At the risk of becoming a Purple Sandpiper bore this might be my last post on the colour ringed bird I photographed yesterday. I trawled the other photos and found one that allowed the flag to be read.
Purple Sandpiper CPX
Here’s a copy of the info I received this evening.
Thank you very much for taking the time to report to us details of the sighting of a flagged Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima). Information about this bird and its movement is given below:
Ring no : Stavanger 8B11621.
Flag CPX ( Left tarsus : metal. Left tibia : orange colour ring. Right tibia: (dark) green flag engraved with three white letters CPX.)
Age/sex/biometrics: 1K (1Y), hatched 2011.Wing 131 mm.Weight 60,4g. Bill 25,3 mm.
Ringing date: 26.08.2011, 16 hrs.
Ringing place: Longyearbyen (78.13.13N-15.40.06E) Svalbard / Spitzbergen
Remarks: Very young, downy around the bill and in the neck.
Ringer: Kjell Mork Soot
Finding date:28.11.2011 .
Observed : Bridlington Harbour (54.04N-00.11W) East Yorkshire, England
Observer : John Hague
Distance: 2751 km SSW. Direction: 202 deg.
Time: 0-3-2. (3 months, 2 days)
Remarks: Photo-documented.
If you notice any errors in the information, please inform us about your corrections.
1274 Purple Sandpipers were flagged with lime/light green flag and orange marker ring in Longyearbyen year 2010. Ca. 300 were ringed with only metal ring because we had no more flags. In year 2011 we flagged 1087 Purples with green flag engraved with white letters (because lime is out of stock) , and orange marker ring in Longyearbyen. Year 2009: 665 were flagged with orange flag at Sørkappøya (South Cape Island), Svalbard, and 99 year 2011 (yellow marker ring).
Thank you very much for this interesting information! If you are interested to see photos etc from Longyearbyen, and see the place where CPX was ringed, www.LoFF.biz. It is members of LoFF (Longyearbyen Feltbiologiske Forening) who are ringing/flagging Purples at Svalbard. More about our projects you also find in www.svalbardbirds.com/Sorkappoya-filer/sorkappoya.htm
About Norwegian colour ringing see: www.ringmerking.no/cr/.
This information will be sent to Ringing Centre, Stavanger Museum, Norway and Ringing Centre, BTO, UK.
And we hope, of course, that you will look for flagged Purple Sandpipers in the future !
This year we have started flagging Dunlin (Calidris alpina) at Svalbard: Orange flag on right tibia engraved with 3 black letters, and one orange marker ring on left tibia..
Yours sincerely, Kjell Mork Soot
The Drunkbirder™ 