Ringing at Afdis, 06 September

We had a fairly successful morning of ringing at Afdis recently. We caught about 30 birds, including Tropical Boubou, Variable Sunbird, Golden Weaver, Blacksmith Lapwing, Three-banded Plover, Wood Sandpiper, Little Sparrowhawk and Yellow-throated Longclaw, plus recaptured Bar-throated Apalis, Spectacled Weaver and White-browed Robin-chat.

Little Sparrowhawk

I noticed that the Wood Sandpiper's plumage was extremely worn out, so have photographed it to show you:

Wood Sandpipers caught in April (left) and September (right) 2012.
The left bird was caught before migration to Europe. The right bird was caught after migration from Europe.
The plumage of the bird on the right is so much more worn out than the left bird's. Many of the white spots have almost vanished.

A close-up of the tertials on the September bird, showing how the white spots have worn away, leaving the feathers heavily notched.

There were about a dozen Wood Sandpipers around, but we only caught one, which was disappointing. There were also Black-winged Stilt, Marsh Sandpiper, Common Greenshank and Green Sandpiper at the ponds.

Wood Sandpiper (back) and Green Sandpiper (front). The Green Sandpiper is quite a rare bird in most of Southern Africa.

A few weeks ago we ringed at Greystone park again. Not much exciting, aside from a stunning male Purple-banded Sunbird. See Julia Pierini's photograph on the Birdlife Zimbabwe Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=405238032874448&set=a.405237996207785.93535.153269924737928&type=1&relevant_count=2