Second Week at Kvismaren

There is just way too much to say, and I could not possibly find the time to write down everything I learned. (Nor would anyone want to read all the minutiae, I reckon!) So here are a myriad of bad to decent-quality photos from my second (and last) week at Kvismare Bird Station. I hope the explanations in the captions will give an impression of the week's highlights. I can confidently claim that I am hooked on ringing as of now, and will gladly try to improve the skills I've just begun to develop as opportunities may arise. It feels like I added a whole new dimension to appreciating birds! Now when out birding in the field, I tend to look more carefully at even the common birds and enjoy the plumage nuances like the stage of molt, for example, in addition to studying the more common "jizz" stuff. 

I had the chance to completely "process" many birds on the last 3 days of my stay, and here is a list of the 20 species I ringed, weighed, fat- and PJM-scored, aged and sexed (when possible) and released successfully:

Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Icterine Warbler, Garden Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Tree Pipit, Red-backed Shrike, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Bearded Reedling, Penduline Tit, Nuthatch, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting.

And the additional 6 species I was at least able to extract from the net or hold/release over the two-week stay:

(European) Robin, Blackbird, Thrush Nightingale, Barn Swallow, Great Reed Warbler, and...a Bluethroat!

Good birding!

Monday, Aug 19, took the 3pm bus the nearby church to Örebro (~30 min), and then was picked up by a friend with a friend, who had just driven ~2 hrs from Stockholm, and together we traveled another 2.5 hrs to find a bird that VERY thankfully was still hanging around: an adult Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus) from Spain! Once considered conspecific with White-tailed Kite in North America and the Black-shouldered Kite of Australia. The main difference is the wing-tail length relation on perched birds (with closed wings): for Black-winged the wings project beyond tail tip a little, while for White-tailed the tail projects beyond tips of longest primaries.

Small sampling of the 900+ (Common) Cranes (Grus grus) spread across this field. As many as 15,000 migrate through Central Sweden in the fall!

Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)

Löten, Rysjön at Kvismare: Great migration watching point: water full of Greylag Geese at the moment (Bean Geese in October I heard), and the wet fields alongside hold hundreds of resting (Eurasian) Teal ( which have still not completed flight feather molt), and large flocks of waders, most notably Lapwings, Ruff, Spotted Redshank and Greenshank.

This Teal...made somebody's meal! (Åslaholmen)

Some Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) chilling out at Åslaholmen, Fågelsjön at Kvismare.

Adult Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) with long outer tail feathers and stunning pattern of variously shaped white spots on 5 of the 6 pairs of tail feathers.

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), held in the UK/US ringer's grip (the way I learned working there).

Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) truly is great! More than twice the size of a regular Reed Warbler, it is hard to believe the two are related at all!

Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus)

Nest of Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), some skillful weaving, huh?!
Kvismare is the currently one the the country's strongholds for this relatively new breeder in Sweden, and there have been breeding biological studies conducted since 1983.

One single, miniscule scar from ringing a Red-backed Shrike, a.k.a "Devil Bird". Some ringers were not so lucky as I was, and received much more extensive damage from these birds!

Immature 1st autumn male Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) noticeably undergoing molt in head feathers; female-like chestnut-brown feathers are being replaced by adult male black feathers. Probably the ugliest Blackcap I've seen so far...poor guy.

The same Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) is also seriously molting the upper-wing greater (secondary) coverts; nearly all are pins or "flags" (when most of the barbs are still encased in the sheath, but some have started to break out towards the distal tip).

Whitethroat (Sylvia communis) with a white central tail feather!

Ummmm.....

Who doesn't want a young fluffy Reed Warbler on the end of their pen?! :)
(Btw, bird eventually flew off looking in good shape...sometimes they just need a little time)

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) in the back on the left, with a white patch on forecrown, above the base of bill; reminiscent of a Barnacle Goose (B. leucopsis)! I'm quite sure that it isn't a hybrid with leucopsis, as the upper breast is not dark, and the coloration and size is typical for a normal canadensis.

One of the smallest birds I have held...a Coal Tit (Periparus ater ater)! Showing white tips on 2 of the 3 pairs of tertials, in addition to the 2 wing-bars formed by white tips to the greater and median coverts.

1st fall White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)

Nice birds!

My last morning was the most amazing day of the whole experience, as we caught many new (for me) and thus cool birds, starting with this striking adult male Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella).

Like most adult passerines this time of year, this guy is molting his flight feathers (remiges): here one can see a short primary growing in, as well as a secondary. The inner, fully-grown new primaries look crisper, with less abrasion, darker and glossier than the outer 2 long primaries, which are old and will be replaced later. Also notice the 2 outermost tail feathers, they are new feathers still growing.

Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)

Magpie (Pica pica) was not very fun for Teresa to band; that bill (as I tested out myself) packs a mean punch! Gorgeous bird really, though! All of the greater coverts have been shed, while new ones have just started to grow, exposing the shafts of the secondaries seen here.

Even fault bars (growth bars) across the tail, which line up like this, indicate that the tail feathers grew simultaneously, and therefore this is most likely a yearling bird (but don't use this alone in determining the age of the bird!) Bird is either a Reed or a Sedge Warbler, can't remember (oops)

Bluethroat! (Luscinia svecica), young male I think, with red above the blue bib. One of the last birds caught in our nets on my last day, and it was only the 2nd one of the season (supposedly most pass through in September), so I felt I was quite lucky indeed!

Would not cooperate for a closed-wing pose; flapped almost continuously...oh well, still beautiful, right?

The fantastic tail of a Bluethroat!

And one last pic of the Bluethroat, because...you can never have too much Bluethroat, right?!

The smallest bird I've handled for sure is this tiny fella: a yearling Penduline Tit (Remiz pendulinus)...I cannot imagine how they ring Goldcrests! They supposedly habitually hold their heads down like this when being held, so not the most photogenic bird, nevertheless a very exciting catch!

Found out why their legs are difficult to bend straight from their usual 90° angle between the tibiae and tarsi! :)
Matt is demonstrating here the incredible hanging ability of the Penduline Tit, which probably comes in handy for building their magnificent nests...it just hung there for about 30 seconds before taking off! :)

Marsh Warbler (Acrocephalus palustris) with a tick on its face. :(
These can be notoriously difficult to separate from Reed Warbler (A. scirpaceus) if it is quiet and in the wrong habitat, but in the hand there are several features to separate these birds. For one, the overall color is lighter, with more olive tone and less brownish, even on yearlings. Also they have fractionally shorter bills which changes their expression in a subtle way, and some (like this bird) have a slight yellowish eyebrow above and in front of eye, which rarely (if ever) is shown on Reed Warblers. Then there is the wing...

...Marsh Warbler have a combination of longer primary extension AND shorter notch on the 2nd outermost primary than Reed, and so in this pic I wanted to show how comparing the position of the notch (yellow) to where the secondaries end (red) aids identification of this bird. For a Reed Warbler these lines would more or less line up, but when the yellow is closer to halfway between the primary tip and the red line (as here) the bird can pretty safely be labeled a Marsh Warbler. Other small, in-the-hand differences are that Marsh has lighter-colored (not-so-dark) talons and the yearlings have less distinct tongue spots than Reed :/