Rings were put on the legs of the three chicks today (14th May). Abseilers Nick and Jess collected the chicks at the nest platform and lowered them down to be ringed inside the tower by a team of skilled, licenced bird ringers.
Two chicks weighed over 600 grams and were judged to be females.
They have colour rings XSL and XTL.
The third chick, probably the last one to hatch, which also had very little in its crop, was just over 500 grams and so was probably, but not certainly, a male. Its colour ring is XRL.
The photos below are by Chloe, one of the ringers and by Jessica from the Cathedral - thanks to both:
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| Nick and Jess arrive at the platform and tie themselves off |
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| Bagging the chicks before sending them down to be ringed. Screenshot by Jessica |
The three chicks after being ringed. Photo by Chloe
Chick being weighed, siting quietly in a flower pot.....
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Photo by Chloe
The first Watch Point event is this Saturday 18th - more on this to follow on Thursday.
This project is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with the great support of three partners: Derby Cathedral, Cathedral Quarter and Derby City Council.
17 comments:
Wonderful News
Thank you Chloe for the beautiful pics.and so pleased everything went safe for all.
Mum and Dad both feeding themselves at moment, I am assuming that as the chicks are quiet they have had their fill CHOL:):)
Lovely photos. it is so helpful to get an idea of the size of the chicks seeing them in someone's hands. Thank you to the whole team.
I agree- great to see the photos, the chicks looked bigger than I had imagined- you have made my day! A big Thank You to the team!
So good to see the ringing pics, many thanks to all concerned!
Brilliant pictures of ringing but I'm confused. Do the chicks have two rings? One orange and one metal.
At around 14.25 to 14.30 one of the parents was biting the wooden dividing post on the platform. Is there a reason for this? Are they eating wood? You can clearly see where its been chewed at.
Only guessing but maybe it's a way to clean and sharpen their beaks?
Yes Anon, the chicks have a coloured ID ring one one leg plus a metal BTO ID ring on the other!
Feed at 12.30 where I was willing the smallest chick to push forward to get fed ...
https://youtu.be/9lM3Pv2KVYk
Chicks all had a good feed just after 21:15 even the one at the back just the one parent on the scrape
That's good to hear!
Regarding the rings: the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) controls the ringing of wild birds in the UK. All ringers go through detailed training before they can ring birds.
Each (metal) ring has a unique letter/number combination such that if the bird is found later, it can be identified as an individual.
Most birds only have the one (metal) ring but when special studied are involved, an additional coloured ring or rings are sometimes put on the other leg. Again these have unique colour/number/letter combinations for each species. The idea is that the letters/numbers are big enough to be read through a telescope enabling researchers to identify the bird without having to catch it again.
With our peregrines, this allows us to discover where at least some of our fledged youngsters end up....providing someone spots one that is.
One of our female chicks was discovered nesting on an inland cliff in Yorkshire, others on churches in Nottingham etc. One juvenile spent its first winter at Rutland Water's nature reserve using an osprey platform to roost on!
Many thanks for the in depth info on birds' rings!
Lovely long feed at 11.39 but a shame that chick on the left makes it so difficult for the little one at the back to reach forward ...
https://youtu.be/ax1yZrUkGq0?si=DDfrE-q3WzURs8WR
Here we get a chance to see a chick's face in close-up as it gazes up at Mum ...
https://youtu.be/5Bf3V36A2H4
Please leave further comments on the new post about the Watch Points. Thanks.
chicks fed 21:10 all fed well
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