Post date: Aug 26, 2016 4:21:21 PM
It's done! Today I completed the 12th and last session of the constant-effort site for 2016. It was an unusually warm day, with temperatures raising to 27ºC!, weak southerly wind and clean sky. It started pretty well, with 19 birds caught during the first 30 min, followed by 12 more birds in the second round (after 1 hour from opening), but the they slowly declined until the 6 hours of ringing were completed. In total, 61 birds of 12 species were caught, of which Chiffchaffs and Reed Warblers were the most abundant (13 birds each), followed by Sedge Warblers (10), Willow Warblers (8), Blackcaps and Robins (4 each), Dunnock, Garden Warbler and Blue Tit (2 each), and single individuals of Marsh Tit, Marsh Warbler and Wren.
The CES results presented in the first table are now fully comparable, so that trends in the adult populations and in productivity can be inferred. Overall, there were fewer birds this year, and this may have been driven by the few juvenile Blue Tits and Chiffchaffs, and well as fewer adult and juvenile Reed, Marsh and Willow Warblers, which appear to be in slow decline. On the other hand, there was an increase in Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings. This year there were also few or no captures of many of the uncommon species in this habitat, namely, Icterine Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats, Bearded Tits, Goldfinches, Redpolls, Penduline Tit, Goldcrest and others; whereas the only new species for the site was White Wagtail. I hope I can continue with this next year, thereby further increasing the interest of the results.
In the meanwhile, further ringing will take place in association with various projects, particularly those on the dynamics of avian malaria in the bird community around Krankesjön and in House Sparrows (which will be trapped c.30 km from the lake). I will keep updating this blog whenever something interesting turns up, as well as to share some of my photos!
Thank you for following these activities!
JMN