Recent Banding - All Puli

 We haven't had any sessions recently, giving things a bit of a break while birds are breeding. But I have taken the chance to band a few nestlings. First brood was 4 Welcome Swallows, they were in the usual nest in the Men's Toilet in the Findlay Picnic area at the Quarry the same site we have banded most of our Swallows over the last few years.

One of The Welcome Swallows with its new bling.

Most of the others were in nests around the Village where I live. Two Starlings in a nest box at one of our neighbours. The others were 6 Blackbirds in a couple of nests. It's been a bit surprising and disappointing at the number of nests that have failed. I suspect a gang of Magpies, up to 14 of them that have been hassling birds around the village.

The last 2 nestlings banded were 2 Little Owls that Ruud had located at a friends place near the Quarry. Reports were that they were still very small but I decided to check to get an idea when they might be big enough. When I opened the box there were 2 at what I thought was an ideal size for banding so they were banded. These were the first Little Owls that I have ever banded so it was a bit of a red letter day.

Halswell Quarry Thursday 15 Oct - not many birds but some were interesting.

 We had a pretty quiet session at the Quarry this morning although there were some interesting birds amongst the catch. Conditions were very much on the cold side with a dying southerly wind. There were 12 birds of 4 species processed with 8 new and 4 recaps.

Species were (recaps in brackets)

Blackbird - 2 (1) the recap was banded almost exactly a year ago on 18 Oct 19

House Sparrow - 5 (1) the recap was banded at Jan's place about 2km away back in July.

Dunnock - 1 (0)

Chaffinch - 0 (2) these birds, 1 F, 1 M were banded in Dec 2017 at exactly the same net site as caught today. Neither have been caught in between, the female was the 2nd Chaffinch banded at the Quarry and they are at 1043 days the oldest of any species we have recaptured there. The first bird of the day was the male Chaffinch recap.

We also had a recovery in the form of a Blackbird found earlier by Jan's husband, John while walking their dog. Found about 200m from where it was banded.

Halswell Quarry, Thursday 1 October - Some birds but not a lot.

We had a session at the Quarry this morning. After a frost the day was sunny with a stiffening breeze. We had a bit of a problem with dogs on the loose, one went under a net at speed but fortuanately except for a broken trammel line didn't cause much damage. Another was in hot pursuit of a Hare, both went under a net at speed, fortunatly the net was set high and again no great damage was done. Later the sun was on the 2 main nets making them very visable. We ended up with 17 birds processed, 11 new Silvereyes and 1 recap which had been banded at Jan's on Kenerdys Bush Rd about a couple of km's away. The others were all new, 2 Starlings, 2 House Sparrows and a Blackbird. The team today consisted of Ririka, Alice, Kenny and a new trainee Babs.

Some Banding this week - Silvereyes at Jan's & Redpolls at the Awatea Swale.

 We had a session at Jan's place next to the Halswell Quarry yesterday, 17 Sept with very marginal conditions. There was a strong gusty westerly blowing and although we put nets up out of the worst of the wind, gusts would still catch them at times. There had also been a very marked drop off of bird numbers during the week due to the warm weather with birds dispersing to their spring haunts.

We processed 21 birds which was better than I had expected considering the conditions,. There were 19 new with 2 recaps. Silvereyes were the main species with 16 new and a recap, 3 new House Sparrows and a Chaffinch recap made up the rest. The Chaffinch was banded at this site 1 Aug last year.

I have also attempted to catch some more of the Redpolls that are feeding in a large flock in the water retention swale on Awatea Rd with mixed success. Last Sunday I caught just 4 before the flock moved to another feeding area. On Wednesday I was a bit more successful catching 12. This makes a total of 25 banded at the Swale over the last few weeks. The only bycatch was a House Sparrow. I had thought some Goldfinches might have been possible as there are 20+ feeding with the Redpolls.

Most of the birds are drab first year birds but there are a few brightly coloured older males.

 

This bird is more of an Orange poll rather than the usual Redpoll

Awatea Rd Swale - a few Redpolls

While doing a bird count last Sunday I found that there was a large number (100+) of Redpolls feeding in the water retention swale across the road from where I live. On Monday I tried to catch some, erecting 2, 2 Shelf 15m nets in the only bit of shade available. In the first attempt I caught 4, these are the first caught in Christchurch for a long time. After the first attempt I had to abandon catching as a woman with a completely out of control dog came along. It would bark at anything and everything.  It was loose and she couldn't catch it or control it in anyway. Every time she went past me she said "sorry" and carried on.

This morning I had another attempt, managing to catch 5 before a gang of Magpies (at least 7)came along and all small birds disappeared. I am away down South now for the next couple of weeks so I will have to wait until I get back to see if the birds are still around.

All the Redpolls caught and seen appeared to be of the Lesser type.

The first Redpoll I have caught & banded in Canterbury for a long time.

Halswell Quarry Fri 28 Aug - more new Silvereyes

We had a pretty good session at the Quarry Friday morning, when it was mostly calm and sunny. The sun was on the nets at times but I don't think anyone was complaining. We were a small group, Kenny, Ruud and myself along with Ririka a Japanese student learning about banding and NZ birds. We also had visits from Jan and Rod and his daughter visiting from Dunedin.

Even with only 2 nets up (1x12m 1x6m) we were kept busy. We processed a total of 51 birds of 4 species, and all except 2 were new. The majority were Silvereyes with 43 new birds but only 1 recapture. The recap rate is surprising with over 400 banded in the area this year and over 1000 in the last 3 years, where have all the rest gone?
Other species were House Sparrow with 3 new and 1 recap. The recap was banded as a juvenile on 1 Feb 2018 and is now at 939 days from banding our oldest recap of any species. Two Song Thrush and a solitary Blackbird were the others. Very surprised we didn't catch any Finches at all.

Ririka photographing Rudd with "his" Thrush

Ririka about to release the Song Thrush. She is proving to be a delightful young woman to have with us.

And with Kenny and "his" Blackbird

Halswell Quarry - Yellowhammers

Earlier this week it was noticed that a large flock of (100+) birds were feeding on newly sown grass seed on the side of Kennedys Bush Rd. This road is on the western side of the Quarry park. The birds were mostly Yellowhammers and Sparrows but there appeared to be a number of Cirl Buntings as well. One count estimated up to 25 CB's, a really significant number.

It was decided to attempt to see if we could catch a few. On Thursday afternoon Ruud and I set up a net in some bush next to the feeding site to see if it was possible to manage this. We were able to get a net in place but with a moderate southerly wind springing up and the site being in full sun we weren't very successful, catching only 2 Yellowhammers.

Ruud with his first Yellowhammer - looking very pleased.

On Friday morning with much better conditions we again had a go. We had some additional help with Jan, Luke & Andrew arriving. We were able to catch 9 more Yellowhammers before they disappeared. It was then found that they had moved to a new subdivision around the corner on Cashmere Rd where all the road verges had been also newly sown giving the birds a large alternative feeding site.

Ruud & Luke with two of Friday's birds.

Kennedys Bush Rd Thursday 29 July - Ruud's place

A small group had a session in Ruud's garden Thursday morning. This is about 100m from Jan's garden where we have banded over 500 birds in the last 18 months. The session was a good steady one with 79 birds of 5 species processed. There were 74 new and 5 recaptures with the recap rate being much lower than I had expected.

As expected Silvereyes dominated the catch with 54 new and 3 recaps. Two of the recaps were banded at Jan's 13 months ago with the other one banded down in the Quarry near the duck pond one month ago. This poses the question of where the 450 we have banded at Jan's have gone?

House Sparrows  with 16 new and 2 recaps were the next highest species, both recaps were banded at Jan's. Other species were 2 Dunnocks 1 Starling and a Blackbird, all new.

Ruud proved to be an extremely good coffee maker and we were treated to a very good brew, thanks Ruud. We also had the comfort of deck chairs when not busy. 

Today's team Jan, Ruud & Kate.

Halswell Quarry Wed 22 July a good steady morning

We had a session at the Quarry this morning, and with some late additions to the team it proved to be a successful one. I had been expecting a smaller group so hadn't feed as much as normal so was pleased with the result.

Thirty four birds of 6 species were processed with 27 new and 7 recaps. Species caught were (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 1 (0)
Dunnock - 0 (1) it was banded at the same site just over a year ago as a first year bird.

The recap Dunnock now in its second year

House Sparrow - 4 (0)
Chaffinch - 2 (0)
Greenfinch - 1 (0)
Silvereye - 18 (5) as we were using the same net site as recent sessions birds have become a little net shy. Two of the recaps were banded in 2018 the rest more recently.
Bellbird - 2 (1) The recap was banded on our first session after lockdown back in May at a fruiting Arbutus tree about 500m away.

The Bellbird recap about to be released

Ruud with "his" Bellbird proudly displaying his red badge of honour.

Jan's Garden Friday 3rd July - A busy morning

We had a very busy morning at Jan’s on Friday. There were birds almost as thick as hair on a cat’s back. By far the most were Silvereyes . There was also a variety of other species but because there was almost always people at the nets extracting Silvereyes others didn’t get a look in. We only had 2 nets up but in order to cope with the number of Silvereyes flocking into them we had to furl one for quite long periods.

We processed 120 birds, a record number for a session, there were 108 new and 12 recaps. As expected Silvereyes made up the bulk with 105 new and 11 recaptures. The recaps were split about even between birds banded at the session 2 weeks ago and those  from last year, with 2 banded down in the Quarry. The only other species caught were 2 House Sparrows and 1 new and 1 recap Greenfinch. The recap Greenfinch was banded down in the Quarry in the Conservation area near the pond  in Sept last year.

Halswell Quarry, Thu 25 June - a good morning

We had a good session at the Quarry this morning. This was surprising as there was misty drizzle on the drive to the site but stopped when I arrived. Although there was low cloud and a threatening sky further precipitation did not start until we had taken the nets down and were packing up.

We processed 52 birds of 4 species with 32 new and 20 recaps. There was also a large number of multiple catches of already handled birds. The total was dominated by Silvereyes with 25 new and all of the 20 recaps. There were also 4 House Sparrows, 2 Song Thrushes and a solitary Bellbird. The oldest Silvereye recap was banded Dec 2017. This is the first time it has been recaptured and at 931 days is now our oldest bird recaptured of any species at the Quarry. Another 2 were banded in Jan 2018 another 11 were banded during the winter of 2019 and the remainder last week.

Eleanor banding the first Thrush caught, our first for a considerable time.

The second Thrush

Ruud banding the Bellbird

Halswell Quarry - Sat 20 June

We had planned to have a session at the Quarry last Thursday but persistent rain put a stop to that. The rain continued on Friday but appeared to have stopped on Saturday morning. A couple of us decided to give it a go and managed to get a net up for an hour or so before precipitation again started.

By the time we had the single 9m net up there were already half a dozen Silvereyes in it. It was a hectic time with Silvereyes constantly attempting to get caught and even though we set the banding table only a few meters from the net they kept coming. We ended up with a total of 41 birds. 3 new House Sparrows and 34 new Silvereyes and 7 Recaps. There were plenty of other birds about but with someone constantly at the net they didn't have a chance to get in. The oldest recap was banded Jan 2018 and it now our oldest recap at this site.

We caught a Silvereye with what I am calling "Scaly Foot" I am not sure what the cause of this is but hopefully we can find out soon. We have now had about 6 examples of this condition.

Jan's Place Thu. 11 June - a very green and busy morning.

We had a session this morning in Jan & John's garden on the rim of the Halswell Quarry. It was a very busy session from the start with constant stream of birds into the nets.  The total was 101 with 94 new and 3 recap Silvereyes, a new Bellbird and 1 recap; a House Sparrow and a Blackbird both new. All the recaps were banded about a year ago with all except 1 being banded in this garden and the other was banded down in the Conservation area of the Quarry about 1km away.

Todays team. Ruud, Kenny, Jan our hostess, Andrew and Susan during our only break.

Susan who is a Vet has just taken a sample from a Silvereye that had an unusual growth on a foot in the hope of discovering the pathogen causing the problem

The Bellbird recap had a very sharp spike on a primary indicating an old bird. It also had a white covert feather.

Halswell Quarry Thu 28 May - not a bad morning

A small group of us had a session at the Quarry this morning. As we were using the same net site as the last session I did not expect a large catch so was pleasantly surprised to get a bigger number. Caught 20 birds as against 13 last session. There were 18 new and 2 recaptures of 5 species, Silvereyes made up the bulk with 14 new, Blackbird 2 new and 1 recap, 1 each Greenfinch and Bellbird with a recap Dunnock making up the total. Both the recaps were the oldest recaptured at the Quarry, Dunnock 784 days and the Blackbird 588.

Ruud looking very happy with his Bellbird

Kate is all concentration as she bands a Blackbird

Halswell Quarry Thu. 14 May - at last a few birds banded

On Thursday morning a group of keen banders went to the Quarry in quest of a few birds after weeks of prohibitive restrictions. We set nets up next to an Arbutus Tree (Strawberry)with ripe fruit. We anticipated catching Blackbirds which were feeding on the fruit in good numbers. Alas the Blackbirds were mostly too clever for us but we did still catch 14 birds of 7 species with 12 new and 2 recaps.

New birds were - 7 House Sparrows, 2 Bellbirds, and 1 each of Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Dunnock. The 2 recaps were a Silvereye which had been banded in Jan 2018 and is at 536 days our oldest bird of any species. The other was a Blackbird which had been banded as a nestling in Dec 2018 and is the oldest recap of a Blackbird at the Quarry. So in my opinion a couple of good birds.

Most of the team. Left to right Ron our coffee/tea provider and very valued member, Ruud, Susan, Eleanor and our scribe Sandra. Jan had already left before the photo was taken.

Eleanor putting its bling on a Bellbird.

Halswell Quarry Thursday 19 March - A mostly Black morning

We had a session at the Quarry this morning at a new site amongst a group of old pear trees. The trees are probably the remnants of the original orchard and had a large amount of fruit both high in the trees and on the ground. Most of the accessible fruit had been taken by foragers leaving damaged fruit on the ground and those that were high up.
We caught 18 birds of 4 species.  All were new with 1 each of House Sparrow & Goldfinch, 2 Silvereye and 14 Blackbirds. This is the highest number of Blackbirds we have caught in a session, the previous highest was 9.

Ruud and our scribe Sandra "busy" at the table while a Blackbird has its weight checked.

Today's team, Ruud, Jan, Sandra, Kenny, Ron and Andrew.

A bit of Non Banding Trivia.

Nets stored in shopping bags

I have for the last 30 odd years kept my nets in plastic shopping bags but with the anti plastic movement (of which I am one) these have come hard to come by. Now they have been banned in case one might go down the plug hole and make its way to the sea. As this photo shows this is not the situation in some other countries.

Plastic in a canal waiting for the rains to wash it out to sea.

Queenstown, Tue 18 Feb - almost the last session.

We are down in Queenstown at the moment, this will be our last trip here. Our son who owns the property has decided to sell and with the amount he has been offered I can't blame him.

In between packing up gear etc I managed to get a net up this morning with reasonable results. Processed 13 birds of 8 species with 9 new and 4 recaptures.
Species caught were - (Recaps in brackets)
House Sparrow - 0 (1) I also caught about 30 others, mostly unbanded juveniles but did not process them.

I did make another Sparrow recap but while trying to photograph its red bib it escaped and I relaised I had not recorded its number.

Starling -1 (0)

The Starling made an interesting sight having partly completed its moult.

Silvereye 1 (2)
Dunnock - 2 (0) Both were juveniles and had what appears to be Pox lesions. One a small one on its ankle and the other a large one near an eye.

A poxxy Dunnock

Chaffinch - 1 (0)
Goldfinch - 3 (0)
Redpoll - 1 (0)

A Very Old Recovery

I recieved an e-mail from Sandra in the Banding Office this afternoon about a Starling recovery in Wellington. The bird had been found dead in Hornsey Rd only a few 100m's from where I lived and where in had been banded on 9 Sept 2006. Although I haven't got all my data with me it appears that at 4903 days from banding it is by far the oldest recovery we have ever had of any species. I think we have only had one other bird (a Blackbird) over 4000 days and, from memory, it was only just over.

Halswell Quarry 13 Feb - a very quiet morning with one exception.

We had a session at the Quarry this morning and had a very meagre catch. We caught only 8 birds of 4 species with 7 new and 1 recapture, House Sparrow - 3 new and a recap, Greenfinch 2, Chaffinch 1, and the big surprise of a Cirl Bunting. This is possibly the first banded in Canterbury and definitely the first for the Quarry. Cirl Buntings are probably the rarest introduced species in New Zealand. They were introduced about 150 years ago but have never been very common. There are regular sightings in the Quarry area where there seems to be a small but persistent population.

Kate banding our first Cirl Bunting

And having its wing measurement taken.

Halswell Quarry 30 Jan - Finally fitted in a session.

After a lengthy quiet period, mostly due to my absence on other missions, we had a session at the Quarry on Thursday. Although not a big catch, 19 birds was a reasonable number for this time of year.

House Sparrows dominated the total with 9 new and a couple of recaps, both banded in Oct 2018. Other species caught were 3 Chaffinch, 2 Greenfinch, 2 Dunnock and a Blackbird recapture.
We also had a look at a Welcome Swallow nest at a neighboring property which the previous evening had several large chicks in. Unfortunately by the time we got there they had fledged.

The Welcome Swallow nest the previous evening, probably several days too old to be successfully banded.

Photo by Rudd Kleinpastie.

When I got home after the session I had a phone call from Jacki who runs a bird rehab center from her home. She had a juvenile Pied Stilt that was due to be released and she would like it banded before release. After a trip across town the deed was done.

Jacki with the now banded Pied Stilt

Crucible Lake - Rock Wren

Just received some Photos from Rachel Hufton who trained with me down at Queenstown. As well as banding near the head of Lake Wanaka at Makarora where she catches a variety of birds including Brown Creeper, she has started a colour banding project of Rock Wren in the Crucible Lake area. This is to asses their breeding success and the effectiveness of predator control being carried out in the area.

Rock Wren are New Zealand's only truly alpine species of bird, the other contender the Kea, spends a lot of time at lower altitudes, even down to sea level. Where Rock Wren spend the winter is still not fully understood, possibly in partial hibernation or surviving in rocks under the snow.

This is not a banded Rock Wren but one with a anklet of skin.

This is a colour banded one.

This bird has some damage to its top mandible. The lower one is continuing to grow, possibly due to the lack of wear from constant friction from the missing top bit.

When Rachel was there recently the usually pristine white ice on the Lake was coloured by ash from the Australian bush fires.

The normally pristine Crucible Lake discoloured by Australian ash.

All photos Rachel Hufton