First ringing session of 2015

Post date: Jan 10, 2015 12:11:09 PM

Yesterday, I carried out a ringing session at Salreu marshlands in order to collect blood samples of Reed Buntings (Emberiza schoeniclus). These samples will contribute to a study comparing the ecological (isotopic) niche between subspecies, sexes and assessing the influence of bill size. This study is in fact already written, but a collaborator will collect some new and important samples from southern France, and so I will also add a few more from Portugal for comparative purposes. A minimum sample size of ten for each subspecies is needed.

By using only three 15m nets and song playback (for which I have the required permissions), I managed to obtain almost all the sample needed, as I caught 20 Reed Buntings, of which six were lusitanica (the others belong to the ssp schoeniclus, which winter at this site). A single Cetti's Warbler (Cettia cetti) and a Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) were also caught. Below are some photos of the Reed Buntings.

An adult male E. s. lusitanica. showing the typical dark, rusty margins of the wing coverts, dark mantle and flanks. Bird of this ssp were colour-ringed.

A first-year male of E. s. schoeniclus. This kind of photos have been used by myself and my PhD student to calculate bill shape (using geometric morphometrics)

More news soon!

Júlio M. Neto