Yesterday, 27 Feb we had a session in a Vineyard, where I hoped we would catch some larger birds such as Thrushes and Starlings. This had a twofold purpose, to give some of the trainees practice with banding larger birds as we don't catch many, and to give Chris who in his other life is a scientist with LandCare Research at Lincoln, some targets to collect blood from. He wanted Blackbirds & Song Thrushes to sample for Avian Malaria as part of a study into whether these species carry this pathogen and possibly spread it to vulnerable native species esp. Yellow Eyed Penguins.
Although the catch wasn't as big as I hoped for, we did get some of the target species. No Starlings but 10 Blackbirds and 4 Song Thrushes so Chris was happy to get some samples. The only other birds caught were 2 Silvereyes and a solitary Goldfinch. Interestingly, all Thrushes and Blackbirds were aged as first year birds, apart from 1 Blackbird.
The rows of Grape Vines have recently been covered with protective netting to prevent birds from pecking the ripening grapes. This seems to have been effective as bird numbers have dropped since the netting has been put on.
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| Chris collecting one of the samples. |
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| Vanessa banding one of the Thrushes. |
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| Alice and Kenny busy at the banding table while Steph brings in another bird. |
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