11/12/13 - an interesting sequence and day ????

I am not a believer in auspicious numbers or days and any of that hokum or at least I try not to but then culture, superstitions and incredibly daft ideas can run deep. It is an unfortunate consequence of the human condition that many millions if not billions of people believe in all manner of superstitions and worse still the medicinal value of all kinds of animal parts and products.

Such beliefs are likely to cause numerous extinctions in my lifetime and already cause all manner of extreme cruelty on a daily basis. We really need to get our act together and start to tackle this whilst we can still do some good. Most of the planet is still only the odd spear chuck or two from the stone age with such beliefs which is really sad given the modern day culture and finance that drives the trade. A consecutive day, week, year date will not come round for another 90 years with 01/02/03 (2103) being the next, hopefully the world will come to its senses before then but I doubt it.

Anyway back to today, 11/12/13, and interesting sequences. I walked across to the water park to check out the Black-headed Gulls for rings.  I hadn't seen any ringed birds for a few weeks and the German ringed bird in particular. Today the German (DEH) ringed bird IA141745 was one of the first to come to bread and was quickly identified. I checked through the other 70 or so Black-headed Gulls gathered but none were ringed.

Having got IA141745 in the bag or the camera to be more precise I headed back to home when I noticed a ringed Coot. I took a few photos to confirm its identity assuming it would turn out to be a bird I had ringed at the same site. A quick review of the photos soon revealed the ring number as GR03863 and I quickly realised it was a control (a bird ringed elsewhere). This was the last thing I expected and I nearly hadn't bothered taking any photographs of it as I thought it would be a retrap. The outcome of an auspicious day if you think that way but pure chance if you don't. All I know is I may get the odd control now and again but I still haven't won the lottery and I know which numbers I would like to 'come up', just once will do.

At least no animals were harmed or suffered in the production of this post !!!! A stupid story for a Black-headed Gull that I have recorded numerous times and a control Coot but then it is all about the sequence of numbers. I will let you know where this Coot has come from in due course but a little bird tells me that it hasn't been ringed locally and could have travelled some distance.