Highlights from January 2022

 For the first time in the last 10 years, I was able to spend more time ringing in January. The species composition is quite different from what I'm used to.

The highlights for this month are the two Fieldfares (Turdus pilaris) that I've ringed. Those are my first Fieldfares (for this site and in general) so you can imagine the levels of adrenaline and joy that I had.

I hope I'll have time in February as well so I could try and ring a few more of those beautiful northern visitors. For now no sign of Redwing, but there is still time.

Here are the totals for January and a few photos(and a video) of the highlights:

Middle Spotted Woodpecker - 1

Sombre Tit - 3

Blue Tit - 8

Great Tit - 37

Long-tailed Tit - 1

Firecrest - 2

Goldcrest - 1

Nuthatch - 2

Fieldfare - 2

Tree Sparrow - 5

Yellowhammer - 3

Sombre tit

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Middle-spotted woodpecker

Goldcrest

Firecrests

2021 Totals

 The new year is upon us and it's time to analyze the results and achievements. For me personally, this was the most successful year in terms of the number of ringed birds and new species.

In this post, I'll include only the bird ring at my usual site in NW Bulgaria.

Most of the ringing was during the autumn migration, but I also put some effort into nest monitoring/ringing which gave good results(compared to previous years). Unfortunately, my nestboxes had very low success and I couldn't ring any Semicollared flycatchers (Ficedula semitorquata).

Species

S.atricapilla - 294

T.merula - 88

E. rubecula - 41

Ph. trochilus - 38

L. collurio - 26

P. caeruleus - 22

P.major - 21

A. trivialis - 21

A. caudatus - 16

T. philomelos - 15

S. curruca - 13

P.lugubris - 12

S. borin - 11

S.communis - 9

L. megarhynchos - 9

Ph. sibilatrix - 8

C.coccothraustes - 6

S. europaea - 5

E.citrinella - 5

Ph.collybita - 5

F.coelebs - 5

P. palustris - 5

C. chloris - 5

M. striata - 5

D. minor - 2

M. apiaster - 2

Ph. phoenicurus - 2

H. icterina - 1

O. scops - 1

D. major - 1

R. ignicapilla - 1

T. troglodytes - 1

A. schoenobaenus - 1

Total: 691

Species: 33

In the pictures below you can see the highlights of 2021.

I wish you all very successful 2022!

Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)

Turdus philomelos nest

Sitta europaea nest

Turdus merula nest

Male Turdus merula

Otus scops

Otus scops

Fringilla coelebs nest

Turdus philomelos hatchling

Parus lugubris hatchling

Coccothraustes coccothraustes hatchling

Cyanistes caeruleus nest

Sylvia atricapilla nest

Alauda arvensis nest

Emberiza cirlus nest

Lanius collurio nest

Sylvia atricapilla hatchlings

Lanius collurio nest

Sylvia atricapilla nest

Sylvia atricapilla hatchlings

Lanius collurio hatchling

Lanius collurio hatchings

Male Lanius collurio

Phylloscopus trochilus and Phylloscopus sibilatrix

Phylloscopus trochilus and Phylloscopus sibilatrix

Muscicapa striata

Phylloscopus sibilatrix

Birds ready to be processed

Male Sylvia atricapilla with very pale plumage

Male Sylvia atricapilla with very pale plumage

Merops apiaster

Merops apiaster

Erithacus rubecula

Muscicapa striata with strangely colored legs

Regulus ignicapilla

Troglodytes troglodytes

Parus major

Male Coccothraustes coccothraustes

Emberiza citrinella

Chloris chloris