I've been barred!!!

It was a very cold 5 degrees C this morning at 3.00am and the number of bird caught reflected this. It was not until 9.00am that it started to warm up and bird catches improved.

The previous two days we have had exceptional numbers but what a difference a day makes. We caught 218 birds which is still good by any standards. What we noticed today was the quantity was replaced by quality. We had some very nice Wheatear, Pied Flycatcher, Little Bunting, Redstart and a very very special Warbler which we need to check, but suspect there has never been one caught so far North in Norway before.

I extracted this bird from the net and took it back to the ringing station and said to the rest of the team "I have a bird here and have no clue as to what it is". I removed it from the net bag and it was obvious from everyones faces that this was indeed a special bird. Colin was beside himself with excitement. He asked me what I thought it may be and I replied I thought it to be a Warber and it looked very much like an oversized Whitethroat. After checking through Collins bird guide I identified it correctly with the aid of Svennson as a Barred Warbler, hence the name of the blog. Colin who is our team leader offered it to me to be ringed and processed. How good is that. I was overwhelmed.

The Barred Warbler with a happy face. I am looking forward to finding out if any have been caught in the past this far north.

A couple of extra pictures. The bird was aged as a juvenile. The criteria is the eye colour and lack of yellow in the iris and the lack of bars on the flanks and breast.

Female Wheatear, We caught three of these today

Shortly after lunch we stopped ringing and decided to have a drive around and went to Vadso, the island Vadsoya is a small reserve which we waked around for a couple of hours. There were plenty of waders which kept us interested for a while. On the way back to the car the big Reindeer above seemed to show some interest to us. We decided a quick exit was necessary.

A little more information, the church above is at Nesseby and our main ringing site on the water front is to the right. We however ring to the left as well.

Finally I thought I would show you exactly where we are in North Norway. Nesseby in the arctic is one of the most northerly towns in the country. About 30 kilometres to the east is the Russian border.

Tomorrow is another day, weather looks good although a cold start again.

Please also look at the Norwegion blog http://varangerringing.blogspot.co.uk