We haven't had any major banding sessions so far this year but have nevertheless banded a few birds.
About 10 days ago Ruud and I banded 3 Kingfisher puli in a nest at Living Springs near Governers Bay. This is at least a month later than we have banded nestling Kingfishers before.
Last Thursday Ruud and I went to the South Island Wildlife Hospital at Willowbank to band some rehabilitated birds before their release. We banded 7 Little Owls and 4 Kingfishers. Most of the birds of both species seemed to have received their injuries from either having an accident on a road or flying into a window. The exception to this was two juvenile Little Owls that had been blown out of their tree.
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| Pauline the Vet and Manager at the Hospital banding one of the Kingfishers. |
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| Ruud banding one of the Little Owls. |
I recently banded a juvenile Black-fronted Tern that had been raised from a very small chick. It had been picked up in the Waimakariri Riverbed by a well-meaning man, who, because there was no sign of its parents taken it home. He ignored advice from DOC to return it and it eventually ended up with Jackie a bird rescue lady who raised it on whitebait until it was ready to fly. It was then taken to Orana Park and put into a flight aviary, which is where I banded it. A few days later it was released on the Ashley River in an area where there was a flock of Black-fronted Terns, including other juveniles. Despite the fact that it was habituated to humans the release appears to have been successful.
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| The bird the day after its release when it was roosting with its compatriots. |
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| Its first flight doing a circuit of the area. |
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| Showing off its bands. |
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| Freshly banded. |
A few days ago a photo was attached to an E Bird report of a Little Owl with a metal leg band. The photo was taken near Rangiora at a site where we had banded a brood of Little Owls and it is almost certainly one of these youngsters. It is good to know that it is surviving and interesting that it has not moved far from home.
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| Unfortunately can't read the number but the band is definitely there. |
Over the last few weeks we have made several attempts to catch and band Harriers. These have had only limited success with only three birds banded. Two were at Phil's place at Motukarara and the other out at Lakeside.
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| The last Harrier we have banded. A young female. |
