THE OSTRICH VOL. 41, No. 1 & 2 1970 FOURTEENTH RINGING REPORT C. C. H. ELLIOTT& M. J. F. JARVIS Ringing Organizers INTRODUCTION To bring the reporting of South African ringing activities up to date, this report covers the five seasons from 1 July 1963 to 30 June 1968. It also covers an important period for the ringing scheme which has reached its twentieth year of existence and, as will be seen below. has increased in maturity, both in terms of the numbers of birds ringed and in terms of the number of specific and rewarding studies that have been carried out. It is hoped that, with the prospect of proper financing in the near future, the full adulthood of the scheme will be realised and that it will soon achieve an international standing comparable to any scheme in the world. By decision of the Council, this entire number of OJtrich is devoted to the Society’s ringing activities: firstly the five-year report and secondly accounts of special studies. SCHEDULE OF BIRDSRINGED This section incorporates certain innovations, amongst which is the listing of all species ringed since the inception of the scheme and the production of a grand total for each species. The number of birds ringed during the five years reviewed (I 88,396) almost equals the number ringed in the preceding 15 years (216,284). It does seem, however, that under the present organiza- tion and with the number of ringers operating, we have nearly reached a ceiling at about 45,000 birds per year, unless new methods of trapping (such as cannon nets) prove successful or unless the recruitment of new ringers improves. More important is that, although the annual total now ex- ceeds 40,000, the number of species ringed is unchanged. It has in fact dropped slightly in 1967-8. This is an indication that moreeffort is being put into particular studies. During the period reviewed supporters of the scheme undertook probably the most successful ringing operation ever mounted in Africa, namely the ringing in five years of 70,840 European Swallows Hiirnndo rrrstica. Apart from this study, heavy ringing programmes have been carried out on the Anatidae, including the Spurwinged Goose Plectropterus gntnbemis, Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiacus, Shelduck Tadorna ca~zaand Yellowbilled Duck Anus undulata. In smaller numbers but just as important has been the ringing of many species of birds of prey, including a study of the Steppe Buzzard Buteo hutco. Programmes on the Crowned Guineafowl Nutnida Downloaded by [University of Cape Town Libraries] at 01:58 28 November 2014 nieleagris and Redknobbed Coot Fulica cristata have begun to bring in interesting results. The Palearctic waders have been ringed in increasing numbers, particularly the Common Sandpiper Tringa hypoleucos, Green Sandpiper T. orhropiis and Wood Sandpiper T. glareola. A special study has been made of the Carmine Bee-eater Miwps nrrbicoides. Lastly, several other groups of species have begun to be ringed in numbers and may soon bring in information. e.g. European Sandmartin Xiparia riparia, Willow Warbler Phyllosropirs trochilus, the Acrocephalines, the Mozambique Nightjar Caprirnirlgirsfossi and the House Sparrow Passer dorliesticus. Although the amount of ringing done by some official stations is increasing, the vast majority of birds (ca. 90 per cent) are still ringed by amateurs, usually operating through their clubs but some- times individually. Members of the Witwatersrand Bird Club, who have accounted for nearly 40 per cent of the total birds ringed, must be congratulated. Shown below is the distribution of ringing effort between theclubs and research stations. 1 2 ELLIOTT& JARVIS:14~~ RINGING REPORT OSTRICH41 Organization Organizer No. of bird.v ringed 1967-8 Witwatersrand Bird Club ... ... ... A. D. S. Hewitt _.. 83,850 Natal Bird Club ... ... ... ... W. Lawson ... ... 22,181 Rhodesian Ornithological Society ...... D. Jackson, R. Harwin 21,932 Cape Bird Club ... ... ... ... G.J. Broekhuysen ... 13,386 Barberspan .. , ... ... ... ... P. le S. Milstein ... 11,107 Northern Cape Nature Conservation Society R. Liversidge ... 10,061 Rondevlei ... ... ... ... ... E. Middlemiss ... 9,396 S.W.A. Scientific Society ... ... ... H. Kolberg ... ... 1,684 RECOVERYSECTION There have been 1,631 recoveries reported in the five-year period under review. Although the Society has no official retrap scheme as yet, certain clubs and diligent individual ringers have started their own systems. Of the data received so far, 159 retrap records have been included in this report on the grounds that either the retrap locality differed significantly from the ringing site or the time elapsed between ringing and retrapping was greater than three years. The 159 retraps include 79 of European Swallows Hirutido rustica, a number of which are “controlled” each year in Europe. The rate of recovery averaged at about 320 per year, which is not quite twice the number (187) recorded in the Thirteenth Ringing Report (McLachlan 1969). This section retains the form used in previous reports except that the Euring recovery code (see below) has been used for standard methods of recovery. Where additional interesting details are available, these have been included in the “other details” column. All countries outside southern Africa have been printed in heavy black type. In an attempt to make this section more readable, brief comments have been offered on points of interest emerging from some of the recoveries. In addition, long-distance recoveries have been marked with asterisks (*) and others of interest have been given crosses (t). The English names throughout have been taken from Birds of South Africa (McLachlan & Liversidge 1957) and Latin names from the new Check List of Birds of Sourh Africa (Winterbottom 1969). The report was written from data which, in a few cases, was of poor quality. Any errors or corrections found, should be submitted to the authors for inclusion in corrigenda in a future issue of Ostrich. EURlNG Recovery Code -1 - shot or killed by man x - found dead or dying () - caught and not released Downloaded by [University of Cape Town Libraries] at 01:58 28 November 2014 V - caught and released = retrapped (?) - manner of recovery unknown -_- found breeding Other Symbols * - long-distance recoveries t - interesting recoveries 1970 ELLIOTT& JARVIS:14~~ RINGING REPORT 3 0 W N d N .- W2 2 N 9 d n h Downloaded by [University of Cape Town Libraries] at 01:58 28 November 2014 N d Total of I I Roberts Species i Previous 19634 I 1964-5 I 1965-6 I 1966-7 Number , Years l 63-8 Total j I I I I 1 15 Antarctic Petrel I! ~ , I Thalassoica antarctic I I I I I 1 Broad-billed Prion 22 I 22 Pach yptila vit tala 20x Kerguelen Petrel Ptcrodroma breviroslris 23 Cape Hen ~ 148 Procellar ia ncquinoc t ia1i.r I ‘48 I 24 Great Grey Shearwater I 5 51I 1I P. cinema I I 25 Great Shearwater ’ 301 30 1 Puffitiris gravis I 29 Sooty Shearwater I 2 I 2 P. griseris I ____~___________-____~_______----I I 30 Storin Petrel 88 88 Hj~drohnre~pdagic rij 31 Leach’s Storm Petrel 1 I 1 0cc.ariodrotiia loircorhoa ______-___ __________________~__~ 32 Madeira Fork-tailed Petrel 5 I 5 0crariodr.atiia caslro ~~ 33 Wilson’s Storm Petrel 52 52 Ocaanites oceanicus I I Downloaded by [University of Cape Town Libraries] at 01:58 28 November 2014 Red-billed Tropic Bird I I I 1 1 Phaethon aethereus I i - ~ --__ -__ 47 White-breasted Cormorant 427 I 1 38 1 11 I1 284 324 1 751 Phalacrocorax carbo -- ----- I____-__- 48 Cape Corinorant 1 loo 9 I 6 ~ 115 608 P. capensis 1 I-- I-- 493 ~ ~~~___________~I 49 1 Bank Cormorant 1 251 I 25 1 P. neglectus I - -______~~__-___~I ____ 50 Reed Cormorant ' 1,033 91 91 3' 33 1,066 P. africanrrs 91 3l I 58 Great White Heron 2 2 I Egretta alba 1 Downloaded by [University of Cape Town Libraries] at 01:58 28 November 2014 I II 1 Total of Roberts I Species Previous 1963-4 1 1964-5 1965-6 ' 1966-7 1967-8 I Total Grand Number 1 I Years I 63-8 i, Total 59 1 Little Egret 1 651 10 1 5 735 Egretta garzetta I I ~ ~ I 60 1 Yellow-billed Egret 8; 351 4 3 7 57 I 854 ~ Mesophvx intermediirs I __- ----~---.l--- ___- I-- 797 61 1 Cattle Egret iI 22,676 1 247 1 4,754 202 72 I 732 6,007 /28,683 Bubulcus ibis j-- j-- ~~ I 4 62 1 Squacco Heron 15 R 1 Ardeola ralloides 63 Green-backed Heron 3 12 I 12 Butorides striafirs I -~--____---_-____-~__~__________I 64 1 Black Heron 1 Egrrtta ardeslaca I __________~- 65 ' Rufous Heron 1 2 --71 24 1 25 I Erythrocnus rufj'rvntrts I -I-__- --~__ ____ __ -_ _- --- I 4 66 1 Dwarf Bittern I I I Ardeirallus siurniii __~~__~~___~______ I 67 Little Bittern I 3 3 8 3 3 I 18 21 Ixobrychirs minutus ~---__--__ __~~ -_-___ __~-- 69 ' Night Heron 819 25 77 7 6 65 884 Njzrtirorax n.vcticorax ___I __ ________ __ -~ 70 White-backed Night Heron 3 3 3 6 N. leircanotris Downloaded by [University of Cape Town Libraries] at 01:58 28 November 2014 71 Bittern Botaurus stelbis 72 Hammerkop 31-7 33 Scorpus wnbretta I 73 MarabouStork Leptoptilos crumen.iferus I 75 Saddlebilled Stork Ephippiorhynchus senegalenis I l8 76 Wood Ibis Ibis ibis 77 WOOUy-necked Stork Dhoura episcopus 78 i A-’sSphenorhynchus Stork abdimii li 79 BlackStork 17 Ciconia nigra 3/ I3i 80 Whitestork 5 I 10 C. ciconia 31 ~ -- I I .