Just got the ringing info back on this Icelandic Blackwit from Marshside I saw on 19.11.06...
Excuse the blown up image, but it's the best way to see the rings.
Bazzo and I watched it at the south end of Marshside One, feeding amongst Wigeon in a shallow inlet, where the colour rings were clearly visible....
Right leg: White over orange
Left leg: Red over green
Sigga Elisabet Elisdottir from Iceland got back to me today with the news that the bird was ringed as a male in southern Iceland in June 2002.
Since then its has covered a fair few miles as you can see from confirmed sightings (starting with the date of ringing):
03.06.02: Friðland, Ã?rnessÃÅsla, S Iceland; Southern lowlands
16.06.02: Kaldaðarnes, Ã?rnessÃÅsla, S Iceland; Southern lowlands
23.10.02: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
22.04.03: Fridland, Ã?rnessÃÅsla, S Iceland; S lowlands
17.06.03: Fridland, Ã?rnessÃÅsla, S Iceland; S lowlands
27.06.03: Fridland, Ã?rnessÃÅsla, S Iceland; S lowlands
01.07.03: Fridland, Ã?rnessÃÅsla, S Iceland; S lowlands
14.08.03: Colne Estuary, Essex, E England
27.08.03: Colne Estuary, Essex, E England
17.10.03: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
18.10.03: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
07.08.04: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
23.08.04: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
21.09.04: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
22.09.04: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
25.09.04: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
27.09.04: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
26.09.05: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
03.10.05: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
25.10.05: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
20.02.06: Comporta rice fields, Sado Estuary, W Portugal
24.09.06: Stour estuary, Essex, E England
19.11.06: Marshside RSPB Nature Reserve, Southport.
Not bad - apart from an unhealthy amount of time spent in Essex, the bird has made it as far as Portugal in between returns to nesting grounds in Iceland.
I wonder if Sigga looks like Bjork? I expect so.
Anyway, if you see a colour ringed Blackwit, simply send the gen off via e-mail to: limosa@simnet.is and Sigga and her excellent colleagues will send you back all the info on when and where the bird has been seen (if it's one they've done).
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies....
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John,
There, aren't you glad you sent this off for details!
Every so often a goody comes back - rather than the Greenfinch just ringed around the corner.
Sigga - if she hadn't of included the Elisabet bet you wouldn't of know it was a she?
Tricky question now - was the BLTGO a he or a she?
Bob.
Hi Bob,
The Blackwit is a male.
Males have shorter bills than females, and if it had been in summer plumage would have shown more barring on the underparts, and redder plumage on the breast than a female (assuming one was near enough for comparison).
I would have known Sigga was a woman because of her surname...the suffix "dottir" denotes she is "daughter of" Elis in Icelandic (he said smart*rsedly).
Had "she" have been a "he", the surname would have ended in "sson".
The things you learn....
I need to get out more......
Bob (sson).