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.