Autumn 2016 was a quite calm season given the number of ringed birds – 5609 birds were ringed at Bukowo (BU) and 8770 at Mierzeja Wiślana (MW). This season large flocks of Great Tits and Goldcrests spared our nets and because of that October 2016 was unusually merciful to our crew. Despite the lack of big rushes of birds it was a good season for many species, such as Bearded Reedlings – we ringed 619 individuals, which is the highest number in the history of Operation Baltic! In qualitative terms it was also one of the most interesting seasons in history – we ringed:
- 5 Yellow-browed Warblers,
- the 5th Paddyfield Warbler in Polish history,
- two rare species of buntings: Rustic and Little Bunting – both captured the same day!
- 1st Siberian Accentor in the history of Operation Baltic – which was a part of the unprecedented rush of this species in Europe,
We also captured 23 birds with foreign rings from 9 European countries. This autumn we had a record number of volunteers – 188 people took part in our research program. These birding enthusiasts travelled from various regions of Poland and 7 different countries all over the world to assist us in carrying out another successful ringing season.
We would like to thank everybody for the effort and support – we hope to see you this spring at the Operation Baltic ringing camps!
