Tuesday 20 Sept - A yellow morning and a new Banding Office newsletter

On Tuesday morning Ruud and I set up a couple of nets in the Halswell Domain with the hope of catching some of the Yellowhammers that are currently feeding there. On Monday while doing a bird count in the Domain I discovered that there was a couple of large flocks of Yellowhammers with some Finches feeding on a couple of playing fields there. Ruud and I jacked up a sort of plan about 10pm on Monday evening. Of course, the plan didn't work as the birds were feeding in a different area. The morning proved to be a great one for banding, overcast and calm so we went ahead and erected the nets. It was then a matter of driving the birds gently towards the nets.

Over the last few years we have tried to catch Yellowhammers feeding at this time of year with very limited success, The biggest catch has been 5 so we were very pleased to catch 15 birds, all yellowhammers. Due to the number of dog walkers the flocks were constantly being moved around, this meant we had a lot of walking and some frustrating drives.

I have difficulty aging and sexing Yellowhammers as they seem to be such a diverse lot both in colour and pattern of colour, especially of the head. Amongst the birds caught were bright yellow, pale yellow almost cream and very brown, almost sparrow like.

Ruud looking very happy after banding the first bird of the day.

Still being a L1 Trainee Ruud had the task of banding all the birds. 

A very Brown bird, presumably a late fledged one.

The latest Banding Office Newsletter.

I have recently received the latest Banding Office newsletter and it's well worth a read. We even get a small mention. Below is a link to it.

 

In the 18^th edition of BirDBanD you will find information regarding bird flu, stories about a banded Banded Dotterel and a banded Banded Rail, the first rule about bird banding, and Kākerōri having a reason to party!

A Harrier Banding Update.

 In the last few weeks Phil and I have been attempting to trap and band some more Harriers. We have had mixed results with most days no birds but have also had some success. We have had traps set on the farm at our Cashmere Rd banding site and at Phil's place at Motukarara. At Cashmere Rd we have banded 3 birds, an old male and 2 young females.

The older of the two females with eyes going yellow

The younger female still with brown eyes.

The old male with pale yellow eyes.

Phil holding the male.

The total at Motukarara is 4 with 2 old males and 1 younger and an older female. 

Phil proudly holding the first Harrier banded on his property.

The first bird with pale yellow eyes of an old fella.

 

The young female with brown eyes.

We have now colour banded over 20 Harriers in the Canterbury region, mostly in the Ellesmere area as well as the Cashmere Rd and at Motukarara so if you are in these areas please keep an eye out for banded birds. They are out there somewhere. Our birds have a metal band on the right and a red band with a 3-digit number in white on the left.