Small and Large

Sunday, January 31st 2016

The bird ringers made the most of a window in the weather and raised the nets this morning.  Nearly a 100 birds were caught and processed.  Again there were several older birds recorded, some ringed in the nest box.  The species ranged from Great Spotted Woodpeckers to Blue Tits, Greenfinches, Chaffinches and one or two Coal Tits!

Nuthatches are able to walk up and down a tree trunk, hunting for insects.  They can place Hazel Nuts, Acorns, Beechmast and other seeds into crevices of the bark, where they break them open.  A Nuthatch tips the scales at about 22g.

Long-tailed Tits fly around in flocks feeding in the tops of the trees.  Usually they feed on insects but in autumn and winter can eat seeds.  Increasingly these birds are to be found at peanut and suet feeders in gardens.  These tiny birds weigh only about 8g.

At the other end of the scale, actually at the other end of the world, Stacey's Adelie penguins weigh about 4kg - but they are nothing like as cute as our resident Coal Tits or Long tails!  On the reserve today just in the morning, we processed 92 birds of 14 species.

These chicks will fledge in about a week.

The Chinstrap Penguins are still being guarded by their parents and are about four weeks younger than the Adelie Penguins.  Adults weigh between 3 to 5kg.

February tomorrow and we are begining to look forward to spring, leaving winter behind.  Stacey's summer is past midsummer and heading to autumn.

In the early afternoon while we were tidying away, checking nets and bird bags a Tawny Owl was heard calling quite close to the Field Centre.  Tawnies can have eggs by the end of February, so hopefully it was checking out one of the nest boxes.

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