Monday 9 July 2012

Hornsey Rd 9 July - A couple of old birds

Set the Funnel Trap this morning to check on the local Silvereyes with some success. Caught 39 with 8 new birds and 31 recaptures.  The 8 new birds as well as another 10 which haven't been caught at this site this year indicates that there has been an influx of new birds over the last week.

Two of the recaps were of a reasonable age, A-161829  was banded 11/2/05, 2705 days ago and A-154943 banded 11/2/03, 3314 days. This bird is now the 3rd oldest Silvereye the group has recaptured in the last 20 years; both these birds were last caught in 2009. The bird caught at the Zoo last month was our 3rd oldest Silvereye but is now relegated to 4th, interestingly though the two were banded in the same week. If we catch the Zoo one this month it will reverse the positions. Both birds will need to be caught next year to threaten our two oldest that were recaptured at 3737 and 3817 days.


In spite of the new birds caught today Silvereye numbers have been surprisingly stable since early May with weekly catches of 21, 38, 28, 39, 39, 38 and 39. Other species caught this morning were 2 Blackbirds, 1 Dunnock and a Starling. 

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