Week ending 13th February - IRRI

Little change on the farms during the week, with both Green Sandpiper and Peregrine very static. On Tuesday a pair of Osprey came through quite low over the experimental farm, calling and displaying to each other. Presumably they are breeding on Laguna Bay nearby, though it is not a very clean body of water.

A family walk on the UPLB campus produced three Indigo-Banded Kingfishers in different spots on the stream. A small flock of House Swifts also made their presence felt with a fantastic screaming display.

The big news this week was the arrival of the rings for my ringing project. After 9 months of applying for permits, sending emails and badgering scientists I'm finally up and running. I started by putting nets at the unused paddy adjacent to the Open University building (site 1). There is always a fair bit of traffic here, and quite a lot of overgrown edges etc. I didn't want to catch too many birds on my first day back, and the wind ensured I didn't! Only 7 birds, of 6 species:

Painted Snipe
White-browed Crake
Barn Swallow
Zebra Dove
Scaly-breasted Munia
Red Turtle Dove

Snipe spp. The ringing project is aimed at working out which species occur on the farms, and where.

Juvenile Lesser Coucal, coming into adult plumage

Little Egret, looking very smart

Paddyfield Pipit

Female Painted Snipe

Los Banos Ringing Group's youngest member, apprentice ringer Conor Bourdin, checking the nets.

A gorgeous Green Crested Lizard. Caught by a friend, these incredibly fast lizards are common, but hard to take pictures of.