SIBE-lings

11/09/16

Again not the busiest day ringing wise at our site in Pasvik, however migration is clearly still underway. Without doubt, the highlight of the day was the appearance of a stunning young YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER in one of our new net rides. This smartly plumaged Siberian migrant, as well as being a new species ringed for our team leader, also represented the first record for southern Varanger! A real treat that makes all those 4:15am starts worthwhile!

Although a new species for the area, we believed this species may make an appearance during our trip. With few birders covering the vast expanse of the national park at this time of year it seems perhaps this species has been overlooked, and we hope that during the course of the remainder of the trip we may catch a few more of these Siberian gems.

Yellow-Browed Warbler- A Varanger first (CR)

Yellow Browed Warbler

A migrant Redstart was a surprise addition to the trip list, unexpected mainly due to the northerly location and date.   However, with many other ‘summer’ species still being seen around the ringing site (Robin, Song and Mistle Thrush etc) it is perhaps no surprise a few others are still exploiting the last of the food resources and daylight.

Redstart

A lack of captured Willow Tits today was surprising despite a good number present. This was however compensated by a full quartet of Siberian Tits, when a family party found their way into one of our nets.

A quartet of Siberian Tits

Again, Reed Bunting made for the bulk of the mornings catch, with good numbers still around the catching site.

Below is a breakdown of the mornings totals:

*YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER*	1
Reed Bunting	20 (+2)
Great Tit	10
Meadow Pipit	6
Siberian Tit	4
Redwing	2
White Wagtail	2
Redstart	1
Robin	1
Totals	47 (+2)

Back at camp, we opened our feeder net for a while, however we only caught 5 birds. Interestingly, the increased catch rate of Great Tits correlates with the increased numbers that have found the feeding station over the last few days. Larger numbers of Finchs have started to appear so hopefully a number of these will feature on the next few days totals.

Great Tit	4
Willow Tit	1
Totals	5

Away from ringing, the team managed to see a fair few species, with Little Buntings, flocks of Smew, Whooper Swan and Siberian Jays. Just after setting nets this morning, we watched a Moose swim across the river from Norway into Russia. Even though it was distant, its huge size was evident.

The team watching ducks and Swans on the floorwater