Five new birds!

Two early morning visits to the park on Friday and Saturday resulted in the addition of five new birds to the project; three males and two female. This brings our project total to 37 marked birds. Our target of 50 before April 30th should be achievable!



Friday's catch very much exemplifies our data set as a whole, with males out numbering females 2:1. Watching the birds may have provided part of the answer; the males seem to blunder and bluster about the park, showing off to rivals and generally being boisterous towards the each other, whereas the females keep very much to themselves.

 

The three birds from Friday's catch with their new colour rings.

After each catching session we took sometime to catch up with already ringed birds, managing to re-sight A4, AB, AH BC, BB, BD, BX and BK. The latter two seem to have established a territory together on the border of the Llandaff Allotments and the muddy paddock to the south. Although she was not seen carrying any away, BK was seen picking up potential nest material so nest building in the park is imminent if not already in progress. If you see colour-ringed blackbirds in (or out!) of the park then please do let us know. You can find out how to submit sightings here.

 

BX (above) seems to have set up territory with the similarly coded female BK