A bunch of new species

Post date: Jul 12, 2015 11:54:16 AM

It has been a while since my last post, but a lot has happened ringing-wise. The 7th CES session was performed in between two other sessions around Krankesjön to collect blood samples for our malaria study. On the 2nd July, I focused on Grasshopper Warblers (Locustella naevia) and on Whinchats (Saxicola rubetra), having caught three of each, all adults, as well as six Whitethroats (Sylvia communis), a Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) and a couple of Willow Warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus). However, the most interesting of the session resulted from birds captured by SB (who was ringing nearby for the same project): two Kingfishers (Alcedo atthis) and a Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius), which were ringed by myself with my own rings (SB did not have the appropriate ring sizes). The latter was the very first of this species that I have ever ringed, whereas the Kingfishers (which I ring quite a lot in Portugal) were the first for Sweden.

An adult male Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus major)

The CES session on the 7th July resulted in 35 birds of 10 species. The number of Chiffchaffs (Phylloscopus collybita) was considerably lower than in the previous session (only 9), but there was an increase in Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla; eight birds mostly juveniles) and of Reed Warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus; seven). Other species captured were Sedge, Garden and Willow Warblers, Reed Bunting, Whitethroat, Blue Tit and an adult Dunnock ringed in the previous year.

Juvenile Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), one of the commonest birds of the day

This morning I went ringing (to collect more samples) just for three hours and using only two 15m nets, but it was pretty nice (24 birds of 12 species), including a few new species for the year: Great spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major), Wren (T. troglodytes) and Nuthatch (Sitta europaea). Other species included one Icterine Warbler (Hippolais icterina), two Treecreepers (Certhia familiaris), Willow and Garden Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Blue Tit, three Dunnocks, and one juvenile Robin.

A juvenile male Great-spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major)

Next CES will be on tuesday. Until then...

JMN