A couple of banding sessions - Sunday 26 Oct

We had a couple of banding sessions yesterday, Sunday 26 Oct. Didn't catch a lot of birds but there was at least one of interest.

Hornsey Rd

I set the funnel trap here in the morning, caught only 14 birds before I had to close it for other duties. Only 1 bird, a Blackbird, was unbanded. Recaps were 4 Blackbird, the oldest banded Nov 2010 and 9 Silvereyes. The oldest Silvereye was banded 11 Feb 2005 and is the fourth oldest we have recaptured. The four oldest now are - 

A-135040 banded 22 May 1997 last recaptured 3 Nov 2007 at 3817 days

A-134907 banded 2 April 1996 last recaptured 26 June 2006 at 3737 days

A-154943 banded 13 June 2003 last recaptured 11 July 2013 at 3681 days

and yesterday's bird

A-161829 banded 11 Feb 2005 last recaptured 26 Oct 2014 at 3544 days.

This is the first time it had been caught this year, so hopefully we will catch it again next year and it can move up the chart.

Prince of Wales Park

In the afternoon Michelle, Matu and I spent a couple of hours at the stream in Prince of Wales Park. Matu had just come back from banding 2 Saddleback chicks. These are probable the first ever banded on the New Zealand mainland outside a fenced predator proof sanctuary. Unfortunately he was wearing his Zealandia hat at the time so the Group can't claim this first. Matu and one of the chicks made the page 3 feature in this (Monday) morning's Dominion Post. Not however the usual Page 3 pinup!

We caught 14 birds, all new of 5 species, 4 Chaffinch, 1 Greenfinch, 6 Goldfinch, 1 House Sparrow and 2 Silvereye. Michelle hadn't actually banded any birds before so we took the opportunity of the leisurely catch rate for her to get some experience. She proved to be a quick learner and with a bit more practice will be very competent.

Michelle preparing to band her first Silvereye

And banding her first Greenfinch, the last bird of the day.