Weaver news
| On 8 March the new ringing centre in the Grootvaly wetland was opened. Stan Madden, former bird ringer, campaigned for several years for funding to establish a permanent ringing centre.
After the specches a proposal was submitted to call this the Stan Madden Ringing Centre! Then nets were put up and ringing continued from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning.
Mostly Southern Masked Weavers and Southern Red Bishops were caught. The adults were starting body and primary moult, as can be seen in the yellow feather on the mask of the weaver male, and the first two primaries of the bishop.
Other species that were caught include Dark-capped Bulbuls, Levaillants Cisticola, Lesser Swamp Warblers, African Reed Warblers, two Greater Swamp Warblers, and Red-billed Queleas. These are species that can be caught elsewhere, but there is great potential for ringing waterbirds. Many ducks, stilts, a flamingo and waders were seen. Waterbird traps will be constructed for use at the centre. Waterbirds feature in the early history of the Blesbok. The first birds to be ringed here were waders on 26/01/1974, by Manfred Schmitt, who trained Stan and others. Before this, several Yellow-billed Ducks were recovered here - they had been ringed at Barberspan. Over the years, other waterbirds have been recovered from here as well. With renewed interest in waterbird ringing at Barberspan, there is the possibility of retrapping ringed waterbirds at the Grootvaly centre. Accommodation is free, so make use of the opportunity to ring at the centre!
Turn-off to centre -26.213258,28.48227 (green arrow in map above)
You can download the ringers protocol here. 
Sunset at the boardwalk AcknowledgementsThanks to Stan Madden, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Ernst Retief and everyone else for their hard work to make this opening event happen!Thanks to the ringers who came on the weekend: Ella and John Roberts, Craig Symes, Craig Nattrass, Gert Opperman, and Grant Egen. |
