Ringing

Archives for: January 2010

2010-01-31

Waiting patiently for the migrants

09:52:44 pm, Categories: Bahrain Banding Project

It's hard to resist putting up nets even though we don't catch much in January. On Friday we put 2 sixty foot nets in the fruit trees while the workers were spraying for insects. At first sight we were disappointed but two nice birds popped into the nets.

This is the first record of a Robin here since December 2003. This one was a bird born last year. Note the light tips on the greater coverts. The blue/grey colour around the red breast pattern is more obvious than that seen on Irish birds.

robin

While song thrushs are regular winter visitors, we don't catch many as they tend to fly high and drop into their roost sites from the air. The song thrushes we get here are far more agressive than their more timid cousins in Ireland. Their markings are also more pronounced. This bird was also born last year, the rosethorn pattern on the greater coverts clearly visible in the hand.

Thrush