In the spring of 2004 we started colour ringing Blacktailed Godwits Limosa limosa and Ruffs Philomachus pugnax in South-West Friesland, The Netherlands. Ruffs were caught on spring migration by volunteer ringers with a large ‘wilster-net’. Godwits were caught during the breeding season; adults during their last week of incubation with walk-in traps and chicks when caught older than ten days.
For both species we used the same marking scheme with four colour rings and one flag. Five colours are used for the rings: red, white, yellow, blue and lime (only in Godwits and never in combination with white rings). The position of rings and flags make individual identification possible. The difference between the species are in the position of the rings above or below tarsus. In the figure the eight (Ruff) or six (Godwit) different positions of the flag are shown.
We code the entire combination in the following way:
1. the colour and the position of the flag (thus in the example a blue flag)
2. the rings in the order left top, left bottom, right top, right bottom (left and right from the birds’ angle). YRWB stands for Yellow, Red, White, Blue.
For each observation we want to know the date and the site (preferably with longitude and latitude), and possibly also the group size and number of colour ringed individuals.
Observations should be sent to Jos Hooijmeijer: j.c.hooijmeijer@rug.nl
We aim to send all observers once a year a summary of the observations for the birds seen by them.
Further information on the projects can be found here
