Dippers (1 Viewer)

Just wondering what the opinion is of ringers in relation to Dippers.

Do you think leg bands cause Dippers any problems whilst swimming/feeding etc?

Thanks

No. They are too small to be of significant hindrance. There is a long running and successful colour ringing scheme in sheffield. May I ask why you are concerned?

As Tom Goose says, long running studies with realistic survival and mortality rates. Their claws aren't affected in any way by ringing and it's those that are important in water (clinging to substrate) rather than the ringed tarsus (no kicking while 'swimming' so far as I know).

Thanks guys for replying

My concern was welfare of the Dipper, insofar as multiple bands might inhibit or distress and cause long term injury. Standing for long periods in fast flowing water for instance with 4 bands does cause the bands to ride up and down pushing towards the Tibia-tarsal articulation. The long term effects are likely to go unnoticed without close scrutiny of such birds which would necessitate either further capture or detailed video and photographic evidence. If this examination hasn't been done before, then potential injury will be overlooked.

Please give this your consideration, thanks

Thanks for this concern. I don't ring them myself but ahead of someone who does I can say with certainty there are projects which (rather than field sightings) see ringed birds re-trapped in the hand in successive years which would allow the kind of checks to which you refer. Buffeting of the ring against the joint should cause no damage or pain as plastic colour rings weigh virtually nothing, the metal ring shouldn't be buffeted as much and still weights ~1% body mass. Any abrasion to the scales/dermis on the ringed leg would absolutely be picked up, as the interaction of the ring on the leg is the sort of thing checked on re-trapped birds of all species, even by someone at an early point in ringing experience like me. You grip the ring gently, test its ability to slide freely up and down the tarsus, and turn 360 on the leg without clinging to the skin. In doing all this, the skin gets checked too. Rings are removed from a few birds a year usually because a lesion has developed (often on both legs) from a bird-table-borne disease.

Thanks for that. They do seem to use leg movements when swimming, check out this video about 50 secs into it. I would imagine four leg bands would be a hindrance at least ?


http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/bird_dipper