Robert L Jarvis
Robert L Jarvis
I was at Brockholes NR today. I noticed an Oystercatcher was limping buty could not tell why as I did not have my scope with me. Hoever I videoed the bird think8ng I will be able to see better playing the video back on the monitor.
The video revealed that the bird had been ringed and the ring had slipped down so that the bird could not extend it's toes, very rare I would agree but someone has not been thorough when doing the ringing. The bird was freeflying so cannot be caught. It is going to have to struggle for years because of this mishap or should one say a life sentence of limping!
I must admit I am not wholly in favour of ringing. I cannot understand in some cases one needs to know where birds migrate to etc, etc. Can I ask why do common birds have to be ringed this I do not understand bearing in mind the stress this causes when done at the nest or by mist netting.
It is all very well having a licence to ring and passing some tests but it seems to me that the purpose and need to do this should be revisited. After all from the thousands of birds ringed how many rings actually get found and returned?
Robert
The video revealed that the bird had been ringed and the ring had slipped down so that the bird could not extend it's toes, very rare I would agree but someone has not been thorough when doing the ringing. The bird was freeflying so cannot be caught. It is going to have to struggle for years because of this mishap or should one say a life sentence of limping!
I must admit I am not wholly in favour of ringing. I cannot understand in some cases one needs to know where birds migrate to etc, etc. Can I ask why do common birds have to be ringed this I do not understand bearing in mind the stress this causes when done at the nest or by mist netting.
It is all very well having a licence to ring and passing some tests but it seems to me that the purpose and need to do this should be revisited. After all from the thousands of birds ringed how many rings actually get found and returned?
Robert
