Tuesday 1 July 2014

Copeland Island - last evening

Following on from yesterday’s post, it seemed very quiet on Copeland Island when the 20 people left the island and the 3 of us had it all to ourselves again.  Wonderful.   Wesley continued ringing and we were very surprised at the number of birds actually ringed that weekend as the previous weekend, only 4 birds were caught.   Below is a Sedge Warbler.



Spotted Flycatcher



Willow Warbler



Everything is recorded during the ringing process.  The bird is aged and if possibly sexed, its wings are measured, it is weighed and generally examined for its state of health.  Wesley was particularly pleased that we had 5 Spotted Flycatchers and a late Redwing.  All together we had 20 birds ringed, all new birds and 1 retrap.  We would have had 3 Jackdaws caught in the Crow trap however they were clever enough to find a way out!


Pied Wagtail  There are several pairs on the island.


This was an exhausted racing pigeon and I tried to get the ring number so I could report it  but was unsuccessful.


We have quite a number of wild Fuchsia bushes on the island.


Wheatear


There were always at least 2 Oystercatcher on the wall you could see from the kitchen window when doing the dishes.



There are a lot of seals in this shot, both Common and Grey live on and around Mew Island.


Can you see the bird in this shot?


An Eider nesting and very well camouflaged.


A final check on all the Fulmar nesting.


A Pair of Oystercatchers.

I hope you enjoyed this post and I thank you for visiting.
Many thanks for leaving comments on any of my posts.

9 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos here of your time on the island! So many interesting birds - I particularly love the Oyster Catchers. Once we had a racing pigeon land on our roof and stay all afternoon and overnight, frequenting the bird bath for water. We offered it seed, but it declined and was gone in the morning. I very much enjoyed this series of your time here and all your wonderful photos. - Karen

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  2. That is a wonderful picture of the racing pigeon, all puffed up!

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  3. the landscape looks as though it could be very cold, but this time of year for you no doubt it was just fine. Enjoyed seeing this series Margaret. How did you know it was a racing pigeon; was it the colour of the ring that determined?

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  4. Wonderful images, Margaret.. Awesome birds, I love the Oystercatchers.. Great post.

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  5. such wonderful photos, love the Fulmar close up-the birds in hand look so calm..

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  6. all beauties. hope the pigeon can rest and recover and return to where he needs to be.

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  7. Beautiful images Margaret, I couldn't see any birds, in number 12, but then you showed us it was easier to see the Eider Duck, fantastic.

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  8. All great shots, but I just love the one of the eider nesting. Great capture. How amazing it would be to be on an island like this out in the sea with so few people. What a chance to absorb all of the beauty there.

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  9. Fantastic scenes and great bird shots! Fun to view.

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