Well-travelled Ringed Plover
Culkein Stoer has always been: a favourite location to go birding, a favoured location for birds on migration to stop and feed up, and a favourite location to spot migrant birds with colour rings on their legs.
Some previous records from there include: an Oystercatcher ringed in Iceland, a Brent Goose ringed in County Derry, a Sanderling ringed in Greenland, and a Ringed Plover ringed at Achiltibuie. Some other records can be seen in another article on our website – A story with colour rings on it
I never fail to get a buzz when I spot any bird with a combination of colour rings on its legs. The first thought is always what is this bird’s history? Then you look at the bird and think about it being caught, weighed and measured and then having the ring(s) put in place around its leg(s).
After all that flashes through my brain I get to work trying to note the colour of the rings, which leg they are on, are they above or below the ‘knee’, do any carry an alpha-numeric code, and is there a metal BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) ring present.
Hopefully I’ve identified the species by now as that’s usually a good starting point when trying to report the record to the correct ringing scheme!
Final job is to try to get some useful photos of the bird and the rings if possible.
Relax
After that list has been completed I then simply just enjoy watching the bird and any others it is in with. Which is generally the main reason for being there in the first place.
Why are birds ringed? Every recovery adds to the knowledge of where species breed, over-winter, refuel, etc.
Who rings the birds? Every ringer has gone through a long apprenticeship under the control and instruction of much more experienced ringers.
Back to the Ringed Plover of the title
Wednesday 23rd August 2023, I was at Culkein Stoer doing the monthly bird count as part of the nationwide Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) for the BTO.
There were a good number of Ringed Plover that day resting and feeding on the beach. Turned out to be 45 birds along with some Dunlin, Sanderling, Turnstone, Redshank and a juvenile Knot. As a juvenile that Knot was on its first autumn migration from the high Arctic. It might spend the winter around the UK or it might head further south to Europe or the Mediterranean.
Anyway, the Ringed Plover of interest was resting when I first noticed the small orange ring low down on its left leg. A resting bird often stands on one leg to minimise heat loss and so conserve energy. This one was following that plan!
You simply have to keep watching as you may only get a brief chance to check for other rings, etc. It turned around and briefly exposed an orange ‘flag’ with the black lettering ‘KO’ on it. This flag was also on its left leg but above the ‘knee’. The knee as we imagine it on birds is actually the equivalent of our ankle and the bone above it is the tibia.
More watching, and it eventually stood on both legs. No other rings present, I had all I needed to report this bird. I only managed to get one photograph showing the lower ring. It doesn’t need a very big piece of seaweed or pile of sand to hide the legs of a Ringed Plover!
Reporting
How do you report ringed birds? Head to the European Colour-ring Birding website https://cr-birding.org and fill in some search criteria. You should find the ringer’s contact details from there. Send off your bird’s details and wait for a reply.
By late afternoon on the 23rd I had done all of that, and on the 27th I heard back from Stephen Dodd. He said-
KO was ringed on 28/8/18 at Llanfairfechan as an adult female, not moulting.
Yours is the first sighting since ringing.
We have 2 populations in N Wales, those that breed in Iceland/Greenland, stop in order to fatten up, then winter in S Europe / W Africa. The fact it wasn’t moulting supports KO is from this population – they tend to be less site faithful when choosing their stopping places.
The other population we have breeds in UK & NW Europe, arrive with us, moult and spend the winter with us.
Thank you for reporting this bird.
What we know
From that information we can be pretty certain that KO was from the Iceland/Greenland population. We definitely know the bird on Culkein Stoer beach was a female that hatched in at least 2017, so a minimum 6 years old. She has very likely made the Iceland/Greenland to Southern Europe to Iceland/Greenland migration nearly six times – in 2023 we only know that so far, she made it to Culkein Stoer on the southern journey.
A very basic minimum total for the distance she has flown so far in her life, not accounting for detours to Wales, etc. is c35,000km. My rough estimate is based on the direct route marked on the attached map.
Ringed Plover females typically weigh 69gms, and the average life span of a Ringed Plover is 6 years. The oldest Ringed Plover known from the date of ringing and most recent sighting/re trapping is a remarkable 21y 11m 12d.
All the best to ‘KO’, our Well-travelled Ring Plover
David Haines