Impacts of bird ringing (threads merged) (1 Viewer)

[Mark Grantham]

I know that these deformities occur occasionally but how the hell does that bird feed? Also, what do you do when you catch a bird like that? Do you clip the mandibles or just let it go?

Apparently these deformities can just grow to stupid proportions and then snap off, and the bird can feed as normal. This bird was already ringed, and had no sign of its cross-bill when first ringed. So we processed it as normal and released it.

Mark Grantham

 

[Mark Grantham]

Only the person who handled the bird could possibly know if its deformities were likely to have been injury-induced.Unless there are more - and more revealing - photos available.

No conspiracy here I'm afriad... As far a I remember this was the first time we'd recaught the bird since ringing. One explanation I did receive agreed with the above, that its the lack of regular wear that allows the bill to grow like this. Once it snaps off, it has a chance of growing back more normally.

Mark G