Queenstown Friday 19 July - first birds here for a while.

Came down on Tuesday, first trip for a while having cancelled the June trip. It took a couple of days for a few birds to start feeding so this morning was the first session. It turned out much better than I expected. Caught a total of 44 birds of 6 species including a first for the site. There were 34 new and 10 recaptures.
Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
House Sparrow - 10 (2)
Chaffinch - 0 (1) this bird was banded 16 Sept 2015 4 days after starting to band here, so at 1402 days from banding is now the oldest recap of any species. As is the case in Christchurch there appear to be very few Chaffinches about.
Silvereye - 21 (5)
Bellbird - 1 (2) one of the recaps was a female which are not captured very often. It was banded about 18 months ago and is now the oldest female recaptured.

The Female Bellbird now aged as a 3+

Tui - 1 (0)

The Tui was a first year male.

Magpie - 1 (0) the first one caught down here and the first I have caught since leaving Wellington 4 years ago

The first Magpie caught here.