June 27, 2007
Bird ringing in Fontainebleau
I attended my second ever bird ringing/banding session in Fontainebleau forest, a prime spot for woodland and heathland birds just SE of Paris. After 4 hours of broken sleep, we arrived on site to the sound of churring Nightjars (Engoulevent d'Europe), one of which circled our heads as we unravelled the mist nets. The very first bird we caught in the pre-dawn gloom was a female Red-backed Shrike (Pie-grieche ecorcheur)!
Next up was a juvenile Nightingale (Rossignol philomele).
This is a plumage I'm not at all familiar with, though identification was made easier by the rusty-red tail.
Short-toed Treecreeper (Grimpereau des jardins) - a bird I prefer to identify by call!
One of the highlights of the morning was catching this (the first of two) Wryneck (Torcol fourmilier).
In the hand it lived up to its name, continually turning its neck to improbable angles.
Close-up, the head is not dissimilar to a Roadrunner's!
A male Yellowhammer (Bruant jaune) provided a welcome splash of colour.
Juvenile Great Tits (Mesange charbonniere) were far and away the most numerous birds we caught, though none of them took too kindly to being handled.
By contrast we only managed a single juvenile Redstart (Rougequeue a front blanc).
This male Red-backed Shrike was a real beauty, but had a fiery temper - my note-taking pencil was used to deflect the hooked bill from tearing chunks out of our fingers.
We probably managed to capture an entire brood of Tree Pipits (Pipit des arbres), while the parents looked on anxiously.
This beast was the surprise find of the morning - an angry male Hawfinch (Grosbec casse-noyaux)!
Weighing in at 49g, he was the heaviest catch of the day, though a relative lightweight for a species which can reach 62g.
He positively dwarfed this dainty female Chaffinch (Pinson des arbres)...
... and female Goldfinch (Chardonneret elegant).
Warblers were relatively thin on the ground, with a single Blackcap (Fauvette a tete noire), a couple of Whitethroats (Fauvette grisette) and this Melodious Warbler (Hypolais polyglotte) being caught.
Other birds in the vicinity included singing Bonelli's Warbler (Pouillot de Bonelli), Woodlark (Alouette lulu) and Hoopoe (Huppe fasciee). Towards midday bird activity trickled to a halt, just as the weather turned nasty, but the bird-banders' spirits remained high during the picnic lunch.
