The wind got up during the night and most of us did not sleep particularly well. Another cold and bright morning, we headed east up the fjord to see if the lone goose was still present. Sure enough it was there, and again we searched and again we found nothing. But as we were finishing a group of 14 Brent Geese flew in and landed. And yet again we found another colour ringed bird! This time it was a Red Red [see pic].
We caught RRCF at the Cadbury's factory in Dublin back in February and he and his partner looked in good condition. Another male caught our eye as he was behaving very aggressively... charging neck down, hissing and flying at most of the other birds in the group. He was then joined by a female, who flew in quietly from further up the valley. Had we found the partner of the loan male at last? We watched this pair for about 10 minutes, before they both took off and headed inland. But despite a 6km walk with some great views of Musk Ox [see pic] and some pretty intensive searching, we could not locate them...hugely frustrating. However, it does give us some hope as it indicates that some birds at least are still thinking about breeding.
Nice to hear that things are thawing and you're doing well.
ReplyDeleteAnd very cool that there are ringed birds present!