Masai Mick and I met at Stanford this morning at 0530 hrs for a leisurely morning’s ringing. With a chill to the air but relatively calm we set the nets to target Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Meadow Pipits.
Steadily the birds came and before we knew it, with 28 Blaca, 15 Chiffs and 34 Mipits, we had broken the record annual totals for all three target species which coincidentally were all set last year.
This year’s totals for these species are now:
Blackcap 509 (263 in 2010)
Chiffchaff 258 (248 in 2010)
Meadow Pipit 128 (30 in 2010)
Amongst these was the 500th Blackcap of the year:
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| 500th Blackcap for 2011 |
With all nets down by midday we totted up to find that we had processed 104 new birds (which included a late Grasshopper Warbler that came up from my size twelves straight into the bottom shelf less than three feet away) and 12 retraps – some leisurely morning that was!
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