Canadian-ringed Ruddy Turnstone at Palm Bay

by Dylan Wrathall

Ringed at Palm Bay, Isle of Thanet, Kent. ENGLAND. (51.23N – 00.23E) 24th March 1999 by Kevin Webb (SBBOT). Metal BTO ring CE 89418 on the right tibia.  Controlled at Alert, Ellesmere Island, Nunavat, CANADA. (82.30N – 62.20W) on 20th July 1999. (For some reason this information was lost/not communicated to the BTO) Almost the most northerly landmass on Earth, less than 500 miles from the North Pole and a, straight line, distance of 2,500 miles from the Isle of Thanet!  Additional rings fitted on this date. (1 metal & 4 coloured.) Left tibia – North American ring no. 1313 – 59394Left tarsus – YELLOW over WHITE FLAG (Yellow has now been lost!) Right tibia – UK ring – CE 89418 Right tarsus – GREY over RED  The bird weighed 101g at the time of control, very light for a bird preparing for long distance migration, and also had a brood-patch that was re-feathering. Sexed as a MALE (!) based on plumage? Re-sighted at Alert, Ellesmere Island, Nunavat, CANADA on 19th July 2000 when it was sexed as a female, again based on plumage. On 3rd September 2005 the bird was located feeding along the shoreline, below the Walpole Hotel, in Palm Bay, Isle of Thanet, Kent. ENGLAND – approx 500m away from the original point of ringing. It was photographed and reported to both Canadian and UK authorities. It was still present in Palm Bay on 24th September 2005. Guy Morrison confirmed the sexing, as female, based upon the plumage of the bird in the images recorded on 3rd September. This sequence of events does pose the question, “Has this bird wintered around the Thanet coast since 1999?”  

My sincere thanks to the following, who have been extremely helpful, and generous with information, in the compilation this report - Dylan (www.planetthanet.org) 
Guy Morrison – Canadian Wildlife Service. A research scientist of the Migratory Bird Population Division presently involved in Long-term Studies of Shorebird Populations at Alert, Ellesmere Island. Mark Grantham – BTO (Ringing Recoveries Officer), Thetford, Norfolk. Kevin Webb – The SBBOT - based “A” permit Ringer – now residing in deepest Cambridgeshire!