First juveniles of the year - mist netting the Crop Field area, 8th May

A team of three early risers set nets around the reed bed and crop field areas of the Wetlands and were soon joined by four more.  One of the first birds in the nets was our first juvenile bird to be ringed of the year - a robin.  I am very fond of these birds as they initially look very little like their parents in terms of their plumage, and then gradually moult into something much more similar.  This particularly bird was still very much in juvenile spotty plumage, with just a very few feathers in pin.  

Also quite early on we caught a greater spotted woodpecker.  We don't catch too many of these birds so it was a nice surprise. Though they are an attractive and interesting bird they are also very noisy and inclined to peck (perhaps unsurprisingly).  Just as we do for almost all our captures, we record biometrics, in this case the wing length is being measured.

This bird is a male, as the back of its head has a red stripe.  This is perhaps  more clearly seen on this picture.

 

Other species caught included linnet and house sparrow, which we rarely encounter in other areas of the reserve.

We also caught three Cetti's warblers which are one of our target species.  I am often reminded of how similar the head of a Cetti's warbler is to a wren. 

This is a Cetti's warbler...  

And here is a wren...

Potentially the highlight bird, which I have no picture of, was a greenfinch which was already ringed, but not with one of our rings, so potentially an interesting recovery.  We await the original ringing details with interest!

Overall a most enjoyable morning with a good number of birds and a good variety of species.  The full list is in the table below.

And thank you to Bev for most of the pictures on today's post!