tomatofamily

Saw these two birds at Mai Po today 29/1/2014 and found the ring on the feet respectively.  Any meaning?

Is this one Black-faced Bunting?




Thanks in advance.

kmatthew

These are all ringed birds, which means either the HKBW, other institute researchers or even other societies from abroad have captured them and put a metal ring on their legs to keep track of their migration movements. The ring won't hurt the bird. If you can zoom in and see the number on their legs, it might be possible to help researchers track down these ringed birds and build a more clear picture of how these birds migrate and move in different seasons.

tomatofamily

Hi, Kmatthew.

Thanks for the information.  Attached is for the reference; not easy to see it clear though.

ajohn

Thank you for the additional photo. The rung number starts with AB, but this will not help to work out which individual this is. Several birds ringed over the last year or two will have these letters. If you have any photos showing the bird from a different angle, this may help.

As Mathew mentioned, one of the main aims of these rings is to study migratory movements, but they can also tell us more about how long the birds live and how long they stay in Mai Po. It is almost certain that the Cinereous Tit was ringed in Mai Po, and probably also the Black-faced Bunting.