Pratincol , I have rarely read such daft comments as you make on here. You seem to have some strong objection about the best method ( for the bird ) of holding birds caught for ringing ( in a dark bag ). As for the ringers who caught 40 greenfinches and 27 willow warblers , why did they not catch more ? It would be better if they had several hundred , and then the chances of a recovery would be higher. But the hundreds and thousands needed to be ringed are all brought together by ringers all over the country catching their 40s and 27s. Only by catching very large numbers of passerine birds is a true picture going to be built up.
Your wording is bias and anti ringing using such phrases as “hanging bags on a hook “, what else are you going to hang the bags on , “ how long are the poor things stuck in a net “ I can tell you that less than 30 minuets , “ then a ring would be taken off and a new one put on “ that is a very rare occurrence perhaps one in 5000 birds, and only if the ring is worn ( most small birds die of old age before the rings become worn ).
Clearly from comments like “So If they catch a bird that is already ringed do they just leave it on? “How long would it be before the last bird is released after being taken out of the net if 30 birds were being ringed?” How long do you reckon they are trapped in the mist nets before they are recovered on average?” You have no clear understanding about bird ringing or the welfare of birds.
Pratincol wake up and live in the real world. Ringing in 99.9% of cases does the birds no harm , but the benefit to the population as a whole may be vital for the species survival . How do you think we know where different populations of the same species breed or winter or stage on migration. And how do we know what areas to protect to safeguard flyways ? By recoveries from ringed birds.
Be honest you just do not like the idea of a skilled and highly trained ringer catching birds. You seem to believe birds should be left alone , never studied and allowed to go extinct on our modern human dominated world. To protect areas for birds we need hard facts on their ecology and usage of the site. Go to any government and ask them to protect a migration staging point of say Canadian Knot or Spitsbergen barnacle geese and that government is going to want hard facts on the origins of those birds and how often they use the site or the battle for their conservation will be lost. If ringed birds prove that the knot or geese regularly use the site then you are in a position to provide those facts.
I have worked with birds for the past 45 years , created reserves , captive bred endangered birds for reintroduction projects and worked on industrial projects which at times we have stopped and saved the habitat for wildlife. Almost every day of my year is spent watching and studying birds and in the past ringing them both in this country and abroad and I have a pretty good idea about the stress ringing causes to a bird something which I doubt you have. There a few species have to be handled carefully , but the vast majority sit quietly in the hand while being ringed and as retrapping proves live normal lives in some cases being recaught many times into the future with the same body condition of unringed birds. I have even had some like goldcrests on being ringed sit in the hand for a moment before flying onto my shoulder to search for spiders under my collar. Does that sound like a stressed bird to you.
