Kev finally connects!!

It was a lovely morning for our latest Belvide session this morning--we hope it means that migration will start to get underway soon bringing lots of lovely birds to our reserve as they move south. There's not much sign of that at the moment--although to be fair, the very poor weather over the last week will have supressed much of the migratory urge.
It was a rather predictable catch this morning of 57 new birds--mainly Reed and Sedge warblers with a smattering of other species. We also recaptured about 40 birds which had been ringed previously; suggesting they are still in the area and haven't yet started to migrate south. One very welcome bird was a very recently fledged baby Cetti's warbler. The significance of this for our reserve is that it definitely proves that a second brood has been reared by our birds who raised the first ever brood of Cetti's earlier in the year. It's still not yet mid-July so ( although the books suggest they only have two broods maximum) there's still time for them to have a third brood--we hope.
Birders often have one or two 'bogey' birds--relatively common birds which seem to avoid being seen. Similarly ringers have the same--ie birds which avoid being caught for ringing-at least when they are they. For one of our more experienced members, Kev, the Marsh Tit is one such species, so it was great for the team this morning to see Kev finally connect with this delightful species.
We usually have only one or two breeding pairs on or near the reserve each year--so there are never many of these birds about. The bird we did catch this morning was a recently fledged individual, and this picture of the bird perched on a branch is rather instructive.

 

First-look at the 'fluffiness' of the bird. This is because the first set of feathers birds have as they leave the nest do not have many barbs on their feathers so they are not as sleek as the feathers that grow through as the bird develops.

Second, the guide books will tell you that Marsh Tits are supposed to have glossy black caps--this one is decidedly matt black. Again this is an ageing feature--over the coming weeks, these head feathers will moult out and be replaced by shiny black ones.

Last, separating Marsh from Willow Tit is a challenge for anyone--especially if they don't sing or call. This Marsh Tit shows a characteristic which really helps ID it. The upper mandible of the beak has a white area above the cutting edge near the head. Not all Marsh Tits have this but if it's there it IS a Marsh because as far as we know Willow Tits never have this feature.