Not much banding this week

After 3 days of good banding weather while I was at work it has turned to custard today with rain and high winds expected for the next few days. Then on Saturday I am off to Christchurch for a few days so the prospects of doing some banding looks bleak. To reduce the likelihood further I put some sugar water in the feeding cage this morning and within 30 minutes a Tui had found it and is now chasing every bird that comes anywhere near, Silvereyes, Sparrows, Greenfinch and even Blackbirds get the treatment.

I did manage an hour or so at Bridie's on Saturday afternoon when the weather cleared after a northerly rain squall. Caught  39 birds; all Silvereyes except 1 recap Blackbird. Of the Silvereyes there were 18 new birds and 20 recaps. The oldest recaps were 2 that were banded in 2008.

The Blackbird we've named White eye  was feeding on the lawn but didn't go near the trap. He was banded in Aug 04, 3254 days ago.

We have had a couple of recoveries this week. 1 was a Silvereye banded 9 days previously at the Zoo and found dead about 1km away. The other was a Blackbird banded as a Juv at Island Bay in March 07 and its skeleton was found in a woodpile not far away.  The wood has been there less than a year so it was at least 7 years old when it died.

Yesterday I received from the DOC Banding Office a  photo of a colour banded Tui, and one of the colours was described as Red which would make it a bird banded in May 03, therefore our oldest Tui record. In the photo this band looks to be possibly Brown which would make the bird one that was banded in Aug 08. I am trying to gather a bit more info to confirm its ID.

Red or Brown?