Report of the month - May - Naturschutz Ieweschtesyrdall Schlammwiss Birdringingstation

History: The nature reserve "Schlammwiss" was founded in 1982 by the foundation"Hellef fir Natur" (HFN). Afterwards the group "Letzeburger Natur- a Vullenschutzliga" (LNVL) founded the station "Schlammwiss". The station is leaded by the "centrale ornithologique Luxembourg" (COL), a part of the asbl. Natur & Emwelt. Due to the fact that Luxembourg doesn't have its own bird ringing central, we work in cooperation with Royal Belgian Instutitute of Natural Sciences. Therefore, we use rings from the Belgian Museum of Natural Sciences.

Location: The bird ringing station "Schlammwiss" is located in Luxembourg, between the communities Schuttrange & Munsbach. The nature reserve is part of the 375ha big Syrvalley and is an extremely important Natura 2000 zone. The reserve is periodicly flooded due to the Syr river, which is an important generator of biodiversity.

Research area: Around 30ha are used for researche, on a length of 1km and a width of 30-120m. The main area is covered by reeds and wetlands (20ha). Furthermore, the resarch area is subdivided and caracterized by an orchard, a forest, several ponds distributed throughout the reedbed and a purification plant (SIAS). The main techniques employed are mist nets and rail traps in order to realize population estimates (i.e. breeding population, migration, overwintering population) and survival estimates by Capture-Mark-Recapture. There are several projects running in the nature reserve and visitation are possible.

Summary of the ringing activity this month

In May, the bird ringing station "Schlammwiss" caught about 832 birds of 50 species. This number is subdivided in 595 E, 172 W and 65 K. 5 birds foreign origin has been caught.

The total amount of birds for the month May is higher (+150) than the average amount of birds caught at the station from 2001-2018 and higher (+124) than the number of last year. The graphic below shows the average amount of birds for each month during the years 2001-2018 in comparison of the numbers of this years, 2018 and the working time for this and last year at the station Schlammwiss.

E: first capture of this individual

W: recapture of an individual which was already captured this year

K: individuals which were ringed one or more years ago or individuals with a foreign country or station

Top 5

1.	ACRSCI	Reed Warbler	168
2.	PARMAJ	Great Tit	147
3.	SYLCOM	Whitethroat	45
4.	SYLATR	Blackcap	38
5.	ACRPAL	Marsh Warbler	28

Interesting birds captured:

7 Hippolais polyglotta
6 Saxicola rubetra
4 Coloeus monedula
3 Actitis hypoleucos
1 Athene noctua
1 Crex crex
1 Delichon urbicum
1 Falco tinnunculus
1 Ficedula hypoleuca
1 Porzana porzana

See the report of 2018

Summary

Distribution of the age:

Code	Amount	Definiton
C	5	older than four years
B	10	born four years ago
A	3	older than three years
9	8	born three years ago
8	9	older than two years
7	21	born two years ago
6	34	older than one year
5	67	born last year
4	464	age unkown, but not born this year
3	43	born this year
2	1	age unknown
1	167	nestling

Distribution of nestlings - Code 1

Species	Name	Quantity
Coloeus monedula	Western Jackdaw	1
Parus caeruleus	Blue Tit	10
Parus major	Great Tit	139
Passer domesticus	House Sparrow	2
Passer montanus	Tree Sparrow	4
Sitta europea	Eurasian Nuthatch	8
Σ		167

First spring arrivals:

Species	Latin Name	Date (this year)	Date (last year)	Late or early
Blackcap	Sylvia atricapilla	17.2	31.3	+42
Water Rail	Rallus aquaticus	23.2	31.3	+36
Chiffchaff	Phylloscopus collybita	2.3	10.3	+8
Stonechat	Saxicola torquata	3.3	17.3	-14
White Spotted Bluethroat	Luscinia svecia cyanecula	16.3	25.3	+9
Firecrest	Regulus ignicapilla	16.3	9.4	+24
Goldcrest	Regulus regulus	23.3	/
Black Redstart	Phoenicurus ochruros	24.3	/
Willow Warbler	Phylloscopus trochilus	30.3	1.4	+2
Spotted Crake	Porzana porzana	31.3	/
Barn Swallow	Hirundo rustica	5.4	/
Savi's Warbler	Locustella luscinioides	6.4	10.5	+34
Aquatic Warbler	Acrocephalus paludicola	19.4	/
Whitethroat	Sylvia communis	19.4	8.4	-11
Reed Warbler	Acrocephalus scirpaceus	21.4	1.5	+10
Lesser Whitethroat	Sylvia curruca	21.4	14.4	-7
Grasshopper Warbler	Locustella naevia	21.4	/
Sedge Warbler	Acrocephalus schoenobaenus	27.4	7.4	-20
Garden Warbler	Syvlia borin	28.4	22.4	-6
Wryneck	Jynx torquilla	28.4	/
Great Reed Warbler	Acrocephalus arundinaceus	18.5	22.4	-26
Red Backed Shrike	Lanius collurio	17.5	10.5	-7
Marsh Warbler	Acrocephalus palustris	10.5	13.5	+3

Foreign birds that we controlled this year:

Month	Species	Country
January	Cyanistes caeruleus	France
February	Parus major	Belgium
March	Turdus merula	Belgium
	Troglodytes troglodytes	Belgium
	Erithacus rubecula	Sweden
April	Parus major	Belgium
	Sylvia atricapilla	Belgium
	Sylvia atricapilla	Spain
May	Acrocephalus scirpaceus	Spain
	Acrocephalus scirpaceus	Belgium
	Acrocephalus scirpaceus	Belgium
	Acrocephalus scirpaceus	Belgium
	Acrocephalus scirpaceus	Belgium

The team of the bird ringing station Schlammwiss are mostly volunteers who did an excellent work this month!

We say thank you for everyone who was helping this month!

In summary we spent around 120 hours during 20 days working at the station.

We also welcome the visitors on our station:

All our sightings of this month are saved in ornitho.lu

Observation

Compute total number of birds

Compute total number of observation

The weather information are offered by Meteolux.lu

Thank you!

Photos of this month

Some photographers sent us their photos which we included into our report.

All other photos are provided by Jim Schmitz.

Thank you for the photos!

Did you take any photos at the station, a visit or of any birds with a ring that could be from our station and want to publish those in the next report of the month?

Contact us!

Anabela Carvalhinho