This month saw the final preparations for Migweek, with the clearing of rides at South Landing being completed. Twenty seven sessions were run across the headland including three at RSPB Bempton. Towards the end of the month we welcomed Dr. Joe Wynn from Liverpool University who is researching where trans-siberian migrants originate from through taking DNA samples; the FBO Ringing Team are contributing to the research by facilitating the capture of some of these birds.
The Trans-Siberian Genoscape Project:
a call to action
Far from home, so-called ‘vagrant’ songbirds have captured the imagination of birders and ringers for more than a century. These birds are, however, also of substantial scientific interest, since the errors that brought them to our shores can inform on how birds inherit migratory information and use this information to navigate.
Tracing vagrant songbirds back to their origin is challenging, since these birds are by definition rare. However, cutting-edge genetic sequencing technology might allow us to determine the geographic origins of vagrant songbirds via comparison to individuals from known breeding locations. This, in essence, is what we propose to do: to collect genetic samples from all over Europe and Asia in order to trace Eastern Palearctic vagrants back to their origins in Siberia.
Who are we? We are an international collaboration of scientists, ringers and birdwatchers united by our interest in bird migration. Day-to-day project management is led primarily by Dr Joe Wynn (University of Liverpool, UK) and Dr Paul Dufour (Vogelwarte Sempach, Switzerland), though our team is spread out across Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and the UK.
What are we hoping to achieve? Put simply, our aim is to collect vagrant songbird genetic samples for use in genetic analysis from as representative a cross-section of Europe as possible. We will do this using feather samples, a non-invasive method that has been used for genetic analysis for more than a decade.
Where do you come in? Projects such as these succeed or fail based on how effectively samples are collected. In collaboration with the BTO, we are looking for experienced ringers from across the UK to help us collect feather samples from Yellow-browed Warbler, Siberian Chiffchaff (subspecies tristis), Pallas’s Leaf Warbler, Radde’s Warbler, Dusky Warbler, Little Bunting, Rustic Bunting and Siberian Lesser Whitethroat (subspecies blythi). If you catch even one bird from any of these species annually, your input could be extremely valuable to our project.
Joe and the FBO team sampled four Yellow-browed Warbler and a possible Siberian Lesser Whitethroat.
September saw us catching migrants on the move with a total of 816 birds ringed and 104 re-traps including two Barred Warblers, four Yellow-browed Warblers, five Redstart, one Brambling and one Siskin. Across the country Redpolls were migrating south, we caught 113 Lesser Redpolls and one Mealy Redpoll. Also notable were 152 Goldcrest, 54 Chiffchaff and 27 Meadow Pipit. We continued with our sessions at Thornwick roost targeting hirundines, we caught another 57 Swallows and 11 Sand Martin.