We’ve just finished another season of Storm-petrel ringing, again in partnership with the University of Cardiff, United Kingdom. A project that has nearly 30 years of duration (27 to be exact), the data we collect is still a source of surprises. This year was another year of low catches. However the numbers of the last three nights, with the most surprising highest peak of this year, helped to improve the average night catch.
The numbers of foreign ringed birds are better than in previous years, but still under what was becoming the norm, with a total of three controls. Two British and one with a Norwegian ring. But the star of the year is the second Swinhoe’s Storm petrel, Oceanodroma monorhis, captured on the coast of Portugal. After in 1998 our team had captured the first we had the pleasure of having this illustrious visitor again. In the video you can see the bird being processed by Dr Rob Thomas, assisted by Dr Renata Medeiros.