The Cardiff Blackbird Project

[...] . Below: Chiffchaffs, and their close relative the Willow Warbler, are migrating through the study site at the moment. Some individuals will breed there too.     Casual re-sightings of [...]

[...] , blackbirds have finished their post breeding moult and are becoming more obvious in the study site. This time of year is a good for spotting first year males - they will have brown outer wings, [...]

[...] between populations in different habitats and geographical scales.  Currently the study site for the project is the northern part of Pontcanna Fields in the area which includes the [...]

[...] already ringed birds. One surprise while trying to re-sight birds in the east of the study site was coming across the male pictured below. Although several blackbirds have been [...]

[...] ;five new birds to the project; three males and two female. This brings our project total to 37 marked birds. Our target of 50 before April 30th should be achievable!  Friday' [...]

[...] ring one (due to the rings breaking!) so we are now on 39 colour ringed birds and a project total of 41- niether is far from our target of 50 for the first year! We also re- [...]

[...] recently and we have managed to add two more birds, both this year’s young, bringing the project total to 49 (47 of which are colour ringed). These sessions not only allowed us to catch up with [...]

[...] We headed out this week with the intention of adding some more birds to the project total. It was rather a dank morning and although there were plenty of "chooks" and " [...]

[...] Catching new birds for the project has been put on hold recently due to the cold and windy weather of recent weeks. [...]

[...] 6 of these were caught in Glamorgan. Three in a row! These males were the first of five new birds added to the project. These three were in at least their second calendar year while the [...]

[...] early morning visits to the park on Friday and Saturday resulted in the addition of five new birds to the project; three males and two female. This brings our project total to 37 marked [...]

[...] be conducive to catching birds but we have managed the odd session. The last resulted in four new birds for the project bring our total to 43 colour ringed birds and 45 birds ringed since the project [...]

[...] , catch a mallard! The largest bird we have caught on the project! R/Y is at least in her second calendar year of life [...]

[...] it still count?! BD was originally ringed in December 2012 when he was in at least his second calendar year. This is the 7th time he has been resighted, the last being in February of this year, c. [...]

[...] was BK - a female originally caught in mid October 2012. She was at in at least her second calendar year of life when caught, making her a minimum of three years old when caught this week.   [...]

[...] the first of five new birds added to the project. These three were in at least their second calendar year while the fourth was one of this year's young. Our fifth bird was a female.   [...]

[...] then, making him at least four years old now. Our man AB - the first bird ringed for the Cardiff Blackbird Project is still going strong three years  As for the others: AH - put in another [...]

[...] The Cardiff Blackbird Project was established in April 2012 to examine the ecology, behaviour and demography of [...]

[...] of our regular walks of the study site which are being done in line with the BTO's Winter Thrushes Survey to further increase the value of these sessions. We were joined by Hattie, a second year [...]

[...] A sunny St David's Day jaunt around the study site as part of the BTO's Winter Thrushes Survey provided the perfect opportunity not only to see some winter thrushes but also to re- [...]

[...] on the up in the next few weeks is the redwing. The BTO is looking for volunteers for its Winter Thrushes Survey which aims to map the distribution and work out the habitat needs of visiting [...]

[...] A large part of the Blackbird project involves re-sighting birds we have previously caught. On our most recent visit we noticed that the birds' [...]

[...] that we say thank you and Happy New Year to those who have been helping with catching and re-sighting birds, publicising the project, or just reading the blog! Our highlight of 2013 was reaching [...]

[...] to the summer fieldwork for the project has been sporadic. Much of our time of late has been re-sighting birds we’ve ringed over the last year for the RAS element of the project. This is also [...]

[...] material so nest building in the park is imminent if not already in progress. If you see colour-ringed blackbirds in (or out!) of the park then please do let us know. You can find out how to submit [...]

[...] have been collecting worms or feeding very plump fledglings. If you see any colour-ringed blackbirds then please let us know!  While some birds, such as A4 seem to stick to a [...]

[...]  each catching session we took sometime to catch up with already ringed birds, managing to re-sight A4, AB, AH BC, BB, BD, BX and BK. The latter two seem to have established a territory [...]

[...] the "gaze affect"? With a little fieldcraft and patience we did manage to re-sight A4, B6, B4, AB,  BK and BD, not to mention several unringed birds! A4 in particular seems [...]

[...] We have been taking advantage of some recent respites in the weather and have been out re-sighting blackbirds or at least attempting too! There are good numbers of blackbirds in the study area [...]