Queenstown Wed 27 Dec - Chaffinch & Redpoll

I had two totally different banding sessions yesterday. In the morning I caught Chaffinch in the neighbour's hen house and in the afternoon I set a couple of nets up at the stream at the bottom of the property.

AM - Hen House

Caught 17 Chaffinch, 4 new and 13 recaps. There were also about 40, mostly juvenile House Sparrows but I avoided catching them as I will probably run out of BP bands if I was to band them all. Of the recaps 3, AP 18306, 08, 09 were originally banded on the first day of banding here so at 837 days from banding they are the oldest birds of any species caught here. They beat the Blackbird caught on Tuesday by a day.

PM - Stream

The afternoon catch was a total contrast, 52 birds of 11 species with 47 new and just 4 recaptures. The 11 species in one session is I think the highest number caught down here although several species were only represented by 1 or 2 individuals.
Species caught were - (Recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 1 (0)
Song Thrush - 1 (0) a newly fledged juv.
Redpoll 16 (0) surprised not to recapture any of the 400 or so birds banded at this site over the last few years.

Several of the male Redpols are very well coloured while others have only a reddish wash.

One of the Redpolls was actually an Orange Poll

Goldfinch - 2 (0)
Chaffinch - 1 (0)
Greenfinch - 1 (0)
Yellowhammer - 2 (0)

Both Yellowhammers were females

Dunnock - 1 (1)
House Sparrow - 0 (2)
Silvereye - 2 (0) One of the birds appeared to have had a broken tarsus that had healed well but slightly out of alignment.

The broken leg now healed

Tui 0 (1) the same bird as recaptured on Tuesday about 500m away.