A human-sized bird, with an English accent, was yesterday ringed by a group of eager children who participated in a fundraising event for nature conservation.

Will the ring make a bird heavy so it can’t fly?

“Will the ring make a bird heavy so it can’t fly?” a concerned boy asked Birdlife Malta bird ringer Justin Vassallo, who assured him the ring was so light the bird barely felt the weight.

Mr Vassallo explained to the children how and why birds were ringed during an activity at Is-Simar Nature Reserve in Xemxija.

Almost 200 children and adults walked 10 kilometres to the reserve, starting from Rabat, and raised a total of €1,545 to install solar panels at Birdlife’s Comino bird-ringing station.

Ħuttaf, the human-sized European barn swallow mascot of Club Ħuttaf – Birdlife Malta’s nature club for young people – also participated in the event.

The fluffy mascot helped Mr Vassallo demonstrate what bird ringing was all about when children placed a large cardboard ring around its leg. Mr Vassallo explained to the children that ringers took down details about birds they ringed such as their age and gender.

He asked the children how they could tell whether the giant bird was male or female.

“The colours,” one girl suggested as her friend yelled: “The sounds it makes”.

Mr Vassallo told them these were valid answers but they did not apply in the case of the barn swallow.

He then explained that males had longer tails than females, which meant that Ħuttaf was female, much to their amusement, given that the mascot spoke in a male voice.

Mr Vassallo explained that birds especially flew over Malta in spring and autumn and travelled from many countries, including France and Russia.

More than 400 bird species were recorded in Malta, coming from at least 36 European and 12 African countries, he explained.

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