Whilst ringing at Alba Marsh on Friday 13th April we caught a ringed Clamorous Reed Warbler. This was not too unusual as we had re-trapped quite a few birds at this site previously, all of which had been ringed at the same site as they were recaptured at. The ring was a BTO ring but the number was not the same as those we had been ringing with since I have been visiting Alba Marsh. As I took the bird out of the bag I knew the number looked different and mentioned the fact to Brendan. He looked through his ringing book and could not find details of the ring. The ring itself also did not look like the rings we were using although it had been on a bird leg for some time so may have changed? At lunchtime we went back to Brendan’s house and looked on his ringing database and again drew a black. This meant the bird had been ringed somewhere else and was not from Bahrain. This was surprising as although the species breeds locally from Egypt eastwards through Pakistan, Afghanistan and northernmost India to south China, south-east Asia and south to Australia with one endemic race in Sri Lanka, most populations are sedentary. Breeding birds occurring in Pakistan, Afghanistan and northern India are migratory, performing short distance migrations within the Indian sub-continent. Another equally as interesting point to note is the bird was a female with a brood patch indicating it is local race bird.
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| Clamorous Reed-Warbler (female) |
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| Clamorous Reed-Warbler (female) |
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| Clamorous Reed-Warbler ring number |
Ring Number: VR88323
Ringing date: 22-November-2008
Ringing Place: Al Khor, Qatar, Bahrain & Qatar (Co-ords: 25deg 38min N 51deg 30min E)
Ringer: K. Thornton & W. Jones
Finding date: 13-April-2012
Finding Place: Alba Marsh, Bahrain, Bahrain & Qatar
Finding Condition: Alive (breeding female)
Duration: 1239 days
Finder: Dr Brendan Kavanagh
The bird had moved approximately 80 kilometres in a WNW direction in 1239 days. We are awaiting details of the age of the bird when ringed and some other details but this record constitutes the first record of a foreign ringed bird recovered whilst ringing in Bahrain for Brendan.