Great to be back!!

Ringers in England had some great news yesterday when we were given the ok to get ringing in the field again--with appropriate safety measures re Covid 19 of course.
Under normal circumstances this is a very quiet time of the year for our group because while many birds are breeding we don't operate in most of our main ringing sites. However, this is the time of year when, if conditions are right, we can try and catch those wonderful birds--Swifts!!

Apart from at the nest these birds don't land so they are very difficult to catch. If the weather is cold--such as it was this morning, they must fly low in order to catch the flying insects they need for food. This gives us a bit of a chance, and the most effective way is to use what is called 'flick netting'. This consists of setting up a long net at a fixed end then letting it lay on the ground and holding the other end of the net on a horizontal pole. When (IF !!) a swift flies over the net the idea is to raise it quickly and safely catch the bird in the pockets of the net. Here's what a successful 'flick' looks like:-

We only caught a small number this morning but it was just great getting out again.Swifts are very interesting in so many ways--for now here are a couple of structural features:-

Just look at the size of their eyes--just what you need when flying at high speed and need to catch flying insects! Also see how small the beak is--but look a bit closer at the line of the gape. It leads from the base of the beak to just under the front of the eye depression. This means that they have a very large 'mouth opening' in order to scoop up the insects.

This shot tries to show the structure of the legs and feet. Swifts belong to a group called the 'Apodiformes'--meaning no legs. The legs are there but very short, which means that if they are forced to land on the ground they find it very difficult if not impossible to lift off again. More usually they nest in holes where the birds grasp onto a vertical entrance then haul themselves into the hole/crevice. For this they need very strong toes and sharp claws. What you can't see is the pain on my face as the needle-sharp claws are piercing my fingers as the feet grasp very tightly. It's worth it though for the privilege of getting close to such a fantastic bird. We still don't know a great deal about the detail of their movements, so we always hope that the next Swift we ring will be found somewhere which adds another bit of data to the solution.