Redwings, Pink Crows and Sparrowhawks.

A couple of Sunday's ago I had one of the best ringing mornings I think I've ever had.

A Redwing is always the best way to start off a morning for a start...

The interesting thing about Redwings and their larger cousins the Fieldfares when it comes to trying to mist net them is that you only really have one shot at it in the early morning. You have to get your nets up and tape under before the sun is fully up and move well out of the way. Even then you may be only likely to catch the odd one or two as, despite traveling round in big flocks, catching more than a couple of Redwing before the chance is over is something I've never seen happen. Those people who say otherwise are just laying down Red (Herr-)wings. I do apologise. Lets move on.

Later on in the morning we were able to catch a bird from a notoriously difficult family of avian brain boxes. I am, of course, talking about the crow family. The crows are probably my favourite group of birds but, due to their intelligence, vigilance and size, are difficult birds to get your hands as they prove masters of detecting, avoiding and escaping nets. Therefore any day that a crow finds its way into the net is a good day in my eyes. Back in September we had a Magpie that had come into the feeding station that we were able to ring, but this Sunday it was time for a crow that I hadn't ringed in over 3 years to make another appearance. - The Jay.

A bird that pretends to not really be a crow at all with its burnt pink and electric blue plumage, the Jay is just as much a corvid as the rest of them. Although it will happily takes chicks and eggs from nests once located, around this time of year you're more than likely to see them gathering up nuts and seeds (mainly acorns) to stash so they have a food source to live off once winter hits.

And finally, on our way back up from net around the feeding station that the Jay had come out of, we passed a net that seemed to have another sizeable bird in one of the bottom shelves. I thought it was likely to be another Blackbird as we had been catching many of them all morning due to an influx of Scandinavian birds but, as we got closer, Dean (a C ringer who was with me) broke out into a sprint and dived on this bird to make sure it didn't go anywhere. When I reached the net to help him take it out the net it was obvious what we had - a Sparrowhawk.

We think of birds of prey to be big birds, but this first year male Sparrowhawk was smaller than the Jay that we had caught moments earlier. The females are a lot bigger (a general rule for raptors is that females are a third bigger) and this means that you have to correctly sex it before putting a ring on as the sexes take two different sizes. Funnily enough me and Dean had ran towards the same net when it was holding a much larger Sparrowhawk (probably a female) that managed to get out earlier that morning. But needless to say, we weren't kicking ourselves for too long with the way the morning eventually panned out.

Finally, I will leave you with this picture of us managing to weigh a Sparrowhawk successfully just by laying it on its back. A trick known by many bird related people, it basically involves making sure the birds wings are tucked securely under its body and it will sit there for some time, unharmed, before its had enough and scarpers.  

A cracking ringing tick and Brent Geese in the mist.

Boom.

Spotted Flycatcher

The first Spotted Flycatcher ever caught at our ringing site and I was lucky enough to stick a ring on its leg! They aren't summer residents on our site, although they can be found in more suitable habitat about ten minutes drive away, but this was a youngster moving through in mid September.

We also did well for 2 members of the Tit family in the past few months that are fairly unusual for us to catch. Marsh Tits, the one on the right, are the species that we more commonly come across whilst Willow Tits, on the left, are more of a rarity. Having the two of them on the same day was allowed for us to compare the defining features of the two species when trying to identify them in the hand.

The Willow Tit can be identified by the presence of a white panel on the secondary feathers once the wing is closed, whilst the easiest feature to pick out on a Marsh Tit is the presence of white on the base of the bill. For more information, this website provides a good breakdown:
http://birdingfrontiers.com/2012/03/23/marsh-or-willow-tit/

Brent Geese out on the sea through the morning fog.

About a month after that glorious day of ringing I visited Spurn Point on a trip with my local bird group. I'd not visited Spurn for about 10 years, and my last memories were of getting a Red Backed Shrike on someone's garden fence, being drowned in Yellow Browed Warblers and then staking out a bush for a couple of hours to get sight of a Radde's Warbler. Unfortunately there was nothing even remotely on the same level upon this visit. After scanning the vegetation in the pub car park to try and find a reported Yellow Browed Warbler and only coming up with a Chiffchaff, we headed along the sea edge to see what we could find.

It was then that the most biblical fog I have ever seen in my life rolled in off the sea and completely blanketed the entire area for a good hour or so. This, as you can imagine, made birding near impossible unless the birds were within about 20 metres of us. Luckily, a few thoughtful birds abliged and we managed to see Brent Geese (to my knowledge a lifer for me), Wheatear and a selection of waders. Then as the mist cleared we picked up Stonechat and Whinchat sat next to each other in the fields as well as my first Fieldfare of the year.

Once the fog cleared up it was a glorious day.

Unfortunately though that was about it for the whole day. We searched for a Firecrest in vain before giving up hope and deciding to head back. It wasn't until I got home and checked Twitter that I saw reports of a Radde's Warbler sighted at Spurn only an hour after we had left.

Typical.