Beeston Bird Ringing group.Bedfordshire. March 2009.
I
t was hoped that a good morning would provide plenty of birds now that milder weather had taken a hold. We were not to be disappointed. My dad picked me up and we arrived at beeston just before 9am. Luckily for us they had kept something back from a previous check before we got there. How glad we were they did, when they produced, ''drum roll please and Ta Daaaaa '' a green woodpecker from the bag, glad it wasn't a rabbit. What a cracker to see close up.
This male chaffinch was feisty and would not let go... poor jackie, she always gets them.
After the events of last time with the starlings it was good to get a lovely conditioned bird. The colours when the sunlight hits them is fantastic up close, and photos don't do justice to what your eye sees.
When the goldfinches were ringed we were given the opportunity to compare male and female birds. Looking at the red on the face you notice that it goes slightly beyond the eye on the bird in the front, this is the male, and although close in some examples it was good to see this definite pair. They also seem to be one of the most shy of birds when being ringed. They don't utter a sound but almost bow their head as if embarrassed.
There were good numbers of greenfinch being caught and a few males were more canary like in colour, they were so bright.
A great sight was a pair of goldcrests trapped in the same net, they turned out to be both males, but later a couple more were trapped and we were given good comparisons of male and female. The male being more orange on the crown with the female just yellow on the feathering.
How about that for colour, this male goldcrest was stunning.
With the female on the left, the orange feathering is mostly hidden beneath the yellow gold above on the male.
The moth trap had been placed out overnight and the mild weather drew in more than expected. These two hebrew characters show the difference in their colouration.
This is an early grey, and was a nightmare to photograph until placed on this tiny piece of bark.
This is a clouded drab (above) and a great find was this lead coloured drab(below).
There were good numbers of common quaker (below) in the trap along with two small quakers to boost the tally up.
It was hoped that a good morning would provide plenty of birds now that milder weather had taken a hold. We were not to be disappointed. My dad picked me up and we arrived at beeston just before 9am. Luckily for us they had kept something back from a previous check before we got there. How glad we were they did, when they produced, ''drum roll please and Ta Daaaaa '' a green woodpecker from the bag, glad it wasn't a rabbit. What a cracker to see close up.
This male chaffinch was feisty and would not let go... poor jackie, she always gets them.
After the events of last time with the starlings it was good to get a lovely conditioned bird. The colours when the sunlight hits them is fantastic up close, and photos don't do justice to what your eye sees.
When the goldfinches were ringed we were given the opportunity to compare male and female birds. Looking at the red on the face you notice that it goes slightly beyond the eye on the bird in the front, this is the male, and although close in some examples it was good to see this definite pair. They also seem to be one of the most shy of birds when being ringed. They don't utter a sound but almost bow their head as if embarrassed.
There were good numbers of greenfinch being caught and a few males were more canary like in colour, they were so bright.
A great sight was a pair of goldcrests trapped in the same net, they turned out to be both males, but later a couple more were trapped and we were given good comparisons of male and female. The male being more orange on the crown with the female just yellow on the feathering.
How about that for colour, this male goldcrest was stunning.
With the female on the left, the orange feathering is mostly hidden beneath the yellow gold above on the male.
The moth trap had been placed out overnight and the mild weather drew in more than expected. These two hebrew characters show the difference in their colouration.
This is an early grey, and was a nightmare to photograph until placed on this tiny piece of bark.
This is a clouded drab (above) and a great find was this lead coloured drab(below).
There were good numbers of common quaker (below) in the trap along with two small quakers to boost the tally up.
