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 Whooper swan with neck ring in Tartumaa at Ilmatsalu, 12.04.2009.

 

A foggy and rainy day again at Sõrve säär. Visibility was a little better than yesterday but there was no migration to be seen. But in early morning the bird station surroundings were full of new arrivals – in the bushes a large group of robins ticked, plenty of  blackbirds  and chaffinches had been added too, the first dunnocks could be seen and a redwing let loose its song. In addition to the dunnock I discovered a pochard at once in the morning to add to my 2012 list; yesterday in the thick fog I simply did not manage to find this bird.

 

Yesterday two neck rings remained unread because of the dense fog, so I checked the geese and swan flock on the Soodevahe fields again. Three birds in all turned out to have neck rings (bean goose, whooper swan and Bewick’s swan) and I managed to read all three rings codes. Through  Matsalu ringing centre information on the history of these birds will come in the next few days. In the rainy and foggy weather I didn’t want to get out my camera from the bag so an earlier photo of a whooper swan is added here to show a bird with neck ring.

 

In the afternoon I found 4 ringed plovers on the shore at the Sõrve säär lighthouse; this should be the first observation of this species this year. But in the evening it turned out that it wasn’t the first plover observation in Estonia this year at all. Yesterday in Ilmatsalu in Tartumaa a call was heard that could only be from a little ringed plover, but because the bird was not found the species observation stayed unconfirmed. Today however a search was made once more and surprisingly it was found, and it was a little ringed plover! While the first ringed plovers arrive here in the second half of March, the little ringed plover is hardly to be expected before April 10th. A brilliant observation, evidently one of the earliest overall in North Europe. In searching for the little plover in Ilmatsalu I also saw the first white egret of this year, that too is probably one of the earliest observations of all times in Estonia.

 

Three new species were added to my 2012 year list today, altogether they are now 129. All interesting observations from today are also in the e-Biodiversity data base.