Bird ringing

Hurray, I did get to join the bird ringing tour this morning, armed with a walking stick and a tripod mini seat, just in case the knee gave out. I was slow but could catch up. Early this morning the birdwatching society of Lembeek/Halle had set up the mistnets to catch the small birds to do their counting, note down particulars and ring the birds if they weren't ringed already. What a work. Did you know they have to do courses and severe exams before people are even allowed to handle and ring birds? When they're caught in the nets they will be quickly transferred to a cloth bag (see the bags hanging from the table in the upper image).  They're then taken out of the bags one for one,  first ringed, if they weren't already, their condition and gender checked, their feathers checked and measured, and they're weighed.  Two of the birds ringed were a chiffchaff (I think) and a grey wagtail, the last picture shows the various sizes of rings.  And that black thing in the foreground are the scales to weigh the birds, they're put in head first into the round container ! All in all a very informative morning out in the wild !

Thank you so much for your lovely comments, stars and fave on yesterday's tulip close-up :-)