Take it as Red, we're are all Dunlin.

Today was the final day of ringing at Nesseby, the ninth day of our trip. In a way it was similar to other days with hundreds of Redpoll again but the day finished off with a number of nice birds of other species. Weather was a cold start, it actually felt we were 560 kilometres north of the arctic circle and it warmed up slightly early morning. This rise in temperature was the key for the movement of Redpoll again and we caught a massive 450 birds.
The best birds of the day were Red Throated Pipit, another Lapland Bunting, a second Merlin, Dunlin and a Ringed Plover.

The Red Throated Pipit on the left and a Meadow Pipit on the right, a comparison to show exactly how different visually they really are. We did have a couple of other birds where it was not obvious that they were Red-Throated pipits without closer examination. For example the picture below was a bird caught last year in the Pasvik valley where the throat was not clearly red, the supercillium was not as strong but the chest marking were.

The last time I caught a Red-Throated Pipit was two years ago and I think in the same net position. It breeds in northern Europe and even in Alaska and winters after a very long flight to Africa.

 

This is the second Merlin of the trip caught in the same net as the Red- Throated Pipit. Ringed by Scott it was a juvenile male a much smaller bird than the female that we caught earlier in the week. It was flying around looking for an easy meal

Only a few waders today 5 Dunlin and the Ringed Plover. All  were caught in the home made trap at high tide, When the tide is out the bird population is really diluted over the beach and are hard to catch.

Both these two birds were juveniles.

Species	Number Caught
Reed Bunting	20
Bluethroat	20
Meadow Pipit	80
Willow Warbler	29
Redpoll	450
Brambling	8
Sedge Warbler	1
Fieldfare	2
Great tit	1
Redwing	1
Greenfinch	3
Redstart	0
Arctic Redpoll	0
Lapland Bunting	4
House Sparrow	0
Pied Flycatcher	0
White Wagtail	0
Dunlin	5
Wheatear	0
Dunnock	0
Merlin	1
Chiffchaff	0
Red Throated Pipit	2
Yellow Wagtail	0
Willow Tit	0
Ringed Plover	1
Garden Warbler	1
Total	629

Total birds above caught today.

Species	Number Caught
Reed Bunting	191
Bluethroat	284
Meadow Pipit	444
Willow Warbler	339
Redpoll	1744
Brambling	110
Sedge Warbler	11
Fieldfare	62
Whinchat	1
Great tit	24
Redwing	38
Greenfinch	20
Redstart	5
Arctic Redpoll	4
Lapland Bunting	6
House Sparrow	7
Pied Flycatcher	2
White Wagtail	3
Dunlin	15
Wheatear	2
Dunnock	7
Merlin	2
Chiffchaff	1
Red Throated Pipit	3
Yellow Wagtail	1
Willow Tit	1
Ringed Plover	1
Garden Warbler	1
Total	3329

Total birds above caught from 6/8/2016 to 14/9/2016 inclusive.

Back to Blighty in the morning, two flights, Kirkenes to Oslo and then Oslo to Manchester.

Now I know why they are called a "Common Redpoll".

Penultimate day today, at long last we managed to catch a few more Waders. Scott spent some time in the garage yesterday evening with Dave and between them they made up a walk in trap from netting and poles we had  and also made the walk in entrance from wire mesh. We weren't sure if it would work but the evidence of this are the pictures below.

In all we caught 8 Dunlin, all were juveniles aged by the criteria I mentioned on an earlier blog the upper most blackish brown, whitish buff and chestnut fringes. The coverts are also brownish with broad buff or chestnut fringes.



We have a last chance tomorrow being the last day before we have the long journey to return home.

The total number of Redpoll processed to-date this week is 1280, there must have been an astonishing breading season this year, or is this normal, we don't know but certainly we have not experienced this many before. We are currently trying to get some data from Norwegian Ringing Scheme at Stavanger to see if they have any data that compares and what Controls they have from any Redpolls from Norway over previous years. I am not sure if Stavanger will be in touch before we head for home, if so I will blog something about it.
No matter what sound we used today regardless of what it was the Redpolls kept coming in and in and in. 491 is a lot of birds when compared with others at 96.

Below are the results for today.

Species	Number Caught
Reed Bunting	7
Bluethroat	12
Meadow Pipit	23
Willow Warbler	15
Redpoll	491
Brambling	10
Sedge Warbler	1
Fieldfare	7
Great tit	1
Redwing	4
Greenfinch	2
Redstart	0
Arctic Redpoll	1
Lapland Bunting	0
House Sparrow	2
Pied Flycatcher	0
White Wagtail	0
Dunlin	8
Wheatear	0
Dunnock	3
Merlin	0
Chiffchaff	0
Red Throated Pipit	0
Yellow Wagtail	0
Willow Tit	0
Total	587