Queenstown - the last two sessions.

I have had two sessions since the last post with varied results.

On Tuesday I caught 18 birds of  4 species with only 2 being new and 16 recaps. There was 1 new and 13 recap Silvereyes, 1 new House Sparrow, 2 recap Blackbirds and 1 recap Bellbird.

The older male Bellbirds are starting to get into breeding condition and developing a blue sheen on head and neck.

On Thursday although the nets were set  in the same positions the results were remakably different. With 32 birds of 6 species being caught, 23 new and 9 recaptures. No new Silvereyes and only 4 recaps, 18 new House Sparrows and 2 recaps, 1 new and 1 recap Bellbird, 2 new Goldfinch and 1 new Chaffinch.

This Goldfinch was a young female the other an older male.

The Goldfinch were caught when one of my weird plans worked. I put a 2 shelf net up next to a sheep salt block that had a few Goldfinches visiting. Got a hang of a surprise to catch a couple.

One of the House Sparrows had the tip of its upper beak missing, otherwis it appeared to be in good health.

Another Sparrow had white feathers sprinked over its head.

It is interesting to compare this years Silvereye numbers with last year. On 1 Aug 2018 27 new and 10 recaptures. On 3 Aug 65 new and 22 recaps. There is potentially several reasons for the differance, poor breeding with few juveniles to catch is one. The most likely though is the mild weather so far this winter and a plentiful supply of food.