21st May 2015
Staff: DWE, JMY, MBR, TMJ, EKP, DHT
Weather: Sunny, wind built up during the day
Projects: Great Reed Warbler, Ortolan Bunting.
DWE joined TMJ, MBR and DHT for a morning on the Great Reed Warbler project, whilst JMY and EKP worked on tracking down the Ortolan’s heard from Torsholmen yesterday evening.
DWE and TMJ took on Sörbyjön and Nyängen, whilst MBR and DHT searched Åslasjön and Rysjön. Between the teams a nest was checked after the male seemingly went quiet and to everyones delight it held 4 warm eggs. The male also started singing and the other male whose territory lies adjacent to this male’s was the quiet bird. Another nest was also located in Rysjön (this one only in the early building stages) as well as 2 new males singing. In Sörbyjön another male was located and the old males each continued to stake their claims to various patches of reedbed. A female was also caught near a known nest, which DWE got to enjoy as his first experience with the species in the hand. She now holds the colour sequence 9V-33. In Nyängen, a new male was singing and the 2 males already known were seen disputing territory borders.
EKP and JMY had partial success with the Ortolan’s and located the male that was colour read yesterday, though no other birds would sing. It is interesting to note how quiet the Ortolans seem to be this year, waiting for prime conditions before becoming vocal in most cases.
After this MPN joined the observatory team for a BBQ for a windy yet sunny evening, the practising of the various languages around the table leaving a rather humorous end to a day of hard work.
DWE