Between
the 5th and 9th of January the two of us (Chris and
Esmat) made a waterbird ringing expedition to um Shugeira Island in the White
Nile in Khartoum. We were accompanied by 3 researchers who were taking samples as part of their disease
survey. The Nile is used as a flyway and
stopover for many Eurasian migrating birds and um Shugeira is an
attractive stopover for many of them
Um Shugeira is completely submerged during the
flood season and only emerges from the waters as they drop in December. Many thousands
of migrant and resident waterbirds use the island as a roost and feeding area
during this time. The eastern edge of the island drops off into several metres
of water but the western edge shelves very gradually creating large areas of
shallow water and soft mud flats, ideal for the feeding birds especially waders
which constitute the largest numbers in the island. This soft mud makes net
inspection, especially at 2 am, somewhat difficult and without full length
waders the only successful method is to go barefoot, all other footwear is
sucked of your feet knee-deep mud. Esmat had waders, Chris did not
 |
| Ringing Camp, Um Shugeira 6/1/2012 |
We kept
the nets open 24 hours a day for the whole time and managed a reasonable number
of ringed waterbirds. As usual in this situation, there were a number of
frustrating species. Every evening we had 1200 Common Ringed Plover on the dried mud near where we
were camped. In spite of our efforts we caught none there and only managed to
ring a handful during the whole time. Ruff as usual were difficult to catch.
There were several medium sizes flocks, but they managed to avoid the nets as
well, and again we only caught a handful. The big disappointment was our failure with the Black-tailed Godwit;
there were numbers feeding and flying past our nets for much of the time, but
we only managed to ring three birds of this species. This may be due to the
bright full moon during those days which make the nets visible to birds. The
most numerous species ringed were Little Tint, Curlew Sandpiper and Whiskered
Tern. In total 242 birds were ringed.
 |
| Curlew Sandpiper, Um Shugeira 6/1/2012 |
We had
one recovery, a Little Stint that had been ringed in 2010 on um Shugeira. This
was one of only about 50 birds ringed that year. This site fidelity was
interesting in itself, and with the 242 birds ringed this year we are hopeful
of some more recoveries next year. Of course the prize would be to have a bird
recovered in the north.
 |
| Little Stint with an old ring, Um Shugeira 6/1/2012 |
Additional
birds of interest were a solitary Osprey, flocks of 50 Spoonbills and a flock of 100 Greater Flamingo. In the deeper water
beyond our nets were many ducks, predominantly Northern Shoveller, Northern
Pintail and Eurasian Widgeon. The total number of waterbirds inhabiting the
island during the survey was 4576 with species richness of 33 species dominant
by waders.
 |
| Yellow Wagtail, Um Shugeira 6/1/2012 |
In
general the ringing was a success and with the experience gained from this we
hope to improve our “catch” in future.
Species ringed
1.
Little
Stint
2.
Temminck’s
Stint
3.
Curlew
Sandpiper
4.
Whiskered
Tern
5.
Greater
Painted Snipe
6.
Common
Snipe
7.
Jack
Snipe
8.
Ringed
Plover
9.
Ruff
10.
Marsh
Sandpiper
11.
Wood
Sandpiper
12.
Yellow
Wagtail
13.
Black-tailed
Godwit
14.
Common
Sandpiper
15.
Gull
Bill Tern
16.
White
–winged Tern
No comments:
Post a Comment