Actually written on the 28th of April. Dunno what happened there!
Funnily enough, every year, this stresses the shit out of me. It's not the handling, positioning and climbing the ladder.
It's not opening these boxes and being greeted by that miasma which, believe me, only a starling nest box can hit ye with.
It's not the certain knowledge that, by the time I've finished? Despite my years of experience and the crafty little tricks I've developed? I Will end up stinking of starling shit!
No. It's the fucking Weather!
Starlings hatch. Then, they're in that nest for three weeks. Second week, they've grown exponentially.
Eyes opening. Feather points coming through. Grips like gin traps. That is when I want to ring them!
It's, frankly, shattering work. Because ye so focused. Total concentration. Trying to be quick, yet careful and correct as ye can.
Ye've also got to be absolutely certain the conditions, outside that box, are right. Their lives are, quite literally, in my hands!
And, I've been praying for those conditions. Because I have a couple of dozen, active boxes to do. Average of five chicks in each.
Forecast has been wind, rain and dead starling chicks, for ever!
Today? It simply wasn't so bad! No rain. Wind was in the right direction. This Was It! I have, probably, a ton plus chicks to ring. Here we go!!!
Grabbed my gear and checked it. Bird bags? Check. Ringing pliers? Check. Note book? Check. Pen? Check. C rings? Ch .....Ang about!!!
Rings come on 'Strings', see? Strings are colour coded. A rings ~ finches, tits and shit ~ Yellow. B rings ~ Sparrows, greenfinch, what ever? Brown. C rings. Starling? Orange.
And, a year since I rung a starling, I'm staring at this string of almost a hundred rings. And the plastic is very, Very fucking Brown!!! That short stub, beneath it, was Orange.
I had just Twenty fucking Starling rings left!!!
How the Hell did That happen?!! For a whole Year now, I've had these damn rings, Laying There, in my kitchen. In clear view.
How The Fuck have I looked at almost a hundred, tiny rings, on a Brown string, and thought; " Mm. Yeah. Ready for the Starling season! "
Ah well. Life's a bitch. Phoned my boss; 200 Starling Rings will, hopefully, be here for Wednesday.
Forecast ~ though That changes by the day! ~ is good. Hope and pray that it is. And the rings get here.
It'll be close. It'll be intense. I'll end up covered in projectile starling chick shit.
But; This is what I live for, now.
What is the purpose of ringing the starlings Ditch? Survey of some sort? Is this done all over the country each nesting season?
ReplyDeleteEddie; There's various reasons we ring birds. Basically though, it's to help us keep an eye on how they're doing.
ReplyDeleteI ring a chick on my ground? We have that birds Birth Certificate / ID.
It turns up again? We know how far it's gone. How old. And we check its overall condition.
All this ~ and more ~ data goes to the number crunchers at HQ. They extrapolate enough factual information to advise governments.
And, yes; While ringing goes on world wide? I'm actually the only one doing it in Co. Leitrim.