On Saturday (29th May), Mike Ford from Hermanus joined us for the first ringing session at the Franschhoek Memorial Wild Flower Garden.
We were there at 6.00am and starting putting up nets towards the back of the garden. Five nets were put up in the back paths and 3 under the large tree. In no time at all, birds were finding their way into the nets and ringing could begin. The sun takes a long time to get up and it was quite cold in the shadow of the mountain. My hands were freezing until about 10.00am when it eventually found us at our ringing station.
Most of the birds caught were Olive Thurshes and Cape White-eyes but we were lucky enough to get two Malachite Sunbirds and two Southern Double-collared Sunbirds.
The huge flock of Red-wing Starlings that makes its way around the village every day were there for about an hour and we tried hard to get them in the nets, with one lonely one eventually making itself available to us to ring. It was a female, as you can see from its grey head and is quite a handsome bird.
We also caught a Cape Batis, a Cape Canary, a pair of lovely Swee Waxbills.
One of the best things about bird-ringing is that you get to study the birds up close and see things that you don't see when watching them from a distance, like this yellow petoral patch on the Malachite Sunbird.
In total we ringed 38 birds and I was able to add 6 new species to my list. For me to get my own ringers licence, I have to ring 50 different species and a total of 500 individual birds. I have now ringed 118 birds in total so still have some way to go.
We will be rinigng around the village every couple of weeks and if you are interested in joining us, please feel free. I will let you know when we go out again and where we will be. Also, if you happen to know of a good place for us to put our nets up, a place away from the public, with preferably quite a lot of bird activity, let us know.
The Fish Eagles are back at their nest in front of the Berg River Dam so if you have the opportunity, please go and see if you can see them. We are not allowed to access the land at all but the nest is very visible from the road and if you take your bins with, you should see them easily.
Our next meeting is on the 9th of June and we will have two international speakers joining us so please come along. Don't forget to bring your bird list for May along with you.
Happy birding....! Robyn
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