Queenstown - banding in the rain

During the last week or so banding has been limited by the weather. Since May 8 there has been only 1 day without rain, it hasn't rained all day every day so I have managed to get nets up at times.

During this period 41 birds of 10 species have been caught with 30 new and 11 recaptures.
Blackbird - 2 (1)
Starling - 1
Chaffinch - 1 (1)
Goldfinch - 1
Redpoll - 1 I set nets up to target a flock of Redpoll feeding in a row of Silver Birch trees and only caught the one. A couple of Yellowhammers was however an unexpected bonus.
Yellowhammer - 2

One of the Yellowhammers

Silvereye - 1 Watched a flock of about 30 Silvereyes fly between 2 trees so set a net up next day and didn't even see one.
Grey Warbler - 1 Only the second banded here.

The Grey Warbler was another youngster but a bit more developed in the feather department.

Tui - 8 (6) Three of the recaps was of the same bird. Must be a slow learner.
Bellbird - 2 (1) One of the new birds was another female making it 18 males and 3 females banded here.

Queenstown - a wet week

It has been raining for most of the last week but I did manage to get nets up on a couple of days. It was a matter putting nets up, raining, furling nets, rain stop and then putting nets up again. I didn't catch a huge number of birds but I was still pleased with the catch which included 7 new Tui which were the primary target. It's not often that I manage to catch many of a target species.

The totals for the 2 days was -
Blackbird - 1
House Sparrow -2
Dunnock - 0 (1)
Bellbird - 1 (3) I have now banded 19 Bellbirds with all but 2 being Male. Both Females have been recaptured so they are still about and appear to be the only females coming to the sugar water feeders.
Tui - 7 there are still a few unbanded birds coming to the feeders but the majority appear to be banded.

The forecast for the next week or so is for rain and possibly snow on most days with Tuesday looking like the only day mist netting might be possible. No bird photo today but I have included one showing the first snow of the year on the Remarkables. Should cheer up the snow bunnies.

Queenstown - The beginning of May

I have had several banding sessions in the last week or so, with as usual mixed results. I had three nets up in the area where I saw the Brown Creeper but they did not put in an appearance. They had been there a couple of days before while I was cutting a new net lane. Managed to catch a few birds, mostly recaps and also a hang of a lot of leaves.

A net full of leaves where I had hoped there would be Brown Creeper.

Also had a session at the neighbours with a bit more success than last week, the catch included a pair of Tui.

Sixty four birds of 7 species have been caught since the last post with 44 new and 20 recaptures.
Blackbird - 4 (6) among the recaps was the first Blackbird banded down here so it now has the honour of being the oldest bird recaptured here.
Chaffinch - 1 (0)
Dunnock - 0 (4)
Silvereye - 30 (2) There are a few flocks starting to appear, mostly feeding high up.
House Sparrow - 4 (3)
Bellbird - 3 (6) surprised at how many recaptures are being made. Caught the second female which now makes the ratio 2 F's and 18 M's.

The second female Bellbird caught at this site.

Tui - 2 (0)

The female Tui about to go on its merry way.