Pat off to a flying start!!

 It's great to see any newly qualified ringer really getting to grips with their hobby and making the most of new opportunities. So it is with Pat who got his C permit around Christmas along with settling in to a new home just west of Welshpool. It quickly became apparent that his garden was a bit of a magnet for birds-especially Siskins which have a good population in many parts of Wales. 

In early January the BTO issued guidance which strongly urged all ringers to ring only in your own garden. This meant Blue Tits, Great tits and the odd finch for many of us--but for Pat this was a great time to really get used to ringing a wide range of garden birds on his own. Looking at his monthly ringing totals he has gradually become more confident and currently his garden total for this year stands at 415 new birds of 19 species!!

Of these the most abundant species is Siskin, with a superb 218 ringed. Goldfinch at 22, Starling at 11 and Greenfinch at 10 are a great supporting cast.

Having said that there is a healthy breeding population of Siskin in Wales, there is supporting evidence from what Pat describes as a cold foggy morning in March when along with plenty of un-ringed birds he caught 4 birds which had been ringed elsewhere:-

3 of them had been ringed variously over the last three years within a 25 mile radius of his house. However, the fourth bird had been ringed in June 2017 near Inverness--almost 500 miles away. So, as well as local birds, there is a wide ranging movement of Siskins going on with birds from all over the UK and Europe moving around searching out food sources during late winter--which makes this species such an interesting and exciting one to study.

Pat has also taken some great pictures of Siskins which serve to show how, even in the field it's possible ( given a decent view) to sex them ( quite easy) and age them up to 1 year old ( a bit more tricky). I hope these pictures illustrate the key features for you to try at home--if you have any Siskins feeding of course!

Here is an adult ( more than 1 year old) bird-the white line shows the greater covert feathers which are all yellow tipped

This is a juvenile male bird and the white mark shows that if you look carefully the outer 2 or 3 greater coverts are both shorter than the rest and white tipped

This is a female Siskin--no black cap, not brightly coloured and a streaky breast and belly. The line also shows that the outer group of greater coverts are much shorter than the rest--making this a juvenile female.

This is a slightly trickier bird. The cap is black but the feather tips of the cap are pale and the overall colour of the bird is not very striking. However, the breast and belly are not as streaked so it's not a female. Finally the white line shows the outer greater coverts are shorter and white tipped --showing this to be a (very) juvenile male.

Thanks for these pictures Pat!