Sadly, the ringing season is really coming to an end now

Still had a ringing session Saturday with good weather but there were almost no birds around:
Wren 1-2 
Robin 4-3
Blue tit 15-3
Goldcrest 4-1

And that was about it ...

Inland snow bunting

Got a text message this morning from Tim if I felt like going to search for a a Snow bunting that had been claimed at the Tongerense Heide yesterday near Gortel, aproxx. 15 km from home. Maarten Kaales also went for a search  (as usual, we had to find the bird for him haha..joking). We arrived at the exact location around 12.30 and immediately found the bird. It was not shy at all and it could be approuched very closeby.Unfortunately this bird resides just a few hundred metres away from our county. It was my first bird for Gelderland. 2 years ago I saw one in my own county (luckily) near the Veenoordkolk, this was the region of Overijssel however so it did not count for my Gelderland list. Here the link to the Snow Bunting of two years ago: http://apeldoornsvogelnet.waarneming.nl/waarneming/view/41113700
Here are some photos of the very tame Snow bunting:

Mealy Redpoll and Skylark

It was a good november morning with again good numbers of Blue tits and a nice Mealy Redpoll and Skylark.

Totals:

Boomkruiper (short-toed Treecreeper) 1-0
Goudhaan (Goldcrest) 1-0
Goudvink (Bullfinch) 1-0
Grote Barmsijs (Mealy Redpoll) 1-0
IJsvogel (Kingfisher) 0-1
Koolmees (Great Tit) 11-5
Merel (Blackbird) 1-0
Pimpelmees (Blue tit) 38-3
Roodborst (Robin) 3-0
Tjiftjaf (Chiffchaff) 1-1 one recap from 4-09-10! Should be in Spain/Morocco by now!
Veldleeuwerik (Skylark) 1-0
Vink (Chaffinch) 1-0
Winterkoning (Wren) 1-1
Zwarte mees (Coal Tit) 3-0
Total: 64-11 = 75

Waxwing!

Yesterday I saw my first Waxwing of the year! It was about time that one would turn up in my county because they've been seen everywhere throughout the country (especially in the western and northern regions). This one I saw in my own county, in my own town, in my own street, in my own garden!! At 10.40 Am I set off to school for a math exam I had to do at 11.00 Am. When I drove across our house I saw a weird blackbird sitting in our apple tree! I usually see blackbirds eating the apples in our apple tree but this time it was something else. It was a waxwing! I heard it calling as well. I soon warned my dad that I just saw a Waxwing in our front garden. I was forced to leave to school for my math exam (too bad..). When I got home from school again my dad said the bird was gone, probably chased away by our local Blackbirds. He made some decent photo's of our garden Waxwing:

                                                                      (Tammo Meijer)

Sunday 31st of October

Birds ringed:
Redwing 3-0
Wren 1-1
Coal tit 5-0
Great tit 22-2
Blue tit 26-0
Blackcap 1-0
Short toed treecreeper 1-0
Goldcrest 1-0
Total 61-3

Krammers!

The thrushes are now really conspicuous everywhere. Yesterday I had a large group of Redwings and Fieldfares flying overhead at home. Today they were numberous at every part of the Hoog Buurlosche heide.
I did a migration count from 8.30 till 10.30. The higlights included 5 Redpolls. I also had a probable group of 3 Grey wag's but I could only see a black silhouet and they didn't call so I left them unidentified. While cycling to the HB-heide this morning I had a Grey Wag flying over so I had at least 1 Grey wag today;)
The totals are:

Also see: http://trektellen.nl/trektelling.asp?telpost=277&land=1&site=0&datum=20101022&

                                                             Jackdaws on the move

After the count I decided to check a large cropfield situated on the northern side of the heathland.  That was a good choice. The cropfield was filled with thrushes. Approximately 250 Redwings, 50 Fieldfares (excluding a group of 150 flying by), 100 Chaffinches, 15 Bramblings, 3 Mistle Thrushes and 3 Song Thrushes. There was also a pair of noisy Black Woodpeckers present. There were also 5 Stonechats present. Amongst all these birds I found a Water Pipit! It was foraging on the crop field and showed well. I didn't expect to find a Water pipit near the heathland. Therefore it was also a new Hoog-Buurlosche heide species for me.

Sunday & Monday at Ooijse Graaf

The sunday and monday of my Autumn break were spent ringing at the Ooijse Graaf, with Bram. We didn't trap that many birds but we had some quality though. On sunday we trapped the following:
Kingfisher 0-1
Wren  2-1
Dunnock 3-0
Robin 6-2
Blackbird 3-0
Song thrush 3-0
Redwing 6-0
Chiffchaff 3-0
Willow tit 0-2
Blue tit 16-15
Great tit 9-4
Short toed treecreeper 2-0
Starling 1-0
Tree Sparrow 1-0
Reed bunting 6-0
Total 61-25 = 86
A Water Rail hanged in the nets for 5 seconds but unfortunately escaped.

Starlings have got a beautiful plumage in October as you can see above!

The bird on the left is a first 1Y : notice the greyish colourings in the eye. The bird on the right is a >1: the eye is reddish and brownish (maroon).

Redwing adult bird

Tree Sparrow

In the evening we went to the Ooijse Graaf again to try to catch some starlings because there is a huuuge party of Starlings roosting there, approximately 10.000 birds. There was one leucistic birds amongst the starlings.
We trapped :
Redwing 1-0
Long tailed tit- 5-0
Blue tit 0-1
Great it 1-1
Starling 14-0
Reed Bunting 3-0
Total 24-2 = 26

We only trapped 14 Starlings because they dropped in the reedbeds fairly quickly and because the roosting place was about 150 meters next to the mistnets.

On Monday we got out of bed very early for a (failed!) attempt to trap some skylarks early in the morning on a cropfield. We didn't succeed but we did lure 40 Skylarks around the mistnets.
The rest of the morning was quiet with a lack of birds (in the mistnets). We did trap a splendid Bearded Tit though! There was some good passage from thrushes,finches and skylarks overhead.
Results:
Wren 1-1
Robin 8-0
Blackbird 3-0
Song thrush 1-0
Redwing 3-0
Blackcap 1-0
Chiffchaff 1-0
Goldcrests 2-0
Bearded tit 1-0
Blue tit 7-3
Great tit 9-3 -> one with unknown colourrings!
Reed Bunting 6-0
Total 43-7 = 50

Out of the 8 Robins we trapped two Adult birds. On this photo you can clearly see the difference in tail shape of a 1Y bird and Adult bird. The one on the left is a first year, the tail feathers are round (but smaller) but pointed at the tip. The tail feathers of the bird on the left are clearly rounded (and broader).

Female Bearded tit.