Return of the winter Blackcaps - a geolocator story

How do migratory birds respond to a changing environment? The answer to this question may help us unlock key insights into the mechanisms behind migration, and predict how animals will adjust to future global change. British Blackcaps may provide key insights into birds’ abilities to evolve changes in migration. Blackcaps are now spending the winter in the Britain and Ireland in greater numbers than ever before - a change BTO scientists have linked to garden feeding and warmer temperatures. But what exactly do they gain by wintering here, and where are they coming from?

Blackcap with first geolocator retrieved - photo by Benjamin Van Doren

As previously reported, last year, researchers from the BTO, Oxford University, and Exeter University began teaming up with bird ringers and garden owners across Britain and Ireland to study the Blackcaps that visit our gardens in winter. Last winter, we fitted 36 Blackcaps with geolocators, miniature devices that track movements throughout the year; however, the birds must be recaptured in order to retrieve the device and data, which can be a challenge.

Excitingly, returning Blackcaps carrying geolocators have been seen in gardens around the country since late November. These early successes would not have been possible without the dedicated BTO ringers, Garden BirdWatch participants, and other volunteers who have contributed so much time and effort to the ongoing study.

Blackcap geolocator movements. Blue dot - wintering site.

On 26 November, Glynne Evans recaptured the first returning individual in his Hampshire garden where it was tagged nine months earlier. Preliminary analysis indicates that the bird left Britain at the end of March and spent the summer in France, before returning by early November. But is this pattern the exception, or the rule? And why did this bird decide to come north for the winter when it was already in southern France? We hope to find the answers to these questions and many others - as the project continues.

Garden ideal for Blackcaps - photo by Benjamin Van Doren

Glynne’s GBW garden has turned out to be an exceptional Blackcap site, with a further tagged bird (analysis in progress) being caught in December, as well as two other colour-ringed birds returning from last year, giving a return rate of 25%, so far. We know very little about their behaviour and movements in winter, so any sightings of colour-ringed birds would also help answer these questions. Glynne provides food for Blackcaps starting relatively early on in autumn—could this partially explain their affinity for his garden?

How can you help? 

Do you have Blackcaps visiting your garden in winter? Look out for Blackcaps with colour rings and note the positions of the colours on each leg, or even better, take a photograph. Observers interested in joining the colour-ringing and tracking efforts can contact Benjamin Van Doren at Oxford (benjamin.vandoren@zoo.ox.ac.uk) or Greg Conway at the BTO (greg.conway@bto.org). Gardens with multiple Blackcaps regularly attending bird feeders are particularly valuable. For further information please see Life Cycle, issue 6 Autumn 2017.

This study is a collaboration between Oxford University, BTO, Exeter University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Germany.