Three-fourths completed

Post date: Jul 28, 2014 11:49:46 AM

With 79 captures and five retraps of 15 species, yesterday's constant-effort ringing session at Krankesjön was the best so far. Two species were new for this project: Wren/Gärdsmyg and Chaffinch/Bofink, but the highlights for me were the various juvenile Marsh Warblers, which can be quite challenging to identify, the Bearded Tits and a stunning juvenile Lesser Whitethroat.

Sylvia curruca - juvenile

One of the two juveniles caught of Hippolais icterina

Having five visitors from Portugal attending this session, most of which had little ringing experience, Arne's help was invaluable to handle all the birds in due time. I have now completed nine sessions of the CES and only three remain, to be undertaken during August. These will most probably be the ones with the greatest number of birds, so there is still a lot of work left. I'm giving up time ringing Aquatic Warblers migrating through Portugal, and hope these remaining sessions are worth it!

By the way, some birds are already in migration mode, as shown by a Sedge Warbler with a fat score of 6, but as some birds leave, others will arrive from further north. For this reason, it seems to me that the CES method in Sweden should actually end in July rather than August. As long as it is undertaken similarly every year, it should not be a problem for monitoring, except that the abundance and productivity measures resulting from this method cannot be allocated the the specific site, at least for some species (due to the influx of migrants from other locations later in the season).

More news soon!

Júlio