Ringing 2017

Today we ringed all three chicks.

We have two girls and a boy and to most people's surprise, Bobby Bach turned out to be a female!

The first (oldest) chick was 37 days old today and he weighed 1,520g - right where you'd expect a male to be at.

However, his two younger siblings, both weighing exactly the same, weighed almost 13% more at 1,710g.

Here's the summary with their new names on the right:

And if you're wondering how we get to the names, we were delighted to welcome Posh Pete back this year for the Posh Pete Test.

Aeron, Menai, and Eitha

I say this almost every year, but when you get to look at these birds from just a few inches away, they defy description. Even 4K cameras don't come close to portraying how beautiful they are. It kind of grabs you, you're bereft of words, just looking at them, staring, agasp how astonishingly beautiful they are.

The whole ringing operation took 46 minutes and Monty and Glesni were off the nest for 55 minutes in total. We also took saliva swabs under license for our osprey DNA research (more on this in a separate blog soon).

Here is a quick bar chart that gives the ringing age (plus overall average) for all the Dyfi chicks:

MWT - Age of Dyfi Chicks at Ringing, 2011-2017

Many people ask whether Monty and Glesni attack us when we're ringing their chicks - they don't. They circle overhead, continually calling to their chicks to 'play dead'. This is their only form of defence against a real predator. Their camouflage mimicry is highly effective at this age, so long as they stay still. It makes our job a lot easier to boot.

Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust would like to thank Tony Cross for ringing our ospreys once again this year. His 35 years of experience is evident in everything he does - it's a reassuring feeling and makes you feel 'safe'. The birds are safe in his hands too.

Here are some pictures from today:

Aeron