Zoo 22 June - A relatively quiet day

Despite a cold southerly blowing we had fairly good conditions for mist netting at the Zoo today. There was a good turn out of banders but a lower number of birds were caught than is usual for June. We caught 55 birds of 7 species with 33 new and 22 recaptures. Last June the day's total was 191 and in 2012 it was 149. The reduction is mainly due to far fewer Silvereyes today, probably caused by the mild weather and the abundance of berries this Autumn. In contrast to last month when 3 birds over 5 years were recaptured this month no old birds were caught, but we did see 3 old colour banded Tui.

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 3 (0)

Two of the male Blackbirds gave a good contrast between a 1st year bird (top) and an older individual.

Dunnock - 1 (0)
Chaffinch - 1 (1) the last 2 birds caught for the day.
Greenfinch - 4 (3)
House Sparrow - 8 (7)

Kate all concentration removing a House Sparrow from a net.

Silvereye - 16 (10)
Tui - 0 (1) as well 3 colour banded Tui were sighted.
Y/O-O/M banded at Houghton Bay 4 June 2007, 1999 days ago
W/M-W/Y banded at the Zoo 1 June 2006, 2933 days ago.
Y/M-W/R banded at the Zoo 4 Sept 2004, 3578 days ago. This bird is the oldest Tui we have banded at the Zoo. The Group has only one older Tui, a Karori bird last seen (and photographed) 3797 days after it was banded.