I thought I would do a post about a typical spring day, ringing at the Jew's Gate Field Centre on the Upper Nature Reserve on Gibraltar. So I picked yesterday 3rd April 2024.
In some ways it was not very "typical" as we trapped and ringed 14 different species. I think the previous record for species in a morning was 12. We also ringed a new species for me at the obs, but more on that later.
The morning started with two Bonelli's Warblers in the garden nets. We have a small garden with a pond and three nets along the edge. Every morning, we turn a small hose on so that a trickle of water drops into the pond. One thing that all birds can't survive without is fresh water.
With 10 other nets situated on the lower slopes and 6 more above the obs, we usually split into teams, depending on how many ringers we have staying at the Field Centre.
Kev and Ross, both West Midlands birders returned from the bottom nets with a nice selection of birds, including; Sardinian Warbler, Redstart, Subalpine Warbler, Whitethroat and a Greenfinch.
At the same time Paul Hopwood, another well know ringer from the West Midlands returned from the top nets with a big smile on his face and a male Woodchat Shrike.
My "new" bird was in the form of a Collared Dove that someone had rescued the day before and kept in a box over night. It was a young bird and probably had not been long out of the nest. It was released, fit and healthy on the edge of Jewish Cemetry at the end of our garden.
Here is the list for the morning.
Willow Warbler 7
Garden Warbler 4
Bonelli's Warbler 2
Serin 2
Common Redstart 1
Blackcap 1
Subalpine Warbler 1
Siskin 1
Woodchat Shrike 1
Chiffchaff 1
Whitethroat 1
Greenfinch 1
Collared Dove 1
We also caught three retraps. These are birds that were ringed sometime previous to that day and have been trapped again.
Sardinian Warbler 2
Blackcap 1
No comments:
Post a Comment