Houghton Bay 13 June - An unexpected good catch

I had a session at the Houghton Bay stream this morning. I only went down because plans A & B failed so with a bit of time on my hands I thought I would check out the stream. At this time of year and after recent rain I didn't expect to catch much, perhaps 10 - 20 birds if I was lucky. I was very wrong and caught 64 birds of 6 species with 47 new and 17 recaptures. I had trouble getting the nets down as birds kept flying in and I was an hour late in getting home. Fortunately I was forgiven (it's actually not the first time).

Species caught were - (Recaps in brackets)
Chaffinch - 7 (0)
Goldfinch - 1 (1) the recap was banded Dec 2010 so a reasonably old bird and the oldest recaptured at this site.
When I arrived home I received a recovery report of a Goldfinch that had been caught by a cat near Vic University in Kelburn, it had been banded at Newtown Park next to the Zoo last June.

The Goldfinch recap

House Sparrow - 1 (0)
Silvereye - 31 (14) the oldest recap was banded April 09, another Nov 09, 1 in 2010 and 2 in 2011. There were 2 birds from other sites, 1 from Bridie's in Hornsey Rd and 1 from Witham St in Island Bay.

One of the Silvereye recaps has lost all except its back claw on the right foot. I wonder if it was caused by a mouse trap?

Grey Warbler - 4 (1)

The first 2 Grey Warblers were caught together, perhaps siblings?

Fantail - 3 (1)

The first 2 Fantail were also caught together, both have retained brown tipped juvenile covert feathers so were aged as 1