During our ringing sessions at
Sabkhat Al Fasl we catch good numbers of Indian Reed Warblers. In almost two
years ringing at the location we have ringed 147 birds. Out of these we have
had 27 retraps totaling 19% of the birds ringed. Some of these birds have been
retrapped soon after their original capture but others have been caught after a
prolonged period. Whilst ringing on 16 October we recaught the very first
Indian Reed Warbler we trapped (in fact the first bird we trapped of any
species) making it a total of 617 days from original capture to retrap. The weekend previously we recaught a bird
ringed on the first days ringing at the site after 610 days. Indian Reed
Warblers are meant to be resident but the large number caught at our site
combined with the small retrap rate of these birds makes a strong case for
birds passing through our location at least during some periods of the year. Obviously
the long period between retraps of some of the birds do show they are resident
in the trapping area. Many birds probably only move locally but we have had two
interesting sightings of ringed birds away from their original ringing
locations I different countries (see ringing page tab at top of website for
details). As can be seen from the photos below both birds have freshly moulted their flight and tail feathers showing Indian Reed Warblers moult in September and October after the breeding season.
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B013009
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