Island Bay Sat 26 Oct - Sparrows

We had a reasonable session at Island Bay this morning with ideal conditions for the first couple of hours and then the northerly picked up to near gale force. I had a good group of banders to help me with Angelina & Sarah from the Zoo, Kate with her parents Mary & Ross, a new member Katriona. We managed to catch 66 birds of 5 species with 48 new and 18 recaptures.

Kate getting some assistance from Ross with an unruly Sparrow

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 2 (2) the oldest recap was banded Aug 2009.
Dunnock - 1 (2)
Chaffinch - 4 (0) all males.

Comparing the moult limits on 3 of the Chaffinch's wings.

Silvereye - 5 (1)
House Sparrow - 36 (13) all the recaps were banded in the last couple of years with the only stranger of the day one that was banded at the Houghton Bay Stream.

Angelina observing (or laughing at?)Sarah removing a Sparrow from the net

We also had a Falcon hit the net and bounce while it was trying to take one of "our" Sparrows.

As is usual we had great hospitality from our hosts, Marion and Ken including a tasty spread and hot drinks.