Between Sunday and Tuesday (23-25/10) I ringed at the Tzor'a Valley Ringing Station, with Ron, Ayla, Aviad and Yishai. On Sunday morning we were ringing at the Tzor'a Reservoir, nice catch and nice variety of species. Towards the end of ringing, while Ayla, Yishai and I were ringing, we heard Ron's happy cry from the nets; after a few minutes he and Aviad came back from the nets with a smile he could not hide and hung one bag on my 'from Europe' hook. I couldn't wait and took the bird, Willow Warbler, ring on left leg (in Israel ring only on right), unfamiliar address, STAV… STAVANGER! Yes, it's Norway! The full address is STAVANGER MUS. NORWAY - great! I know this species comes from N Europe and Russia and migrates to S Africa, but Norway is far and to see this 9.0 gr. long-distance migrant is exciting.
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| 6H02413 STAVANGER MUS. NORWAY |
The Norway Ringing Center was very efficient; I sent the data on Sunday evening and got the answer on Monday. The bird was ringed in Malselv, Troms, N Norway (4,225 km), on 20/08/2011. This bird is an adult with arrested moult and wing length only 67.5 mm; in Israel we have ringed lots of long-winged Willow Warblers, more than 70 mm; now I ask myself from where did they come? N Russia?
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| Norwegian Willow Warbler |
During these days we caught 419 birds, 95 of them were recaptures. Most birds ringed were Bluethroats (83), Chiffchaff (49) and Reed Warbler (44). Other firsts for this season and arrivals for the winter included: Robins (3), White Wagtails (24), Stonechats (6) and Song Thrush. Other interesting birds were 5 Moustached Warblers, 2 Whinchats and juvenile Moorhen. One of interesting recaptures was Clamorous Reed Warbler BB-25128 ringed on 11/10/2004, in the second ringing session at Tzor'a!
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| Moustached Warbler |
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| Bluethroat |
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| Stonechat |
On Sunday evening a family of cranes, male, female and their juvenile were found in the reservoir. The adults couldn't fly and their distress produced a lot of noise. In the morning we caught the adults by hand. Although cranes are very strong, they are very sensitive birds. We sent them to the Wildlife Hospital with Dekel, the NPA ranger. Their problem is not clear but after short treatment they were returned to Tzor'a.
On Friday (21/10) we held our IBRC annual meeting, it was fun to see old friends.
Today (26/10) I ringed at JBO and caught this nice female Hawfinch - welcome winter…
