First 100 juvs and counting.

The first juvenile Starling caught for ringing this morning was the 100th of this season and it was quickly followed by another 24. Productivity seems to be good despite the cold start to the spring and many pairs have 4 juveniles in tow. I haven't had time to total up the number of colour-ringed adults that have been resighted since 21st April but it is at least 130 and in addition another 40 new adults have been ringed and colour-ringed for the RAS project. 

 

A typical scene on the lawn taken through the window. A similar number of birds were feeding on the suspended fat block and bird table out of the shot

There are usually around 30 Starlings in the garden at any one time but well over 100 individuals visit over the course of a day and the true number could be over 200. They are currently getting through 2kg of home made fat blocks,15 or so shop bought fat balls and the odd loaf of bread each day. The warm and very sunny weather we have been experiencing is helping the Starlings get through the fat blocks and fat balls a bit faster than they otherwise would as it is softens them as the day warms up, so I am currently making batches of the home made fat blocks 3 times a week to keep up with demand.

Melt 6 blocks of dripping in a large jam pan.

Add about 7 margarine tub size scoops of meal worms.

Then add about 20 crushed shop bought fat balls.

Mix well until you have a nice even consistency and fill old margarine tubs to form blocks.

The result is yummy if you're a Starling and should be given how much it costs.

It is not just the Starlings that benefit from the feeding regime and we have one or two Hedgehogs that visits the garden every night to feed on any crumbs from the fat blocks that fall to the ground and don't get cleared up by the Starlings. I also put out a few meal worms for them in a purpose made feeding station.

The current run of sunny weather has resulted in a few of the young Starlings flying into windows from time to time and one of my neighbours upstairs windows in particular. Thankfully the young Starlings don't fly that fast so there haven't been any injuries or fatalities or at least none that I am aware of but they have certainly left their mark on the glass.

My neighbours will get value for money from the window cleaners the next time they come round. I may also have to power wash their garden path by way of a thank you for their tolerance not least because the Starlings are extremely noisy in addition to being a bit messy; the noise being more noticeable as most people have some windows open because of the very warm weather.

That's all for now as I have another batch of fat blocks to make and lots of other stuff to do.

Starling RAS half time scores

This year's Starling RAS has just passed the half way mark and 89 different adults have been recorded in the garden in the first 18 days. My RAS period is relatively short and runs from 21st April to 24th May but it still requires a plenty of commitment as I usually clock up at least 100 hours of effort over that period. Now if you don't know what a RAS project is you can find out more here and here but in simple terms it allows adult survival rates to be calculated from retrap or resighting data gathered over a number of years from a ringed population of breeding birds.

As I have been running a RAS project for a few years now the majority of Starlings that breed within foraging range of the garden are already ringed with both a BTO ring and a numbered colour ring so most of the effort involves recording colour-ringed birds when they come to feed. My Starlings are pretty well trained and come to a supply of home made fat cakes in a cage on a bird table and hung in a tree near a window. This means I get to do most of the observations from the comfort of an armchair and with a plentiful supply of coffee at hand. Any unringed birds are easily caught for ringing if they enter the cage to feed as the door on the cage is closed via a string that comes in through a window.

Ringed birds like this one (E11) happily feed in the cage as the door is only closed if an unringed bird enters. E11 was originally ringed as a juvenile last year. The fat cakes I make are an irresistible mix of beef dripping, dried mealworms and finely chopped peanuts.

Of the 89 adults recorded so far 65 were ringed in previous breeding seasons with 47 being at least 2 years old and the remaining 18 being ringed as juveniles last year. If those birds are representative of the local population as a whole it means 72.3% are experienced breeders and just 27.7% are breeding for the first time. There is still plenty of time for other colour-ringed birds to be recorded so it will be interesting to see what these figures look like at the end of the RAS period.

D25 has been resighted numerous times this season and was originally ringed as a breeding adult in 2016.

The primary aim of a RAS project is to establish the survival rates of adults but it has to run for at least 5 years before the data gets processed by the BTO and this is only my 3rd year of intensive study. However, the high proportion of colour-ringed birds recorded so far suggests it will produce some useful results in due course.

They really are a smart looking bird. In addition to providing fat cakes I occasionally throw bread, suet pellets and a few dried mealworms on the lawn.

I happened to photograph this Starling having a quick shake.

Waxwing lyrical part 25 - more coming than going

What an interesting few days it has been since my last post. A different colour-ringed bird was found in the flock. This bird had a black over a white colour ring on the left leg and a BTO metal ring on the right leg and would have been noticed had it been present sooner. This confirms that new birds are joining the flock all the time. I have just received the ringing details for this bird and it was ringed in Kincorth, Aberdeen on 16/11/12 and was one of the early birds to arrive there. Thank you to Raymond Duncan from Grampian ringing group for the information.

New kid on the block.

New kid on the block.

This bird was also photographed by a couple of birders who very kindly brought me some apples. Ric and Stephen had travelled from the other side of Manchester by public transport to see these birds and were well rewarded for their efforts. Ric had a rucksack full of apples which the Waxwings have already enjoyed such is the quantity they are eating. The birds frequently showed well in large numbers and when a Sparrowhawk did flush them they were kept occupied with the Bramblings and other birds at the feeding station in the park across the road.

The flush, or a very small part of it.



Male Sparrowhawk through the trees and cause of all the trouble.
My blog photos are taken in the time period described as I want to
illustrate the period as seen rather than show a stock shot.

I blogged too soon when I said I thought numbers had peaked in my last post. There were 120+ on Wednesday morning but there could have been quite a few more. There were at least that many the same evening and more apples were eaten than on any  other day. Yesterday morning started off in similar vein and it was a good job that I had doubled up the apples on most of the branch pegs that I use.

The birds flushed at one point before I went to work and I grabbed a great photo of a large part of the flock sitting in a birch tree. There are at least 120 birds in one photo whether you believe it or not and there were at least 30 other birds sat in other trees so this represents a new peak of 150+
.

A few of the many yesterday morning.



Most of the many yesterday.
There are at least 120  birds in this shot, oh yes there are.

I have decided that they will leave in their own good time whatever it costs now. I am in too deep to give up or draw back despite the cost. This was helped by a good supply of apples and pears from Sainsbury's today although I did buy and additional 10kg as back-up.

 

I couldn't resist including this long staying individual. 6 weeks+ and counting.
 

And everyone a stunner and this adult male certainly is.

Waxwing lyrical part 6

I have just received news of the ringing location of the colour ringed Waxwing that featured in yesterday's post. The bird returned again today and I also managed to read the BTO metal ring number. There were 15 birds in the flock and they fed on the apples for an hour from midday. The colour ringed bird had been ringed in Bridge of Don near Aberdeen on 01/12/12, a movement of 403km.


View Waxwing NW65022 in a larger map

Show off. A cracking bird and a good movement.

 



If  you see a colour-ringed Waxwing contact Grampian Ringing Group.