Houghton Valley School 3 July Mostly Silvereyes

Kate, Ros and I spent a productive few hours at the Houghton Valley School this morning with, despite the forecast, good conditions.In all we caught 33 birds of 5 species with as expected the majority being Silvereyes.

Kate prepares to release a Silvereye while Ros de-baggs the next

Species caught were
Silvereyes - 13 (13) All the recaps except 1 were banded at this site either 2 weeks ago or on 5 July last year, the exception was banded in the Gully below my house in May 2010 and has been caught at a couple of sites since and now at the H V School.
Blackbird - 2 (0)
House Sparrow - 3 (0)
Dunnock - 1 (0)

The Dunnock still showing the brown eye of a first year bird

Grey Warbler - 0 (1) The recap was banded last January as a juvenile at the Houghton Bay stream at the bottom of the valley.

Although still in it's first year the Grey Warbler is already getting the red eye of an adult.