Sunday 19 December 2010

Well they arrived!

I awoke this morning to the sound of Waxwings outside of my bedroom window. So jumping up & pulling back my curtains I was amazed to see around 100 Waxwings outside! I quickly grabbed some apples & made a makeshift apple tree in the garden & to my surprise around 20 birds came to feed on them!

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Throughout the remainder of the day, the birds commuted between ours & a neighbours garden, with the birds coming down just low enough to catch – we placed a net up & caught 12 birds this afternoon, along with 9 Blackbirds.

With there being so many in the Greater Manchester area, we’ve been expecting them for a while here in Atherton & at long last they arrived!

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Unfortunately we did find three dead birds, which were results of window strikes. Recovery rates for Waxwings are quite high mainly due to these collisions, so it’s well worth checking any dead Waxwings for rings!

4 comments:

  1. Nice one Kane. Shame about the window strikes.

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  2. Nice catch ! If only I could wake up like that. Here's some tips for catching from ringers in norway : http://oaring.blogspot.com/2010/12/sidensvans.html

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  3. Cheers - they're cracking birds!! :-)

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