Monday 16 December 2013

Fieldfare Fanfare

I was glad to be back ringing again, due to it being cancelled because of bad weather last week. The day didn't give us big numbers of birds, but the variety was great. 

We did catch some nice Fieldfare (but no Redwing this week, although we did see some- our total for Redwing is amazingly over 200 now ). In this picture, I've very carefully displaced the feathers slightly to show there's a male (right) and female (left); notice the male has a much fatter dark filling to the feathers and the black filling on the female's feathers is very thin.


 Apart from Fieldfares we also caught our second Redpoll for the site this Winter which was nice; we also caught Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Bullfinch and a stunning looking juvenile Treecreeper.




I am looking forward to next Saturday's session, the last one before Christmas. Any ideas what I should get ScouseRinger for Christmas. I was thinking a Christmas jumper.

Wild Bird Wednesday

20 comments:

  1. Wonderful birds to see Findlay... and a Xmas jumper sounds like a wonderful gift.

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  2. You're doing really well with your ringing Finn, wish I'd learned it when I had the chance, too late now can't hold the birds in my gammy hands...can still do the scribing tho.
    Was looking at some old notes from 1977 for a 'certain project' ;-) and came across a site I think Scouse Ringer knows well - Woodam near Little Crosby

    Keep up the good work

    Cheers

    DaveyMan

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  3. You're getting some great birds Findlay. I love seeing the Fieldfares this time of year.

    Jumper sounds good; or a wooly hat.

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  4. It's nice to see the good numbers of winter Thrushes Findlay, I hope it doesn't bode for a cold couple of months though? A Christmas jumper might just be the perfect gift?...lol...[;o)

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  5. Really like the flight shot Findlay, did you take that one? Funnily I thought Redwngs and Song Thrushes are a bit thin on the ground around here I'd been interested to hear at the end of the winter the number of Redwing you guys have trapped and ringed.

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    Replies
    1. I got the flight shot, it was a Fieldfare at my Grandmas in North Wales.

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  6. Jumper is a good idea. Wonderful birds are Fieldfare, I will do well with them once the snow hits us, in the mean time I am being over run (in a good way) with Redwings and Lesser Redpolls.

    The Redwings are using my garden as a pre-roost each evening before flying off in good numbers.

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  7. Great post for the bird-theme!
    So many interesting details!

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  8. Sounds like you are having great success seeing winter birds there.

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  9. Quite a subtle difference between the sexes in the Fieldfare! Probably not distinguishable in the field.

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  10. Very interesting post, Findlay, and that's a pretty healthy ringing tally. I asked the Fieldfares in our garden to show me their underfeathers, but they didn't oblige, so I've no idea what sex they were. I've not managed a flight shot of one yet - well done to whoever captured yours!

    If I don't manage to comment on another blog post from you before Christmas, I hope that you and the family have a wonderful one, and my best wishes to you all for 2014. Richard.

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  11. I like the in flight shot Findly, looks good.
    All the best Gordon.

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  12. How beautiful the Fieldfare are and they look larger than I had thought. Thank you for you kind comment to my blog. Have a great remainder to your week!

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  13. How nice to be a part of the process. Your photos are just awesome. As for the Christmas gift--don't ask me, I still have trouble with a summer Christmas!

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  14. It's these tiny feather details that make banding so interesting as far as I am concerned. Get a wren or a blue tit in the hand and you never look at them in the same way again.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  15. Good to see you catching winter thrushes Findlay. As to the present, I'm sure a nice warm jumper would be greatly appreciated.

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  16. hi Finlay. great bird shot and Christmas jumper are all the rage this year.

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  17. Beautiful flight shot that last one! All your birds are wonderful as always of course.

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  18. So neat to see the feather details of those birds up close, Findlay.

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  19. Fascinating account of your bird ringing as always Findlay. You're very lucky to be able to get so close to species more of us only ever get to see from afar.

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