Roundup Day 6

Greetings from sunny Varanger (OK partly sunny but up here you take what you can get).  The photo is of the famous Nesseby church located on a beautiful spit of land very close to our ringing site.  The phalaropes, possibly out of religious conviction, only seem to be in a small pool by the church.

The issue of the day has been when is a juvenile pipit a Red-throated juvenile and when is it a Meadow pipit youngster.  We are now convinced that we can tell so have a look at the pictures below and see if you can see a pipit that has

• Yellow only at the base of the bill
• A clearly marked rump
• Lighter fringes to the coverts giving the impression of a barred wing
• Large clearly delineated spots on the flanks 

 If you can see these features then and I wish you had been with us a few days ago and saved us a lot of work!

Meadow Pipit (left) and Red-throated Pipit (right)

Meadow Pipit (left) and Red-throated Pipit (right)

   












Although we have spent the majority of our time setting nets and paddling in the evil smelling mud (what fun!) we have occasionally looked up and across the water to see what is about.  Highlights today have been the White Billed Diver in the fjord and a splendid view of the Gyr Falcon over the back of our ringing site, but there are many species around and if time allows we will try to capture a few in pictures if not in nets.

As always for the statistical community here are the daily totals




15-Aug
Greenfinch
4
Brambling
7
Common Redpoll
18
Great Tit
2
Reed Bunting
1
Bluethroat
12
Meadow Pipit
6
Red-throated pipit
3
Yellow Wagtail
2
Wheatear
1
Willow Warbler
33
Redwing
2
Dunlin
24
Ringed Plover
4




Species Count
13
Total
119