Outlaw Pete 2,224 Posted May 26, 2014 Report Share Posted May 26, 2014 I'd rung him up because I'd just sat here and watched a Song Thrush walk straight into one of my sparrow traps! What a turn up That was! I have my walk in sparrow traps set, right outside this window. So, I'm sitting here, wasting my life away, as some sparrows hop around them. Then, a blackbird lands under the hedge and I start fantasising; What if ....? So, when the songie comes down, right between the traps and the black? I'm almost hyperventilating! Only for a very short time though. Because that's how long it took for the spotty thrush to rush headlong into one of the traps! Probably the second or third song thrush I've ever handled! First one alone. So, I rang the boss for a talk through. Had a great chat! He's not been in touch for a while, because of one thing and another at his end. Now we were spewing news all over eachother! Said he'd ordered a fresh load of rings in, because another of his Trainees had just earned her 'C' license to ring, in her own garden! Absolutely made up, for her! Anyway; Discussed shit that'll never see the light of day. But, one or two great things came out of it. Most fantastic of all being the idea that I put my macro capable camera, and bent toward fastidious cataloguing, to an excellent use! My boss f**king Rocks! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
fireman 10,774 Posted May 26, 2014 Report Share Posted May 26, 2014 (edited) Well done on the songie and with technology as it is these days a full record with pics isn't to hard to keep together so you should and we'd love to watch it grow as well. Edited May 26, 2014 by fireman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Wilkes 2,915 Posted May 26, 2014 Report Share Posted May 26, 2014 Well done pete, it must be hell of a spuggy trap to accomadate a songie. Now ill put you on the spot... What sex was it and how old ?. And great news for the lady who earned her C Licence Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Outlaw Pete 2,224 Posted May 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2014 Fires; There's a book , out there, so Ringers myth and legend goes ..... It has good photo's of a few species feather tracts. And it's like the Holy Grail of rich ringers! Said to pass hands for Hundreds of pounds! I Think it's by Jenny and Winkler? Something like that. Photographing the wing and tail of anything I'm not 100% on though? Next bird I get, I'll add to the usual biometrics. I'll snap a shot of what I'm examining and shall catalogue it, along with its ring #. I can then run this past my boss and it'll be like he's looking over my shoulder. He'll be able to point shit out and advise me on every bird I'm in the least bit unsure about. Revolutionary! This'll be great. Because, we assign birds a code, according to age. When we can't tell, with certainty, we give them a rather 'open' number. And that annoys me! Handing in birds which I've, practically, just stuck a ring on, measured and let go." It was a so and so. Ring # blah. Don't ask me how old or what gender though. " That is Not what ringing's about. That bird turns up dead, next year; What does that tell us? " A ringed so and so has died. " FFS No. We want to help gather hard information about what's going on, day by day, amongst the birds. To make use of that, we at least like to have a good idea of what stage in life the thing's at! Not just " A House Sparrow ". I'm gagging to start my own, month by month, complete, photographic profile of various birds feather tracts. My boss can Copy Edit it. And I'll end up with the makings of a fair little photographic guide! If the BTO adopted this idea and ran with it? Thousands of ringers, perhaps even allocated their own 'speciality species' to work with? Couple of years from now, we could have the definitive CD on sale! A visual, full colour Svensson! Wow! F**k this! I'm claiming Intellectual Copyright, right here! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Outlaw Pete 2,224 Posted May 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2014 Well done pete, it must be hell of a spuggy trap to accomadate a songie. Now ill put you on the spot... What sex was it and how old ?. And great news for the lady who earned her C Licence Open fronted, walk in type, mate. Potter Trap, as they're known. I buy them from a chap, over there. Advertises in the internal publications and only sells to C Ringers and above. Comes the time, I'll tell ye exactly how I made my Catching Box, which I use for transferring all my birds from my various traps to my hand. It's an absolute godsend! For me, and the birds Sex and age of this one? Adult male. Hatched before this year (I.e It wasn't showing any signs of juvenile plumage. Bit unlikely in a bird that had left the nest this season!) No brood patch. So it wasn't a recently incubating female either. I wasn't confident enough about thrushes cloacal protuberances (I'm only licensed for sparrows, without my boss, remember) so didn't want to detain it, whilst I thumbed through Svensson. So, it was, I considered, a what we call " 4 M ". Male bird. Hatched before the current year. But, god knows when. I'll leave it there though. I don't want to leave splintered fragments of information in ye brain. Let's leave it for ye own, qualified, Trainer to pass on what ever, in their own way And, as for the girl now able to wake up of a morning and decide to do a spot of ringing? Hell, yeah! She'll be grinning like the Cheshire Cat the moment her eyes open! You wait. You'll see! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
j j m 6,481 Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 well done bud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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