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.