Shrike it Lucky

Another good day in Pasvik after a cold slow start. Again it was mainly Willow Warblers but with a smattering of more unusual birds which we had been hoping for. The photographs show a selection of these.

Two very nice Siberian tits caught together at the same time. The sexes on plumage are the same so we were unable to determine what they were. It is possible on wing length on the upper side of the length for males and the lower length for females but both birds were in the overlap range.

On the left is a Tree Pipit and on the right is the Meadow Pipit. Unfortunately the pictures do not clearly show the difference in the picture. In the hand the Tree Pipit had the small hind claw and the Meadow Pipit had the long claw.

We caught 3 Redstarts today 2 new birds and a retrap.

Hence the name of the blog. We had seen Great Grey Shrike several times during the day and on one occasion one bounced out of the nets. On the last net round of the day we did "Shrike it lucky' and ringed this handsome juvenile.

Species	Re- trap	New	Totals
Meadow Pipit		4	4
Tree Pipit		3	3
Robin	1	1	2
Bluethroat		4	4
Redstart	1	2	3
Sedge Warbler		1	1
Willow Warbler	12	134	146
Great Tit		1	1
Willow Tit		1	1
Siberian Tit		2	2
Great Grey Shrike		1	1
Common Redpoll		6	6
Arctic Redpoll		1	1
Reed Bunting	1	35	36
Totals	15	196	211

The table above shows the the birds we caught and processed.