Another Mealy

I made the effort to get up to Billinge at first light this morning and set 3 nets but my optimism didn't look like it was going to be rewarded with only 7 birds being caught in the first couple of hours. I had hoped some Redpolls would be on the move but there was nothing moving overhead and not a great deal moving through the bushes either. Things hadn't improved much by 09:30 so I started to think about packing up but then 3 Redpolls went north and rekindled my optimism. Better still the next check of the nets produced a nice Mealy Redpoll so any thought of packing up was put firmly on hold.

Mealy Redpoll 06/04/17

Mealy Redpoll 06/04/17

Mealy Redpoll 06/04/17

The remainder of the morning saw further improvement with a little trickle of Redpolls heading north and a better catching rate. While I didn't catch any more Mealies a total of 7 Lesser Redpolls were caught including one that had been ringed elsewhere. With a bit of luck I should get confirmation of where this bird was ringed back from the BTO tomorrow, although I do have good reason to believe it was originally ringed in East Sussex.

The control Lesser Redpoll was a cracking male. Details of where it was ringed will be posted in due course.

Chiffchaff numbers had increased since my last visit and all 5 that were caught were retraps from previous years (1 from 2015 and 4 from 2016). One of them had a cracking pollen horn. This bird must have spent a lot of time with its face in flowers, feeding on insects and probably drinking nectar, whilst fattening up for the return journey.

JTA492 Chiffchaff had the best pollen horn I have seen so far this spring

JTA492 Chiffchaff

The final tally of 18 new birds and 19 retraps was well worth the effort and made up for the slow start. Ringing totals (retraps or controls in brackets) were: Woodpigeon 1; Blue Tit 2; Great Tit 1 (3); Coal Tit (1); Long-tailed Tit (3); Chiffchaff (5); Willow Warbler 2 (1); Robin (2); Chaffinch 2 (2); Lesser Redpoll 6 (1); Mealy Redpoll 1; Goldfinch 3; Yellowhammer (1).

07/04/16 update
The recovery report for the control Lesser Redpoll arrived today as predicted and it was originally ringed as a first-year at Icklesham in East Sussex in October 2011. This makes it just under 6 years old which is a good age for a Lesser Redpoll. The current longevity record in the BTO online report for 2015 is not much older at just over 6 years between time of ringing and recovery and that bird would have been around six and a half when recaptured. Full details and a recovery map will be posted in due course.

1st to 3rd April highlights

1st April

A day of showers but a brief ringing session at Billinge during a dry interlude produced my first Willow Warbler of the year, a new Blackbird and a retrap Great Tit. At least 2 other Willow Warblers were recorded at the site along with a singing Blackcap (per CAD). On returning home I was greeted by another Willow Warbler that was singing in the gardens behind the house.

Willow Warbler 01/04/2017

2nd April

Totals for a longer ringing session at Billinge (using just 2 nets) were: 1 Common (Mealy) Redpoll, 3 Lesser Redpolls, a retrap Chiffchaff (originally ringed as a juvenile 24/07/16) and a retrap Willow Warbler (originally ringed as a first-year 23/07/16). There was very little in the way of visible migration but 3 Crossbills and a Sand Martin went north. A Wheatear was also seen leaving the site and heading off north.

Not the frostiest Mealy Redpoll but a Mealy nevertheless.

Mealy Redpoll (left) and Lesser Redpoll (right).

Back home a Red-green Carpet, 2 Caloptilia stigmatella and a Caloptilia elongella were the pick of the moth catch.

Red-green Carpet

Caloptilia stigmatella. Micros are not my forte but some are fairly easy to identify.

Caloptilia elongella. This species can be difficult to separate from Caloptilia betulicola but I am fairly confident this one is elongella.

3rd April

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for another session at Billinge were: Willow Warbler 1; Chiffchaff 1 (1); Blackcap 1; Lesser Redpoll 2. The retrap Chiffchaff was originally ringed as a first-year on 20/09/16. There was virtually no movement overhead despite the seemingly perfect conditions and just 1 Siskin and 2 Meadow Pipits were recorded going north during 4 hours of observation.

Female Blackcap. The feathers around the base of the bill were matted with pollen residue, a sure sign of a recently arrived migrant. 

Chiffchaff

The new Chiffchaff had relatively pale legs rather than the text book dark brown or blackish legs.

Back home the moth trap held a surprise in the form of a Water Carpet; a new species for the garden. Having run a moth trap in the garden for many years the catching of a new species has become an increasingly rare and sometimes less than annual event.

Water Carpet: a first for the garden!!!

All in all an interesting few days and a good start to the month.

Fun with finches.

The baited site at Longshaw is still holding a few Bramblings but it isn't easy to gauge numbers and the birds have been proving quite difficult to catch. On my last visit, a week ago, I managed to catch 5 which isn't bad for April but I had hoped for a few more. The birds are clearly taking full advantage of the sunflower seeds for fattening up for their return migration to the breeding grounds and while most of them weighed in at 23 to 24g one weighed in at a whopping 31.4g.

When I went and topped up the feeders yesterday afternoon there were still around a dozen Bramblings present so I decided it would be worth trying another ringing session there this morning. I was joined by Wayne and Steve and we had a couple of nets up before sunrise. We retreated to a vantage point to watch for any birds coming in and it wasn't long before the first small group arrived and circled overhead.  More birds joined them and soon there were at least 25 Bramblings which is a a really good number given the date. They all dropped down to the feeders and we expected a decent catch but the first check of the nets only produced 1 Brambling and 1 Willow Warbler. We did manage to catch another 5 Bramblings subsequently along with a couple of Chaffinches, a Chiffchaff and the first Blackcap of the spring but not as many Bramblings as expected given the number present.

One of today's fine male Bramblings

One of 3 Blackcaps seen or heard at Longshaw today and the first to be ringed this spring.  

Although there was very little in the way of passage overhead I also tried playing Redpoll on the MP3 lure. This resulted in 3 Lesser Redpolls being caught during the morning. Interestingly the first 2 were already wearing rings and we had ringed both of them at another baited site just over 5km away to the east with one of them having been ringed there only yesterday and the other having been ringed there on 1st April. Although they hadn't moved far such movements are interesting, especially when one is so quick. Perhaps the birds are moving between favored feeding sites over quite a large area or these birds could be moving towards their breeding areas.

On the subject of Redpolls we have caught and ringed 91 in the past few weeks and now have them coming to feeders at 2 sites. The vast majority have been Lesser Redpolls as would be expected but we have caught 5 'Mealies' or Common Redpolls if you prefer. However there have been a few birds that have made us look twice because they almost seem to be intermediate between Lesser and Mealy in appearance. All of these birds look colder and greyer than a typical warm brown Lesser, especially when seen side by side. These greyer looking Lessers are not unusual in spring and presumably get these colder tones as a result of plumage wear although it is interesting that it doesn't happen to them all. This creates significant variation in appearance and I am sure it would be quite easy for some of these to get identified as Mealies.

Variation in Lesser Redpolls with a typical warm brown bird on the left and progressively colder and greyer birds centre and right. The right hand bird was ringed very early in the morning and the light levels did affect the white balance of the picture as can be seen by comparing the colour of the skin tones of my hand and the vegetation in the background but it was still the palest of all 3. Lighting conditions can make a big difference to how they appear to the eye as well as the camera.

This Lesser had quite a pale rump, elements of pale tram lines on the mantle and greyish tones to the feathers around the ear coverts.

And 2 proper Mealy Redpolls to finish with but there is variation even here with the right hand bird being that bit browner and less frosted looking. There was an obvious size difference in all the Mealies we have caught even if they had the same wing length as a Lesser. They always looked longer overall when compared side by side with a Lesser of the same wing length.

01/04/2014 Superspecies and supercilium.

The new month got off to a fine start in terms of the weather with conditions that were perfect for an early morning mist-netting session. I had arranged to meet Wayne for a ringing session at the baited site near Scotman's Flash subject to the usual confirmation text to see if I had dragged myself out of bed. Texts exchanged we subsequently met up at 06:15 and made our way to the ringing site at first light. As we approached the nyger feeders it was clear they had been heavily used in the two days since I had last refilled them. We topped up the feeders and quickly erected a couple of nets in anticipation of a good catch of Redpolls or at least that is what we were hoping for.

Although we were listening out for Redpolls we couldn't help hearing 2 Blackcaps that were singing close by, another first for this spring, and Chiffchaffs were clearly more plentiful. However, it wasn't long before we heard the distinctive nasal buzzing calls of approaching Redpolls amongst the cacophony of the dawn chorus. Initially the birds settled in the tops of sallows and started to feed on the flowering buds but it wasn't long before they worked their way down to the nyger feeders. The first round of the nets produced 10 Redpolls comprised of 8 Lessers and 2 Mealies which more than met our expectations, especially the Mealies. Redpolls are a group that really interest me and although I don't have a favourite species of bird Mealy would probably be a top contender.

This 'puff ball' of a Mealy was quite fat and weighed in at a fairly hefty 15.5g but it could get close to 20g before it heads back to its northern breeding grounds.

The other Mealy was a slightly frostier looking individual and weighed in at a leaner 12.4g.

Redpolls didn't get all the attention though as we also caught a Chiffchaff with a really prominent supercilium which, unusually, made me look twice. The supercilia were broad and met above the bill giving it a much stronger head pattern than I am used to seeing in this species. It was a fairly short-winged bird, probably a female and there is no doubt it was a Chiffchaff if you are wondering.

The 'double take' Chiffchaff

What a super supercilium this bird has.

Wayne had to go at 8am and I didn't stay much longer but the final totals were a respectable 16 new birds and 11 retraps. Redpoll migration has only just got underway so hopefully there will be a lot more Lessers and Mealies to come before the month is out.

Totals for 01/04/13 with retraps in brackets.
Lesser Redpoll 11 (9)
Mealy (Common) Redpoll 2
Chiffchaff 2
Reed Bunting 1
Blue Tit (1)
Wren (1)