Our first attempt at ringing at night, which was less than 100% successful. We set up the nets in the late afternoon, and unfurled them at midnight. There was no moon at all, and in the end there were no birds either! A
Snipe spp flew into one of the nets early on, but didn't get caught and escaped. Apart from that one bat (
Geoffrey's Rousette) and several bugs were all we caught until the sun came up. A disappointing night, but one we shall repeat in 2 weeks when the moon is full.
Birds heard in the night included
Grass Owl, Philippine Scops Owl and lots of
Black-crowned Night Herons.
The first catch of the night was this,
Geoffrey's Rousette,
Rousettus amplexicaudatus. What an excellent name!
(Thanks to Medel Silvosa and Rai Gomez through the Philippine Biodiversity net page on Facebook for the ID)
Chinese Soft-shell Turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis. An invasive species. Found on the track during the night.
(Thanks to Emerson Sy through the Philippine Biodiversity net page on Facebook for the ID)
No birds at all were trapped during the night, the first didn't arrive until about 6:00am in the shape of this
Barn Swallow....
...closely followed by a couple of juvenile
Yellow Wagtails
Interesting. Can you teach to do ringing?
ReplyDeleteThere isn't really a recognised authority here that controls ringing other than the DENR, so there is no structure within which trainees can operate. That is to say, I can teach people how to do it, but they will not have any certification that they can present to anyone when trying to obtain rings/ permits etc. I was trained in South Africa, other ringers in The Philippines have been trained in the UK. I understand that DENR are working on a program to formalise ringing here, and I'm sure that will include details of how to become certified etc, I just don't know when it will happen.
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