Signs of the changing seasons have been evident in Dublin Bay over the past few weeks, even if we had to wait a bit longer for the corresponding change in temperature! The wader numbers continue to fall, as most head off to breed in more northerly areas, and the terns are starting to arrive to take their place.
Despite the decreasing numbers, re-sightings of the marked
birds continue to come in. Seven colour-ringed birds were reported in a flock
of about 100 at the north end of Sandymount Strand on the 19th April.
Unfortunately, they were disturbed by dog and flew off before the inscriptions
could be read, but the information is useful all the same. In the same area on
the 25th April, four more inscriptions were read from a small foraging
flock. Another one of our birds was
seen on Dalkey Island on the 23rd April. It seemed to be paired to
another bird and was apparently prospecting for a nest site.
These reports bring
us up to 160
re-sightings of 87 individual birds, which really is fantastic progress in such
a short time! A sincere thanks to all those who are taking the time to put in
some ring-reading effort to help us piece this story together.
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