow passage over the last week and asked if he'd seen his first yet. I always used to see my first in Zambia around the second week of September. His reply was very interesting:
"In Kenya the situation with Swallows is more complex than just arriving in August. The birds appear in some numbers (particularly around Lake Victoria) by the end of June, they are all adults, but the increase in numbers at the end of June is contrary to an almost absence in early June. Certainly a very few winter on the lake, but this increase supports immigration to the area. From beginning of August they are widespread all over central and western Kenya, mainly near waterbodies and rivers. Maybe there are early breeders in the southern part of the range, which having bred at the beginning of the year and move south quite quickly. Northern birds have multiple broods to maintain numbers, but birds in tropics/sub-tropics do not share this tendency. I also wonder what happens to first brood offspring of Swallows in UK after they leave the nest, and the parents stay on to raise another couple of broods. I don’t think they are coming back to their winter quarters, as the first birds in late June are adults. Still a lot of intrigue in the commonest species!"
Roll on satellite trackers small enough for passerines...
Pete
"In Kenya the situation with Swallows is more complex than just arriving in August. The birds appear in some numbers (particularly around Lake Victoria) by the end of June, they are all adults, but the increase in numbers at the end of June is contrary to an almost absence in early June. Certainly a very few winter on the lake, but this increase supports immigration to the area. From beginning of August they are widespread all over central and western Kenya, mainly near waterbodies and rivers. Maybe there are early breeders in the southern part of the range, which having bred at the beginning of the year and move south quite quickly. Northern birds have multiple broods to maintain numbers, but birds in tropics/sub-tropics do not share this tendency. I also wonder what happens to first brood offspring of Swallows in UK after they leave the nest, and the parents stay on to raise another couple of broods. I don’t think they are coming back to their winter quarters, as the first birds in late June are adults. Still a lot of intrigue in the commonest species!"
Roll on satellite trackers small enough for passerines...
Pete
Holme Pierrepont - Sun 13 September
Still not quite firing on all cylinders this Autumn. September usually brings us catches of 70+ birds and often nearer 100. Our total of 58 today continued the pattern of recent weeks and the disruptive 10 o'clock wind wasn't a minute late. But the weather surely doesn't tell the whole story though. We have still yet to catch (or even see) a decent flock of Long-tailed Tits (and therefore accompanying warblers). Might this have something to do with it?
However, it was a very pleasant morning with a beautiful sunrise and we enjoyed a good mix of species. Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were most numerous and we also caught several Reed Warblers, a couple of Whitethroats and a single Lesser. Willows were conspicuous by their absence.
The odd Chiff was singing, but one of the most obvious calls through the morning was the squeaky effort of young Chiffchaffs. Here's a pic of one of their wings showing three unmoulted juvenile greater coverts, typically paler, browner and more faded.
Some of the Blackcaps in particular were carrying decent fat reserves (any challengers for another 'guess the weight' competition!?) but at the other extreme we are still catching juvenile birds that have barely started their post-juvenile moults.
Here's the tail of one of today's Whitethroats showing a cracking fault bar. This tells us that the tail feathers grew simultaneously and therefore it's a strong indication that the bird is a youngster as adults typically moult their tail feathers in sequence.
Not much in the way of other records. Meadow Pipits were more noticeable with a dozen over as well as 4 Shoveler, single Greenshank and Grey Wagtail and the odd Migrant Hawker.
So here's your homework for the week. We caught a Reed Bunting with intermediate aging features and decided to call it a '2'. Its wings and tail were fresh and it had a bit of body moult. So what was its moult code? Perhaps I'll throw that one into the Ringers' Forum and let them chew on it for a while...
Pete
However, it was a very pleasant morning with a beautiful sunrise and we enjoyed a good mix of species. Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were most numerous and we also caught several Reed Warblers, a couple of Whitethroats and a single Lesser. Willows were conspicuous by their absence.
The odd Chiff was singing, but one of the most obvious calls through the morning was the squeaky effort of young Chiffchaffs. Here's a pic of one of their wings showing three unmoulted juvenile greater coverts, typically paler, browner and more faded.
Some of the Blackcaps in particular were carrying decent fat reserves (any challengers for another 'guess the weight' competition!?) but at the other extreme we are still catching juvenile birds that have barely started their post-juvenile moults.Here's the tail of one of today's Whitethroats showing a cracking fault bar. This tells us that the tail feathers grew simultaneously and therefore it's a strong indication that the bird is a youngster as adults typically moult their tail feathers in sequence.
Not much in the way of other records. Meadow Pipits were more noticeable with a dozen over as well as 4 Shoveler, single Greenshank and Grey Wagtail and the odd Migrant Hawker.So here's your homework for the week. We caught a Reed Bunting with intermediate aging features and decided to call it a '2'. Its wings and tail were fresh and it had a bit of body moult. So what was its moult code? Perhaps I'll throw that one into the Ringers' Forum and let them chew on it for a while...
Pete
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
A few recoveries
A few recent recoveries sent through included several local Barn Owl movements. One ringed near Southwell was controlled 19km away near Grantham, and another moved 18km from Plumtree to Flintham. However, a bird from Widermerpool moved 123km to Yorkshire. A Brackenhurst Yellowhammer was found in Bleasby after a year (c5km away), a Goldfinch moved 88km into Lincs a Siskin controlled nr Inverness after 3yrs had moved 541km and a Reed Warbler ringed in Spain, was controlled at Holme Pierrepont the following year 1068km from where it had been caught originally.
More from Mick's garden
I was a bit disappointed at having to leave the ringing session at Holme Pierrepont early, especially as I ended up getting home earlier than necessary. But this meant that I had some time to spare so I decided to put up a 6m net. My disappointment subsided when I caught 3 Goldfinch, 1 Dunnock, 1 Greenfinch and a new bird for the garden, a Willow Warbler.
Mick
Mick
Monday, 7 September 2009
Holme Pierrepont - Sunday 6 Sept
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the morning was the regular sight of Swifts overhead through the morning. Quite where they had come from is anyone’s guess, as is the number of individuals involved, but we must have had 20 sightings in amongst the steady stream of hirundines (esp House Martins).
It must be about a month since we last saw one. Anyway, onto the ringing. It was an overcast morning with a bit of a breeze and we reverted to the Grange side for a week. We notched up 58 birds, 14 of which were retraps. Migrant warblers, in order of abundance, were as follows:
17 Blackcap
13 Reed Warbler
5 Chiffchaff
3 Whitethroat
2 Sedge warbler (see photo)
1 Garden Warbler
The lack of large Long-tailed Tit flocks was still noticeable, but we had a few other sightings of interest including 110 Lapwing, 2 Grey Wagtails, 4 Gadwall, 1 Teal, 1 Greenshank and 1 Jay. Despite all the rain, the water levels are certainly just about as low as I’ve ever seen them.
Anyway, enough fun. Here are some instructive photos of young Blackbird, Dunnock and Robin...
Cheers
Pete
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
More from Mick's garden
The total of Hucknall birds now sporting SNRG bling is 16. This includes 2 Robins, 3 House Sparrows, 5 Greenfinches and 6 Goldfinches.
A 9m net just fits if set diagonally in my garden. This has proved fortunate because it bisects the birds' flight path to my feeders.
Mickjuvenile Goldfinch
young Robin
younger Robin
Holme Pierrepont - Sun 30 Aug
Another pleasant, but fairly short morning on the A52 side. We were stopped by strong wind between 11 and 12 but finished on 54 birds.
Still good numbers of warblers and capture totals included:
9 Whitethroat
6 Willow Warbler
5 Lesser Whitethroat
5 Blackcap
2 Garden Warbler
2 Reed Warbler
2 Chiffchaff
Amongst the birds caught was a control Chiffchaff in very heavy moult so one would guess that it hadn't come too far from its breeding grounds and therefore perhaps it had been ringed on passage - we shall have to wait and see. We also caught a young Greenfinch in the process of replacing its inner 5 primaries. We sometimes spot this aberrant moult in birds over the winter but it was interesting to see a bird going through the process and still with a streaky belly.
One noticeable feature of the day was the increase in visible migration. Sight records included at least 2 Whimbrel, a Greenshank, a Tree Pipit, 3 Yellow Wagtails, 12 Shoveler and several Meadow Pipits. Swallows and Sand Martins were also moving in a much more purposeful way to the south.
Pete
Today's top two: Whitethroat and Willow Warbler
Still good numbers of warblers and capture totals included:9 Whitethroat
6 Willow Warbler
5 Lesser Whitethroat
5 Blackcap
2 Garden Warbler
2 Reed Warbler
2 Chiffchaff
Lesser Whitethroat
Amongst the birds caught was a control Chiffchaff in very heavy moult so one would guess that it hadn't come too far from its breeding grounds and therefore perhaps it had been ringed on passage - we shall have to wait and see. We also caught a young Greenfinch in the process of replacing its inner 5 primaries. We sometimes spot this aberrant moult in birds over the winter but it was interesting to see a bird going through the process and still with a streaky belly.Garden Warbler
One noticeable feature of the day was the increase in visible migration. Sight records included at least 2 Whimbrel, a Greenshank, a Tree Pipit, 3 Yellow Wagtails, 12 Shoveler and several Meadow Pipits. Swallows and Sand Martins were also moving in a much more purposeful way to the south.Pete
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Hobby satellite tracking
Thought you all might be interested in this, just in from Bernd Meyburg of the WWGBP:
"Dear all,
The Eurasian Hobby is a small falcon. It breeds across Europe and Asia and is a long-distance migrant. European birds winter in Africa. More than 5,700 Hobbies have been ringed in 10 European countries, but so far there have been only two ring recoveries south of the Sahara desert. Satellite tracking using the Argos system is now an accepted technique for long distance migration studies of birds. It is generally accepted that any device we burden a bird with should weigh no more than 3% of the bird's weight if we are not to affect its behavior.
Method
The prototype of the smallest satellite transmitter (PTT) produced so far weighing just 5 g was fitted by me for the first time to an adult female Hobby (weight 265 g) on 9 August 2008 in Germany near Berlin and successfully recorded the annual migration route.
The Hobby had raised two offspring and was trapped near its eyrie using the dho-ghaza-method. This new type of solar-powered PTT was still in the trial phase and is still working (in August 2009).
Results
This smallest and lightest satellite transmitter produced to date delivered astoundingly high numbers of good Argos Doppler fixes (LC:2 and LC:3).
After leaving on migration in the second week of August, and a short rest period on the island of Elba off the west coast of Italy from 6 to 13 September, the bird flew at first in a southerly direction towards North Africa. The falcon held this course more or less until reaching its main wintering area in Southern Angola on 17 October. The migration to southern Angola took 49 days including some days on the island of Elba and one day (8 October) in Cameroon when the falcon was not moving. On average the falcon migrated 174 km per day including the days when it did not migrate.
Map
Outward migration route in 2008 up to the southernmost point in Zimbabwe not showing local movements during wintering in Angola. Copyright by B.-U. Meyburg, 2009
A summary of the results with further details has recently been presented at the 7th Conference of the European Ornithologists' Union 2009:
K.D. Fiuczynski, P. W. Howey, C. Meyburg & B.-U. Meyburg (2009):
Intercontinental migration of an Eurasian Hobby (Falco subbuteo) tracked by means of a 5g satellite transmitter. 7th Conference of the European Ornithologists' Union 2009, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 21 - 26 August 2009.
For the poster see:
http://www.raptor-research.de/pdfs/a_sp100p/a_sp140.pdf
&
http://www.Raptor-Research.de
"Dear all,
The Eurasian Hobby is a small falcon. It breeds across Europe and Asia and is a long-distance migrant. European birds winter in Africa. More than 5,700 Hobbies have been ringed in 10 European countries, but so far there have been only two ring recoveries south of the Sahara desert. Satellite tracking using the Argos system is now an accepted technique for long distance migration studies of birds. It is generally accepted that any device we burden a bird with should weigh no more than 3% of the bird's weight if we are not to affect its behavior.
Method
The prototype of the smallest satellite transmitter (PTT) produced so far weighing just 5 g was fitted by me for the first time to an adult female Hobby (weight 265 g) on 9 August 2008 in Germany near Berlin and successfully recorded the annual migration route.
The Hobby had raised two offspring and was trapped near its eyrie using the dho-ghaza-method. This new type of solar-powered PTT was still in the trial phase and is still working (in August 2009).Results
This smallest and lightest satellite transmitter produced to date delivered astoundingly high numbers of good Argos Doppler fixes (LC:2 and LC:3).
After leaving on migration in the second week of August, and a short rest period on the island of Elba off the west coast of Italy from 6 to 13 September, the bird flew at first in a southerly direction towards North Africa. The falcon held this course more or less until reaching its main wintering area in Southern Angola on 17 October. The migration to southern Angola took 49 days including some days on the island of Elba and one day (8 October) in Cameroon when the falcon was not moving. On average the falcon migrated 174 km per day including the days when it did not migrate.
Map
Outward migration route in 2008 up to the southernmost point in Zimbabwe not showing local movements during wintering in Angola. Copyright by B.-U. Meyburg, 2009
A summary of the results with further details has recently been presented at the 7th Conference of the European Ornithologists' Union 2009:K.D. Fiuczynski, P. W. Howey, C. Meyburg & B.-U. Meyburg (2009):
Intercontinental migration of an Eurasian Hobby (Falco subbuteo) tracked by means of a 5g satellite transmitter. 7th Conference of the European Ornithologists' Union 2009, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 21 - 26 August 2009.
For the poster see:
http://www.raptor-research.de/pdfs/a_sp100p/a_sp140.pdf
&
http://www.Raptor-Research.de
In July and August 2009 I have been able to trap eight more adult Hobbies and mark them with even smaller solar-powered satellite tags (size: 9.3 x 30 x 16.4 mm ). From these transmitters we already received much better results during the last few weeks in the breeding area than from the first PTT in 2008. One surprising result has been an adult female which migrated 300 kms north from her breeding site after the fledging of her offspring to reach the coast of the Baltic Sea in western Poland.
Kind regards,
Bernd Meyburg
Prof. Dr. Bernd-U. Meyburg"
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Why did I choose ringing?
I think we've all had the odd day like this chap from South Africa...
"This morning's ringing session had me asking the question - Why didn't I stick to golf?
"This morning's ringing session had me asking the question - Why didn't I stick to golf?
I decided to visit my Bot River site for the first time after the winter rains. On arrival - no site. Completely washed away by the river in spate. All the trees lining the far bank were in the water. Can't cross the river, which is running very fast and deep, and no riverine bush left on my side. So decided to put up some nets along the fence lining the river to try to catch some pasture species, plus a few round the top of the nearby dam wall. Got to the wall and found a dead cow (plus/minus a week) in the dam and stinking like Hades. (Should've taken this as an omen - I'm sure the ancient Romans would have.)
First "pasture" bird in the net - an African Black Duck, which proceeded to empty the plentiful contents of its bowels all over me at high pressure as I extract it. Also ripped a nice hole in my waders with its toes.
Just settling down to the "normal" routine when I hear a commotion at the dam. A big fat Jersey cow has walked into the end net and is trying to pull the lot back into the meadow. Fortunately she got untangled and ran off, leaving a two metre hole in the net, plus a wide assortment of debris, sticks and weeds. Twenty-five minutes to sort and re-set the nets and move the ringing site nearer to the (smelly) dam so I can keep an eye out for more cows.
Settling down again when a roaring south-east wind comes ripping up the valley out of nowhere. Only lasts 10 minutes but when I get to the nets by the river, two of them have fallen against the rusty, four-strand barbed wire fence and are totally hooked and tangled.
Three hours later, (with stops to check the dam wall nets) I finally have the nets freed and back in the net-bags.
Five hours of hard work produced 8 weavers, 6 bishops, a Fiscal Flycatcher and a shi**y Black Duck!
Mum said there'd be days like this - and she was right!"
Mum said there'd be days like this - and she was right!"
Do I really need to check the notch?
Inaugural garden session
I put my 6m net up late afternoon on Sunday because of the wind. I watched it intently for about an hour and a half before this bird went in. A 3J (F) P Greenfinch, sporting ring number TP40001.
Great.
And here's the photostory:
Great.
And here's the photostory:
"ON YOUR MARKS..."
"NET SET..." 
(...count up to 90 minutes...) "GO!"
And just to prove it had a head...
Mick P.
"NET SET..." (...count up to 90 minutes...) "GO!"And just to prove it had a head...Mick P.Sunday, 23 August 2009
Holme Pierrepont, Sunday 23 August 2009
We stayed over on the A52 side today and it was breezy from the moment we arrived. A taster of things to come. Again we had a great flush of warblers first thing but activity tailed off fairly quickly as the wind became stronger and stronger.
We finished on 66 birds (including only 5 retraps) with Whitethroats (above) and Blackcaps (below) the most numerous. We also had the first half decent Long-tailed Tit flock move through of which we caught 9.
We took down before 11:00 due to the wind and the last round produced a moulting young Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Other records of note included both Greenshank and Green Sandpiper over and a possible Whimbrel heard. Several Yellowhammers were flying about and lone House Sparrow looked a little out of place. Still lots of Common Blues. Here's a happy couple next to one of the nets.
We finished on 66 birds (including only 5 retraps) with Whitethroats (above) and Blackcaps (below) the most numerous. We also had the first half decent Long-tailed Tit flock move through of which we caught 9.We took down before 11:00 due to the wind and the last round produced a moulting young Great Spotted Woodpecker.Other records of note included both Greenshank and Green Sandpiper over and a possible Whimbrel heard. Several Yellowhammers were flying about and lone House Sparrow looked a little out of place. Still lots of Common Blues. Here's a happy couple next to one of the nets.
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