Halswell Quarry Wed 23 Nov - A good morning and some old birds.

 A small group of us had a session in the middle car park area of the Quarry this morning. There was Laura and I both L3 banders, later we were joined by Andrew a L2 and also Jan before and after an appointment she had. With the experienced personnel my morning was made much easier. There was a steady flow of birds although it did slow down mid-morning. In all 31 birds of 6 species were processed with 23 birds of 4 species banded and 8 recaps of 4 species made.

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)

Blackbird - 0 (1) a bit disappointing with breeding appearing to be late with no juveniles about. The bird we did catch is the oldest bird we have recaptured. Banded 25 May 2018 it is now at 1643 days from banding

Silvereye - 0 (2) very unusual to get 2 recaps and no new birds.

The Silvereys had obviously been feeding on flowering Flax.

Greenfinch - 2 (0)

Chaffinch - 2 (0)

One of the Chaffinch gave Laura a fond farewell nip. It had an extremely tatty tail for some reason.

Dunnock - 1 (1)

House Sparrow - 18 (4) Included in the recaps was one banded 7 June 2018 which is now at 1643 days from banding our oldest House Sparrow recaptured. Another banded 23 Sept 2018 is not far behind at 1539 days.

Although having been worn for several years the bands on the Sparrows were still in good condition.

We have also received notification from the Banding Office of a recovery of a House Sparrow at the Quarry. It had been banded March 2019. For all 3 of these older Sparrows it was our first encounter since they were banded.

Recent banding - Four little Owls in Rehab and a few other birds

 We haven't done much banding mainly because of some health issues I have had. On Wednesday Phil and I banded 4 Little Owls that are in rehab at the Wildlife Hospital. These birds have made good progress towards better health and all going well will be released soon, if possible, back into the area where they were found. Pauline who is the head Vet at the Hospital also took the opportunity of starting her banding training.

Phil banding the first bird of the day while it is being controlled by Pauline.

Pauline banding her first Little Owl, a bird that was rescued from a cat here in Halswell.

This little chap has unfortunately lost an eye probably in an encounter with a Magpie.

As it has made very good progress with feeding itself it is, hopefully still going to be released.

Amazingly this newly fledged youngster was found in the very busy car park at "The Hub" in Hornby.


Pauline also has this little fellow under her care. She has cared for it since it was laid as an egg. Its mother was caught by a dog when a farmer was clearing a pile of wood. The farmer took her to the Hospital thinking it was a young bird. It was then found to be a female which duly laid an egg. Pauline has not only hatched it but continues to feed and care for it. It is now 6 days old. Amazingly the mother proved to be uninjured and was released.

Other birds caught recently were 2 new Harriers caught by Phil at his property in Motukara and a recap of a bird banded there about a month ago.

We have also banded 6 Starling puli, all from little Owl boxes that have been commandeered.