Bird ringing season has started!

Black-faced Bunting, adult male. All photos © Marketa Tichackova

While my team and I are getting ready for our next weeks trip to Far East Russia, there is already ornithological work carried out at Muraviovka Park: Marketa, bird ringer from the Czech Republic, came in May to the Park to work with cranes. Now she put up some of our mist-nets and made some nice catches - here is what she wrote:

"Ringing birds at Muraviovka park was started during the last week. At the beginning of the week it was very rainy but then sunny weather has come back. 139 birds were captured (including 26 that already had rings from previous years). The most frequent species were Thick-billed Warbler, Dusky Warbler and Black-faced Bunting. Some young birds were caught, even a young Daurian Redstart came to the pine trees. But the best surprise in the net was a Chestnut-flanked White-eye!"

For the latter species we confirmed breeding at Muraviovka Park for the very first time in 2013, migrant White-eyes usually occur in late August and early September. 

one of the Park´s most iconical birds: Long-tailed Rosefinch, here an nice adult male

There is more to come - for the next three months you will find here again weekly updates from the Amur Bird Project fieldwork!

//Wieland