Research
The following project is being conducted by Doctor Richard Banham, external Tutor for Leeds University,and bird ringer “experto”, a member of MILVUS G.O.ES ringing group in S.W.Spain. This exciting project can be a great experience for university students especially from the fields of ecology, environmental science or biology to assist Dr.Banham, but it can also be suitable for everyone with strong passion for birds!
The program involves colour ringing of Sylvia atricapilla and Erithacus rubecula in a semi-desert area at Urra Scientific Field Station near Sorbas and at an oasis called Los Molinos de Rio Aguas in the province of Almeria with the assistance of Sunseed. The project started at the beginning of 2018 and was incorporated into the field study course for students from the ecology department at Leeds university from March 18th till March 28th.,and continuing thereon.
Dr.Banham is conducting the program throughout the year with a number of visits to Urra and Sunseed. Each year the project will be incorporated into the university field course,at Urra,always under his supervision.,and in future incorporating visits to the site at Los Molinos de Rio Aguas
Brief description about the project
These species have been chosen because they are the commonest wintering/migrant birds in the area of the field station, the surrounding areas towards Sorbas and in and around Los Molinos. The Blackcaps and Robins are very easy to recognise as there are no other common species with which they could be confused.
Adult Blackcap males have a black cap.The back is greyish and the wings are greyish olive with no striking visible markings.The tail is long with no white.The chin and throat are white.
Immature male Blackcaps sometimes have a mixture of brown and black on the crown. Females possess a red-brown crown.The back colour is more subdued than the male and the wing is more ochraceous with no striking visible markings. The tail chin and throat are as the male. N.B. Blackcaps only very rarely feed or are observed on the ground.
The Robin too is easy to recognise with the bright red chin throat and breast.Males and females look exactly the same.They almost exclusively are seen and feed at ground level.
Sufficient data will be collected by the participating Leeds University students to give them a viable project for the short time they have available at the field centre. However,with the participation of Sunseed, much more valuable long term data can be amassed.
Methodology
When the birds are trapped they are fitted on the left leg with the normal metal ring on top of which is fitted a colour ring. Each year the colour of this ring is changed to note a new year.On the right leg is fitted with 2 colour rings, one to denote the period of ringing and the other the age of the bird.All rings are fitted on the tarsus.
Color ring sequences on the right leg are different for Urra and Los Molinos so that the 2 sites can be distinguished
At Urra,and at Los Molinos it is noted at which net the birds are trapped (each net has a special habitat code), and then studied using binoculars or telescope in an attempt to track the limit of each birds territory and to follow its foraging distance if outside the breeding territory. With a continuous colour ringing and observation program together with the trapping of controls, it will be possible to estimate the year on year survival rate of each sex of this species
It will be possible to track the birds outside of the Urra field station and Los Molinos itself as netting is also carried on along and beside the Rio Aguas rambla and in the future at another ringing site which will be set up in the rio at La Herrerdia.
In January 2017 at Urra, four water scrapes were constructed to try to attract both migrant/wintering and resident birds to drink. Mist nets were erected by these scrapes in order to trap and ring them. In March 2018 each scrape was observed by the students/volunteers to see if any of these colour-ringed birds come to drink and to estimate how long they may be present in the area.
At this moment in time these artificial scrapes are being replaced with more permanent materials as the pond liners used soon became very brittle in the Spanish sun and easily cracked losing all the water.
During the first ringing sessions in Spring 2017 with Leeds university students, the results showed that 52% of all the birds trapped were at these scrapes
The colour rings for this project were available early February 2018. Having completed the first ringing session at Urra in February 2018, Dr.Banham visited Sunseed to provide all the necessary details for the project.
Importance of the project
The field station is in an extremely dry area of Almeria province and a further study is being carried out to plot the change in rainfall patterns since 1997. With less and less rain in this area, the presence of permanent small water scrapes become more and more important to the survival of passage/wintering birds as a stopover site in the area, and especially so in late spring and early autumn when it can still extremely hot and dry here. It is important to continue this project for a number of years in order to track any changes in the migratory/wintering populations of these species and to observe movements outside the boundaries of the station along the wide dry rambla of the Rio Aguas both towards Sorbas and in the other direction up to Los Molinos de Rio Aguas and even beyond down the valley to where the rio enters the Med.
A few kilometres down the river bed there is an important water source for the Rio Aguas in the form of an aquifer which results in a large permanent pool below the village of Los Molinos de Rio Aguas. This is a highly attractive, easy to observe site for a large number of birds that may or may not pass through the field station due to its lack of water. With permanent water now available at Urra as well it will be interesting to see if there are any changes in the number of these particular migratory/wintering birds and to see if there is any reaction between the 2 sites.
It is possible with the presence of the permanent water body at Los Molinos that birds ringed at Urra field station will also visit this site to drink. It will provide interesting data as to how far these migratory/wintering birds are prepared to travel to obtain water.,and if they are using the Rio Aguas valley as a specific migratory route.
If the birds are found at Los Molinos other than at the water body it again should be noted where and their activities e.g.feeding. These species are mainly insectivorous but at certain times of the year,Winter and Spring,the Blackcaps supplement their diet with pollen/nectar from suitable flowering plants.This can be shown by the presence of yellow or orange on the chin/throat area plus a sticky forehead which should again be very useful to note.
If trapped feather samples of this part of the bird will be taken and sent for analysis to determine from which plant the pollen/nectar was taken.
N.B The population dynamics for Robins and Blackcaps (e.g.increase or decrease of migratory/wintering birds year on year, numbers and proportions of males and females, and percentage of returning birds) can be followed in relation to the variation in rainfall and the considerable increase in underground water extraction for growing large olive tree plantations in the area.
How can you get involved in the project?
For those interested, all that is necessary for them to do, is to make a note of the sequence of the colour rings on both legs, the sex of the bird,the date and place of observation. Colour pictures and a field guide are provided by Dr.Banham to assist identification of both species. A pair of simple binoculars is needed to observe the birds. Please use our contact form to get in touch!
For further questions you may contact Dr.Banham at: dr.r.j.banham@gmail.com
BREAKING NEWS:
The bird color ringing project at Urra Field Station and Los Molinos de Rio Aguas has now been accepted by EURING,which gives special permissions for all bird color ringing projects in Europe.Our project is one of some 5,200 in Europe.
The projects for this bird color ringing program can be found on the following link
Sylvia atricapilla / Blackcap : http://www.cr-birding.org/node/5171
Erithacus rubecula / European Robin : http://www.cr-birding.org/node/5174
Combination of :
∙ c-ring over metal (on left leg).
∙ 2 c-rings (on right leg)