Alring Nsws 35: '16 Bunning: Fiscal Shrike

larder". Studying the captive birds andintently watching wild ones for this behav-iour, I cannot agree with the idea put forward

- that the bird stores food, by impaling it ontlorns, barbed wire etc., in times of plenty toreturn to eat it later when food is not avail-able! Nor can I subscribe to the argument putto me by one "professional" (whether in jestor not - I'm not sure!) that the male birdimpales food items around his territory toadvertise to passing females what a "good"territory he has and what a good provider hewill be! The birds I have studied use thethorn/barb as an extra foot - impaling thegrasshopper or whatever, on it so that it canbetter pull off a morsel to eat. I have, espe-cially in the captive birds, never seen a birdcome back to eat any remains of food leftimpaled on a spike earlier!

AcknowledgementsI have to thank the staff, especially of the"Bird Section", of the Transvaal Museum forhelping organise the availability ofthe skinsand making available to me a space and

equipment to work with to record the data.I have to offer my sincere thanks to the

personnel of the various museums for mak-ing the material available to me and allowingme to handle some of their very valuable col-lections. I am deeply indebted to the late MrPeter Rohloff who helped and assisted withmuch of the data recording. I am indebted tothe following for professional help andassistance: Dr Alan Kemp, Dr Tony Harris,Dr Tim Crowe and Dr Fred Grimes. Thanksalso to the Witwatersrand Bird Club whopartly financed my ringing activities at theMelville Koppies Nature Reserve, Johannes-burg. Last but by no means least a big thanksto all the bird ringers who allowed me to usetheir ringing data for this study.

ReferencesMaclean GL & Maclean CM. 1976. Extent of

overlap in two races of the Fiscal Shrike. Ostrich47(l):66.

Mclachlan GR & Liversidge R. 1978. RobertsBirds of South Africa. 4th Ed. Trustees of theJohn Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town:

Report

Report on the 2004-2005 ringing year

H. Dieter Oschadleus & Michael Brooks

Avian Demography Unit, Dept of Statistical Sciences,University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701

Dieter.Oschadleus @ uct.ac.za, Michael. Brooks @ uct. ac.za

The period covered in this report is from I fluctuated around the eight-year mean of75July 2004 to 30 June 2005. A total of 66 649 488 over the last eight years (Table 7, Fig. 1).

birds was ringed (Table l) compared to The rest of the tables are presented as in the68 502 in the previous year (see Table 7). previous annual ringing report.The number of birds ringed annually has

Locality Birds Spp.ringed

Ringerc Mean/ringer

Locality Birds Spp.ringed

Rlngerc Mean/ringer

NamibiaGautengWestem Cape

KwaZulu-NatalLimpopoFree State

North WestEastem CapeMpumalangaBotswana

Northem CapeMadagascarZambiaSwazilandAt sea

MalawiUgandaZimbabweSeychellesMozambique

1935 90311 33

276 95104 2t103 7

46646 15

3599422

t4 202t2 347

939586784617

37973534274624202046

267 20 736220 36 366173 33 32629r 30 332266 32 r54146 21 188

163 2t 178

123 18 175

217 31 84144 10 216

13

I)3

J

1633ll142355449464536

7

95000

90000

850mffi0mzbooo

70000

65000

600m

55000

50000

1997,8 199BEg 1999,?U0B 2000/Ul 2AO1t02 2002,u3 200304 ?f04ffi

Fig. 1. Number of birds ringed annually over eight years, compared to the mean of the eightyears.

Table 1. Ringing totals perregion,2OO4-2005.

Arring News 35: 18 Oschadlaus & Brooks: Flinging Report 2004--2005

Table 2. Top 20 ringers for 2004-2005.Table 5. Top ten ringed seabirds,2004-2005.

Rank Ringer(s) Region Number of birds ringedSpeeies Species Sclentific name No. of birds ringed

Ia

3

45

6

7

8

Il011

t2l3t415

l6l718

19

20

Ms U FrankeMr JMH Raijmakers

Dr PB TaylorMiss ML MaraisMr D HeinrichMr T OsbomeMrs MI McCallMr AJ TreeMr H De KlerkMr JH RaijmakersMr&MrsMPotgieterMr M BoormanMr M BrownMr G ScholtzMr D van StuyvenbergMrs K van StuyvenbergMr M FordMr C Symes

Mrs K DixonMr W Versfeld

NamibiaGautengKwaZulu-NatalNorth West

NamibiaNamibiaWestem Cape

Eastern CapeGautengGautengFree State

NamibiaKwaZulu-NatalWestem CapeGautengGautengWestem CapeKwaZulu-NatalGautengNamibia

46993518336328972779245721091831

r64916421626l6r81234I 168

1042104210181007989934

291287l0

90329228851

42298293

Common Tern

Kelp GullYellow-nosed MollymawkBlack TernAntarctic TernGrey-headed GullCrowned Cormorant

Great White Pelican

Swift TernRoseate Tern

Sterna hirundoLarus dominicanusThalas sarche chloro rhyncho s

Chlid,onias nigerSterna vittataLarus cirrocephalusP hal ac ro c o r ax c oronatusPelecanus onocrotalusStema bergiiSterna dougallii

2675959294t2l1,20

106r02584037

Table 6. Top ten raptors ringed, 2004-2005.

Species Species Scientific name No. of birds ringed

Region No. ofbirds ringed

Ringer

Adult birdsMr M WilsonMr Arie WilliamsMs R VisagieMr D van StuyvenbergMrs K van Stuyvenberg

Begion No. ofbirds rlnged

Mpumulanga 118

Gauteng 9lWestern Cape 72Gauteng 72Gauteng 72

Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk

White-backed VultureSteppe BuzzardSpotted Eagle-OwlLappet-faced VultureBarn OwlJackal Buzzard

Greater KestrelBlack-chested Snake-EagleBlack-shouldered Kite

Melierax canorusGyps africanusButeo buteoBubo africanusTorgos tracheliotusTyto albaButeo rufofuscusFalco rupicoloidesCircaetus pectoralisElanus caeruleus

165

107

154368108

359152r22r46130

33014912188656553

524t36Nestlings

Mr W VersfeldMr P BridgefordDr A MonadjemMr D HeinrichMr T Osborne

NamibiaNamibiaSwazilandNamibiaNamibia

7t272414

13Table 7. Comparison ofannual totals over eight years.

Actlve Newringers rlngers

BIrdsringed

Speciesringed

No. of No. ofrecoveries retraps

Table 4. Top 20 terrestrial birds ringed 2004-2005.

Specles Birds ringed Species Birds ringed

Cape White-eye (split) 1176

African Red-eyed Bulbul 1154

Sociable Weaver 932Green-winged Pytilia 905White-browedSparrow-Weaver 901

Dark-capped Bulbul 885

Lark-like Bunting 803

Cape Robin-Chat 753Common Waxbill 746African Reed-Warbler 693

803805808775820493

786799311839

Southern Masked-WeaverRed-billed QueleaSouthem Red BishopCape White-eye (pre-split)Red-headed FinchBam SwallowCape SparrowCape WeaverLaughing DoveBlue Waxbill

5955

3 148

27622tt2199314941435t3t2r2301186

tt72544783830780545871581

843606

t27134155

r49148

t73186

t34

?

273424254735l9

660504

327839t46272621380195976

1997/19981998/1999

1999/20002000/2001

2001/20022002n0032003/20042004/2005

79 97780 95865 981

82 79269 38389 68968 50266 649

571517

441294359510410296

504536553554569568654651

Oschadleus & Brooks: Ringing Report 2004-2005 Arring News 35: 19

Table 3. Top raptor ringers.