9th May 2015
Staff: DWE, JMY, (Marcelo) MBL, TMJ, MFG
Weather: Sunny, little wind, generally pleasant.
Projects: Great Reed Warbler, Ringing, Spotted Crake.
After the previous days clearing up of much of the Farmland bird duties, DWE and JMY took the opportunity to do some birding around Kvismaren on a lovely day. MBL and TMJ spent much of the morning on the lookout for Great Reed Warblers and both succeeded in finding new birds in Rysjön and Aslasjön.
After MBL returned to the observatory, both him and DWE decided to put up a few nets as the conditions were good enough, and though the catch was not huge, it was full of quality and new species in the hand for both of them.
Ringing at Ängfallet-
Treecreeper: 1
Pied Flycatcher: 1
Robin: 2 (1 control)
Wood Warbler: 1
Chaffinch: 2 (1 retrap)
Blackcap: 1
Blue Tit: 1
Yellowhammer: 1
Nuthatch: (1 retrap)
Great Tit: (1 retrap)
Thrush Nightingale: (1 retrap)
The biggest surprise came when looking at the ring on one of the Robins, Gdansk, Poland! Not bad for such a small catch!
After our successes with the nets and also good conditions we went out to try and catch Spotted Crakes in order to determine if any of the 5 individuals ringed last year were back this year. We immediately heard an individual on Hammarboten and proceeded to try to catch him. This bird seemed to be fairly quiet and we expect it may have only arrived very recently, and we had no luck. We tried for a second individual further out on Hammarboten and again did not have any luck, though the bird responded well. We expect more luck next weekend!
DWE