Zoo Stream Friday 16 Jan - A little quieter

We had a session at the stream just outside the Zoo this morning and although a bit quieter than the last couple of sessions we still had a steady flow of birds. The final total was 56 birds of 7 species with 47 new and 9 recaps.

Most of the team at work - Luke, Kate, Henk and Bridget.

A highlight of the morning was a bird we didn't catch, a Kereru (NZ Pigeon) which came down to drink. Fortunately it flew out over our heads and away from the nets as we haven't a permit to band them and it probably would have flown straight through the net anyway. This is the first one I have seen at this site.

Species caught were -
Blackbird - 4 (0)

Kate with one of the juvenile Blackbirds - 3 were juvs and the other a 1 year old.

Chaffinch - 6 (1) the recap was banded 4 years and 1 day ago on 15 Jan 2011 as an unsexed juvenile at the same net site. This was it's first recapture.

The wing of the 4yr old Chaffinch (top) compared to a juvenile one (bottom)

Greenfinch - 4 (0)
Goldfinch - 13 (2)
House Sparrow 2 (0) Henk also reported the recovery of a H Sparrow found dead. It was banded in Feb 2010 just a couple of weeks short of 5 years.
Dunnock - 0 (1)
Silvereye - 18 (5) the oldest recap was banded June 2011, subsequently recaptured at Houghton Bay and is now back at the Zoo.