Colour-ringed Little Egret & Surf Scoter

I'm not normally one to twitch, but this afternoon I headed up the Antrim Coast to have a look for the Surf Scoter which has been around since last Wednesday.

It didn't take long to locate the North American visitor, it was the only bird in the small, picturesque harbour at Carnlough.

The journey was definitely worth it when I got speaking to a local birdwatcher who told me that he had seen a colour-ringed Little Egret on Larne Lough back in August.  Having literally just gotten off the phone to Tony Cross in Wales, I immediately thought it might’ve been one of Tony’s birds from Bangor, north Wales.

A quick phone call confirmed that it was indeed one of Tony’s birds, and it was born this year – it didn’t waste much time moving north!



Photo by Cameron Moore

 On the way home I stopped off at a couple of villages and identified three potential ringing sites where I will attempt ringing when I get a bit of time.

There were a couple of big flocks of Black-headed Gulls, including this metal ringed bird at Glenarm.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to read the ring as the bird didn’t sit on the railings long enough.  Hopefully though I'll catch this bird at some stage over the winter and slip a nice colour-ring on the other leg!

Black-headed Gull - White T35J

Although I haven't actually started ringing yet, it hasn't stopped me scoping out a few possible sites.

While visiting a potential site on the shores of Lough Neagh last weekend I came across this wee guy amongst a large flock of roosting Black-headed Gulls.

As you can see from the photo, this is T35J

I reported my sighting through www.cr-birding.org, as usual, and I heard back that this bird was originally ringed as a chick at Kretuonas in eastern Lithuania in June 2006!

It was recaught in March 2011 at Gdynia on the shores of the Baltic Sea in Poland when was re-ringed and fitted with the colour-ring. My sighting at Lough Neagh in Co. Antrim is the first resighting of the bird since becoming "T35J".

This means that, as the gull flies, it is 2064 km from original ringing site to most current sighting location!

Red - Kretuonas, Lithuania
Yellow - Gdynia, Poland
Blue - Antrim, Northern Ireland

Amazing birds and it is results and sightings like this is why I am so keen on studying them.

Colour-ringed Blkwit - Update

I recieved word back from the ringers about the colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit I saw during September's WeBS count at the Whitehouse Lagoon, see here.

It was ringed at Siglufjordur in northern Iceland on 15th July 2010 and was aged as an adult male.  My report is the first resighting they have had of this particular bird.

Colour-ringed Blkwit

While carrying out the same BTO WeBS count, where I saw the colour-ringed Great Black-backed Gull discussed in the last blog post, I noticed, that amongst a flock of around 550 Black-tailed Godwits, one of them was also colour-ringed.

It had two coloured rings on each leg, one of which was inscribed with "8".  Again I reported it via www.ring.ac and I heard back from the appropriate co-ordinator within a few days.

This particular bird was ringed in Iceland by Tómas Gunnarsson and co-workers. I will update the blog if I receive any further information on the bird.

Please excuse the quality; these were digi-scoped using my phone!

 

For more information on WeBS, click here.

You can find out a bit more about the Whitehouse Lagoon by clicking here and here.