Twitchers ring feathered friends
Bird ringers are a rare species. At first glance you might mistake them for expert picnickers, equipped with fancy cool boxes, camping chairs and tables. But a closer look reveals sophisticated mist nets, scales, pliers with graded holes, rulers and callipers to measure birds' vital statistics.
They tread lightly, blend with nature and get up at 04:00, racing the early worm.
BirdLife Northern Gauteng Ringing Club captured 70 birds for ringing recently during a weekend getaway at Paardeplaats Nature Retreat on Long Tom Pass.
The Gurney’s Sugarbird Project was started by a previous resident of Lydenburg, ornithologist Dawie de Swardt, and has been ongoing for more than 30 years.
The group became involved with the project in 2018 and have been ringing at Paardeplaats every February since then.
De Swardt maintains that he has only scratched the surface with information about this special bird, endemic to South Africa and one of only two sugarbird species in the country.
The birds were caught in special nets on the slopes of the Jesuskoppie at Paardeplaats as well as at an area a short distance away on the Long Tom Pass.
Of the total ringed, 34 were Gurney’s sugarbirds, 13 greater double-collared sunbirds, five malachite sunbirds and a few others.
There were four Gurney’s sugarbird recaptures, showing that some return to the same higher altitude areas during the summer months.
Recapture means that a bird has been ringed previously and this information is particularly helpful.
The measurements that are taken are the culmen (beak), head, closed wing, tarsus (leg), tail and weight.
Gurney’s sugarbirds (promerops gurneyi) are considered near-threatened. They feed on stands of flowering proteas and aloes and it is understood that they migrate to lower altitudes during the winter months. To qualify and register as a licensed bird ringer with Safring, a so-called C-ringer has to ring 500 birds under supervised training. Once the student ringer has reached the 500-bird count, including at least 50 different species, he or she is evaluated by a panel of experienced ringers. Then only can they purchase their ringing equipment and registered rings.
Each bird is weighed and measured and this information is sent to Safring to be stored in its database. Over time this information leads to a greater understanding of the birds, their habitats, lifespan, movements and whether their numbers are declining or increasing.
