weavers4africa
Dieter Oschadleus
The Zambian Ornithological Society invited me to run a ringing course on Bovu Island, on the Zambezi River, about 60 km upstream of Victoria Falls.
The bird ringing course ran from 30 March to 3 April, and was attended by 10 trainees. One of the trainees, Rory McDougal, was qualified as a fully-fledged ringer – he had substantial previous experience of ringing. During the course, we caught a total of 327 birds of 45 different species. The species of which we caught the most birds was Red-billed Quelea; 128 were ringed (mostly juveniles). Interesting birds for me were ones I had not handled before: Tropical Boubou, Coppery Sunbird, White-fronted Bee-eater, Yellow-bellied Sunbird. Some birds were migrants, probably en route north: Red-backed Shrike, European Marsh Warbler, European Reed Warbler.
During this trip, I made a collection of new Zambian records for the PHOWN (PHOtos of Weaver Nests, http://weavers.adu.org.za/phown.php) project.
My flights to Livingstone, and the course costs, were sponsored by the Zambian Ornithological Society. To see more photos and a full species list of ringed birds, see trip report at http://weavers.adu.org.za/trip2012zm.php
The bird ringing course ran from 30 March to 3 April, and was attended by 10 trainees. One of the trainees, Rory McDougal, was qualified as a fully-fledged ringer – he had substantial previous experience of ringing. During the course, we caught a total of 327 birds of 45 different species. The species of which we caught the most birds was Red-billed Quelea; 128 were ringed (mostly juveniles). Interesting birds for me were ones I had not handled before: Tropical Boubou, Coppery Sunbird, White-fronted Bee-eater, Yellow-bellied Sunbird. Some birds were migrants, probably en route north: Red-backed Shrike, European Marsh Warbler, European Reed Warbler.
During this trip, I made a collection of new Zambian records for the PHOWN (PHOtos of Weaver Nests, http://weavers.adu.org.za/phown.php) project.
My flights to Livingstone, and the course costs, were sponsored by the Zambian Ornithological Society. To see more photos and a full species list of ringed birds, see trip report at http://weavers.adu.org.za/trip2012zm.php
