During our ringing sessions at
Sabkhat Al Fasl we catch good numbers of Indian Reed Warblers some of which are
retraps. Some of these birds have been retrapped soon after their original
capture but others have been caught after a prolonged period. Whilst ringing on
13 November 2016 we retrapped the very first Indian Reed Warbler (or any bird)
we ringed at the site. This bird was also trapped on 16 October 2015. This is a
total of making it a total of 1012 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 with this bird retrapped three times in exactly
the same net. As can be seen from the photos below the bird has freshly moulted
flight and tail feathers showing Indian Reed Warblers moult in September and
October after the breeding season.
