Friday, April 01, 2011

Wheatear with colour rings

My first Wheatear of the year

And it has colour rings! Wheatears with colour rings are very common on Fair Isle due to the Adam's ringing and study of the birds. I saw Yellow over Metal & two Orange on the other leg. I didn't get great views or photos so... After enlarging the photo it looks like it could be Red or Pink over Orange. I'll send Adam a link to this post and maybe he will give us some more info.
 Also today...
Collard Dove

Fieldfare & Redwings

female Chaffinch
The 2 brambling were still about this morning plus 2 Pied Wagtails.

early this morning

1 comment:

  1. Hi Tommy,
    Excellent! Great to see the wheatears arriving back now. I put 3 colour rings on the left leg, so one has obviously come off this one. Its got yellow over metal on the right leg and red over orange on the left. I'm certain this is the male that's supposed to be red/orange/white and breeds at Ferny Cup. He was missing the white ring last year and I didn't manage to replace it (must do so this year!), plus as he's a few years old I'd expect him to be one of the first back. Assuming I'm right, he was first ringed as a second year male in May 2007 (i.e. fledged in 2006). 5 years old is pretty good going for a wheatear!
    Keep them coming!
    Cheers, Adam

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