Rapid Recoveries

No this is not news of birds being recovered shortly after ringing but it is about speed in the turnaround of recovery reports from the new BTO ringing application. Ringing details for the controls that I submitted, with other data, on Wednesday evening landed back in my inbox on Friday, just 2 days later. I expected a longer wait but I was wrong and the new system is really starting to show its capabilities now. When the online version is up and running it should be even quicker and I could be posting details of some controls on the day they are caught. This new system may have taken longer to introduce than originally planned but it certainly looks like that wait has been worthwhile.

Lesser Redpoll Y781820 (purple line and markers) was ringed on 02/02/14 in Wilmslow, Cheshire and was controlled at Crawford on 27/05/15. A movement of 41 km NW. It may not be a long distance or quick movement but the speed of the new system means I can post the recovery details just 3 days after the bird was controlled and submitted.

Lesser Redpoll  D717537 (red line and markers) was ringed on 03/04/14 in Llanfyllin, Powys and was controlled at Crawford on 13/05/15 and 27/05/15. A movement of 89 km NNE. A similar rapid turnaround of ringing details for this control.

Blackbird CT82386 (blue line and markers) was ringed as a juvenile male in my garden in Orrell on 23/07/14 and was controlled in Darnall, South Yorkshire on 12/04/15. British bred Blackbirds are fairly sedentary in the main so this is quite a good movement especially as it involved a crossing of the Pennines.





The Goldfinch D954944 pictured in my last post and controlled at Crawford on 27/05/15 had been ringed at a Kings Moss on 09/11/14, just 2 km away, so isn't mapped. Interestingly it wasn't sexed when originally ringed so it may not have finished moulting its head feathers at that time and those unusual lesser coverts may have also contributed to the bird being left unsexed. In addition there wouldn't have been the opportunity to confirm the sex of the bird through examination of the cloaca in November so erring on the side of caution was probably the best decision at that time. I only mention this as sexing Goldfinches is one of my pet subjects and it must be of interest to many other people judging by the page views of my previous post on the subject (main link here).  Page views of that post still run into the many hundreds each week and seem destined to keep it at the top of the most popular post list.