Painted Bunting, Flamborough Head UK (1 Viewer)

[Simmo1111]

A couple of days ago we had a ringed Painted Bunting in our Flamborough garden. I was interested to see if anyone could offer any information with regard to its possible origin?

The ring details so far as we can see from various photographs were:

The numbers 883 can be seen (read upwards as in the 8 nearest the foot of the bird and the 3 nearest the knee), we also saw the numbers 29 over 17, these numbers being aligned at right angles to the 883. A final bit we got was either BOF or possibly 8OF, again aligned upwards the same as the 883 bit. A bit of info I've managed up to now was that the bird was probably bought/bred in Belgium originally and then bought by a bird fancier at a sale here in the UK or on the continent.The BOF part of the ring (assuming that it is BOF) appears to be a Belgian breeders club ring.

 

[KC Foggin]

Here are a couple of links from the U.S. on banded (that's what they are called here) birds

https://www.usgs.gov/centers/pwrc/s...ce_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects

https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/bblretrv/

Please let us know if you hear anything back

 

[Simmo1111]

Thanks for the links KC, have sent an email and will await a reply.
I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[KC Foggin]

Thanks Dave. Looking forward to some good news

 

[Simmo1111]

Just found out from a helpful guy at this end that the 2.9 part is the band size and the 17 is the year. Regarding the 883 part and the BOF/8OF we don't know about those bits. Breeder code maybe?

 

[Simmo1111]

Forgot to add that the band isn't a split one so far as we can see which obviously indicates (I presume) that the band was fitted while the bird was still a fledgling.

 

[Steve Lister]

There have also been Painted Buntings with similar rings at Aberdeen (blue) and on one of the Scottish islands, forget which, this week. I wonder if all are from the same source?

Steve

 

[Simmo1111]

Hi Steve,

Yes we had a message via Twitter from someone in Aberdeen asking if our bird was still present, (which it wasn't) Ours was here for one day on the 22nd and we got the message about the Aberdeen bird on the 25th. Not had any details regarding ring numbers from the Aberdeen bird so we don't know if that's the one from our end (long way to go in such a short time maybe?) The other bird was on Orkney and was wearing a red ring.

 

[Xenospiza]

These are definitely breeder rings. Blue = 2017, red = 2018.

 

[Simmo1111]

Thanks Xenospiza,

We presumed that was the case. We were interested in trying to find out the bird's origin if anyone was able to use the information supplied from our photographs. Probably Belgium is as good as we've managed up to now.

Thanks again.

 

[KAB from Aberdeen]

Painted Bunting in Aberdeen

Dear all,

I am the one who saw the painted bunting in Aberdeen. I am not a birder by any stretch, but in this time of lockdowns, we are all spending more time looking at our gardens and noticing the birds there. In the end it was fortunate that we were home yesterday (Friday) as he was here only that day - he has not reappeared today.

I have attached a couple pictures, but unfortunately, I do not have any good pictures of the band on his leg, which I didn't know to try to get until late in the day when a work colleague who is a very big birder excitedly got in contact to say to get a picture of the band if I could. The best I could do is to take a frame from a 5 second video I made of him (also pictured). It is clearly blue, but it is too blurred to see if it is a match.

Sorry that we can't tell if this is the same bird as in Flamborough - though it is hard to believe that he would have made it up to Aberdeen from Flamborough in two days (that said, he spent nearly the entire day at the feeder). My wife has said that it is the same bird and that he is going to see his friend in Orkney for a wee holiday!

Best wishes,

Keith

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Welcome to BirdForum Keith (from a near neighbour). Thanks for giving your account of the bird.

 

[Simmo1111]

Thanks very much Keith, most helpful. I'll check the pics against the ones we have to see if we can tie anything together.

 

[Simmo1111]

Bit of a bugger .. All my shots are of the birds from the LHS. This one though does show a rusty patch where the top of the right wing runs into the shoulder area which also shows in the Aberdeen bird. I'll see if the other guy managed any from the other side.

 

[Simmo1111]

Found this one which is taken from the same side.

 

[KAB from Aberdeen]

Dear Dave and (near neighbor!) Andrew,

Thanks for the welcome. I am sorry that I don't have a picture from the other side - every time I looked he was on the left hand side of my feeder as I look at it. The only time I got him on the other side is in the attached picture with the blue tit. I have attached a front picture too. His front is a bit rough colored, so that may match?

Thanks,

Keith

 

[Simmo1111]

The front of the bird looks wet in the second pic compared to the one with the Blue Tit. Do you have a birdbath or anything like that?

 

[wolfbirder]

I know its only an escaped bird, but I would still love to have seen that.

 

[Simmo1111]

The more I see of my pics, the more I can't help but think that we might have the same bird. See the front crop here and notice the yellow patches on the front RHS of the bird's breast.

 

[Simmo1111]

I'll try and edit the pic of mine to match the colours. Bit too bright here but you can make out what I mean. LH bird Aberdeen one and RH is the Flamborough one.