Ringing - posts

BDInsight – August 2019
Aug 29, 2019
August has flown by! And soon the migrant birds will arrive back in South Africa. We look forward to welcoming them back in the southern hemisphere. August has also been a busy month for the BDI, including adventures to the Karoo and Europe, preparing for the “return of the dragons”, and testing out PanGoPod Alpha in the field. […]
Seychelles bird longevities
Aug 29, 2019
During August 2019 bird ringing training courses were held on Aride and on Cousin Islands in the Seychelles. Some interesting longevity records were obtained. Madagascar Turtle Dove A Madagascar Turtle Dove was recaptured on Cousin Island on 19 August 2019. This individual had been ringed in the same area 7 years 11 months previously. This dove […]
Chicks of the Wetlands – White-Winged Flufftails
Aug 26, 2019
What you see here is something very few people have ever seen in the wild. I haven’t seen any myself, yet. All I’ve seen is a sad little stuffed specimen in the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History. These are White-winged Flufftails Sarothrura ayresi. They are one of the rarest and most threatened birds in South Africa, and Africa. The […]
Peregrine takes plover
Jul 24, 2019
On 14 November 2016 Kyle Walker collected Peregrine pellets in Scarborough, Cape Town, in on-going monitoring of Peregrine nests on the Cape Peninsula. Kyle was surprised to find a bird ring in the pellet. Peregrines prey on birds, especially on doves and pigeons, but finding a ring in a pellet is nevertheless exciting. In this case, the ring […]
Longevities of shrikes, bush-shrikes and helmet-shrikes
Jul 5, 2019
The shrikes, bush-shrikes and helmet-shrikes were formerly all classed together in one family, but have been split into separate bird families (shrikes, bush-shrikes) and the helmet-shrikes have been moved into the Vangidae family. After a brief description of each of these groups, the ringing numbers and longevities will be presented. The true […]