From: Colin Jackson <colin.jackson@arocha.org>
Date: 2013-05-20 22:00
Subject: Ringing Training Course - Watamu

A Rocha Kenya is running a ringing training course at the end of this month and we have had some cancellations meaning there will be c.2 more spaces for anyone else who is interested in joining the course.

It will be a 2-week course the dates being 27th May to June 7th. Anyone who is interested in doing this course should write to Andrew on <andrew.kinzer@arocha.org> for further details. It will be a residential course at the A Rocha Kenya centre in Watamu and will cover all the basics of ringing birds: putting up nets, extracting birds, identification, ringing the bird, ageing, taking biometrics and general care of birds in the hand together with more detailed input on ageing and moult.

Those who participate will receive a certificate - but note this will not be a ringing permit. However the course will set you up with a firm foundation of ringing skills to build on.

Applicants should be familiar with the identification in the field of commoner bird species and and ideally have handled at least 50 birds already. In fact anyone who is already a ringer will probably benefit the most from this as opposed to someone new as we will have the chance to discuss in detail the more tricky components of bird ringing.

The Afrotropical migrants are all back so the bushes are alive with Red-capped Robin Chats mimicking Crowned Eagles and Emerald Cuckoos, and there are flashes of blue as Pygmy Kingfisher shoot off through the forest. A great time of the year - and good to be ringing!

Colin

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Colin Jackson
A Rocha Kenya
Christians in Conservation

Cell: +254 (0)722-842366
Land: +254 (0)20 260 0731

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