Elusive warbler ringed in Umzumbe
Local bird ringers are excited about the exciting recapture.
A NONDESCRIPT little bird, caught by ringer Andrew Pickles in Umzumbe on Sunday last week, is causing excitement in birding circles.
Shy, secretive and seldom seen, this little forest dweller goes by the name of a Knysna warbler. It is very similar to some of its warbler cousins and the best way to identify it is to listen to its distinctive call. Only 18 have ever been caught and ringed in South Africa. As this species is endemic to a narrow coastal strip in this country, those are the only ones that have ever been ringed in the whole world.
At one stage this warbler was thought to be extinct in KwaZulu-Natal until some were discovered some in Mbumbazi Nature Reserve near Paddock some years ago.
On previous occasions Andrew has been fortunate to ring two of these birds, both of which were caught in indigenous forest patches on sugar cane farms in the Umzumbe area. He ringed one near a farm dam about seven years ago and one on the Umzumbe flood plane about a year later.
What made his most recently caught Knysna warbler so special was that it was a recapture. It had originally been ringed by Andrew’s good friend, Johan Snyman, in the same patch of forest in the Umzumbe area in September 2014.
When he found the little warbler in his nets last week, Andrew was pretty sure it was the elusive Knysna warbler but just to be sure, he played its call from the Roberts Multimedia. The response from the bird was immediate, confirming its identity.
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