Mt Albert Sunday 15 April

Annette, Anneke and I had another attempt to catch Silvereyes at the Fennel patch this morning with limited success. Numbers were way down on a couple of weeks ago but we did manage to catch 7 new and 4 recaptures with a bycatch of the usual Dunnock and a Goldfinch. Three of the recaps were recently banded birds with the other banded at Houghton Bay (about 2km away) back in December 11.

Dunnock

Looking back at the records for the last 10 years a sudden drop in Silvereye numbers at this site is usual about mid April, as well we had a Falcon do a swoop over the nets. This bird has apparently been in the area for a while and no doubt makes smaller birds keep their heads down. Also, someone probably City Council water works, people have cut a considerable area of the Fennel.

The Fennel patch showing the cut section