More Bramblings - 28.12.2023

The forecast for today was predicting a sunny and windless day so even though I'm still sick I decided to make another ringing session in the morning.

The plan was identical to the one I had yesterday, but this time no thrushes showed up on the first check of the nets. I saw a small flock of four Fieldfare flying high above the ringing site but that was it.

On the positive side, later during the morning, I ringed two more Bramblings which makes my yearly total of this species 12 (until this year I had only 3 Bramblings ringed at this site).

The totals for today are: 1 Blackbird, 2 Bramblings, 2 Chaffinches, 1 Wren, 1 Sombre tit, 2(2) Blue tits, 3 Great tits and 1 Long-tailed tit.

Sombre tit

Wren

Chaffinch

Christmas ringing session - 27.12.2023

 My initial plan was to conduct a ringing session on Christmas, but of course I got sick and it took me two days before I was able to get out of bed. So this morning still quite sick but full of motivation to end the year strong, I woke up at 05:30 and went to my ringing site.

The weather was extremely warm for the season (15 C) and I was not expecting much, but I was hoping that there are still some winter thrushes around the place. So at 06:00 I had my 3 nets ready and the T.pilaris/T.iliacus mix was already playing.

As expected, the results were poor in terms of numbers, but I can't complain about the species that I got. 2 Redwing, 1 Great tit and 1 Brambling.

In the upcoming days, I'll probably try a few more sessions with the hopes of increasing those Redwing numbers, but it all depends on the weather so fingers crossed!

1y Redwing(Turdus iliacus)

male Brambling(Fringilla montifringilla)

Late autumn ringing at Veshtitsa, NW Bulgaria

 This autumn I finally decided to dedicate some time to ringing winter thrushes( or at least attempts to do so) because my ringing results regarding winter thrushes are pretty much pathetic. The main problem for me is that I live and work in Sofia, but my ringing place is near my home town - 200km away from the capital. Until now I was usually taking 1 week off at the beginning of September to be able to ring during the peak of migration. It's all good when I'm focusing on most migrating species, but obviously not even close to optimal for ringing Fieldfares and Redwings.

Until now I had ringed 3 Fieldfares at the place (and no Redwing) so I was not hoping for much. My main idea was to use five nets and start playing sound 2 hours before dawn. I also decided that when the sun comes out I will change the sound to my finch mix to try and catch some Bramblings(I'm really in love with them but until this year I've had only 2 of them ringed at my place). I was ringing mostly in the early mornings because on most days I had to be home for work at 09:30.

After six days of ringing, I managed to achieve results that surpassed my initial expectations:

Results from the thrush mix:

Redwing(Turdus iliacus): 10

*ringed for the first time at my ringing site

Fieldfare(Turdus pilaris): 4

Blackbird(Turdus merula): 12

Song thrush(Turdus philomelos): 7

Results from the finch mix:

Chaffinch(Fringilla coelebs): 17

Brambling(Fringilla montifringilla): 11

Greenfinch(Chloris chloris): 30

Siskin(Carduelis spinus): 1

*also ringed for the first time at my ringing site