RINGING DAY – 2023

Thankfully, it was a little cooler and not so muggy as last year when we gathered to do the ringing of the 2 chicks. Our normal ringer, Tony, decided to supervise at ground level this year and so Bjorn was dispatched up the tree to collect the chicks.

As usual, JW6 flew around the nest alarm calling to tell the chicks to “play dead“ but Samson was away, possibly fishing, so she was left to protect the nest as best she could. With the minimum amount of fuss, the chicks were collected and carefully lowered to the ground for Tony to do the ringing and measuring.

It was no surprise to me that chick 2 turned out to be female (being aggressive, incredibly greedy and as large to look at as chick 1, although 2 days’ younger) and weighed in at a sturdy 1720g. She was given the Darvic ring 732 and will be named shortly. Following her behaviour with chick 3, I’m tempted to name her Fiona, as in the green ogress, but I may think of something slightly kinder before I announce the final choice.

The older chick is male and is also a nice weight at 1480g and has been given the Darvic ring 733. After all the measurements were taken and numerous photos of the handsome pair of birds were taken, they were returned to their transport bag and hoisted aloft again. They both resumed their flattened “I’m not here; I’m actually a bit of nest material” pose until the team left from under the tree, and JW6 made sure that we’d departed from where the cars had been left before she returned to the nest perch. She was attentive throughout and made her displeasure of us disturbing her chicks quite plain.

A second bird was seen, briefly, during the ringing process but I didn’t see it and so we don’t know if it was Samson or not. It would have been nice to see him come in with a juicy fish to feed the chicks as they explained to their parents what had happened to them “down there” and to show off their bling which now matches their mum’s. However, it was not to be and he still had not returned when I came away some 4 hours later. The river is full and muddy due to the high rainfall, so fishing will be difficult, but I’ve got this feeling that JW6 is going to take out all her frustrations of the day on him when he finally does return. I hope for his sake it’s a big fish!!