We had a session at the Quarry this morning. Initially there was fairly good conditions, maybe a little too much wind but the net sites were sheltered. For the first 1 1/2 hours we were inundated with silvereyes with all hands to the nets and then the banding table. Unfortunately just as things were steadying down it started to rain. This was totally not in the forecast so, hoping the rain would stop, the nets were furled and we waited for it to blow over. After a half an hour we decided to take the nets down. Just as we finished this task of course the rain stopped and the sun started to appear. But with sodden nets we decided to call it a day and head home for a coffee.
The site we used was a new one in the Conservation Area of the Park about 200m from one that is regularly used. The total number of birds processed was 46 with 41 new and 5 recaps. All but 3 of the birds were Silvereyes with the others being a recap Greenfinch and a new House Sparrow and Dunnock. I suspect that the reason that there was so little variety was that people were constantly at the nets extracting Silvereyes with more wary species staying well away. If the rain hadn't arrived I am sure there would have been more variety caught as the Silvereye rush was starting to abate.
All the recaps were banded at a nearby site, 3 in the session a fortnight ago. One of the others was banded last year and the last one recaptured was a Silvereye banded in 2019.
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| Most of the team at work. Left to right, Steph, Chris, Phil and Annemieke adding a little colour to otherwise a drab lot. Not in the picture are the photographer and Jan who was busy as usual. |
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| Annemieke and Steph busy extracting birds. |
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