With the Houghton Bay stream being mostly out of the near gale northerly I set up the nets there this morning. Had a reasonably successful session with 40 birds of 6 species caught but although a this appears to be a good variety by far the majority were Silvereye. The recapture rate was extremely low with only 2 banded birds caught.
Species caught were - 2 Greenfinch, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Chaffinch, 1 recap Grey Warbler, 1 Tui and 33 new Silvereye and just 1 recap. The recap was banded here at my place back in July which adds a little bit of credence to the theory that the Silvereye from here have gone over to Houghton Valley to feed on flowering Karo.
Seven of the new Silvereye were in active wing moult; the first time I have come across this at this time of year but must admit I haven't always looked
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| Silvereye AP-6706 in moult |
Birds AP-6688 & 6687 which were caught together I suspect are siblings from a late brood
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| Silvereye AP-6688 in moult |
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Silvereye AP-6687 in moult
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There appears to have been some young engineers at work in the stream doing a bit of dam building with dams built under two net sites. How this will affect the birds I am not sure; probably for the better.
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The Dam under the bottom net
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| The Dam under the top net. |
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