Queenstown - several days banding.

We have been down here at Littles Road Dalefield for several days and I have attempted to do banding with very mixed sucess. Rebbeca (Bex) came up from Te Anau at the weekend and we had a session at the stream Sat afternoon which was pretty slow only catching 9 birds. She came here on Sun morning with even less sucess we didn't catch a bird untill after she left when I caught a few. On Monday I had another session at the stream but it was curtailed when it started to rain. This morning (Tuesday) Hayley came to try her skills and with the same setup as we had on Sunday. We caught heaps although of  very little variety with almost all being juvenile House Sparrows.
This evening I set a net up near the house with the hope of catching something differant. Initially it was again Sparrows althugh there was a very old one which was good. Then my Grandson Tom flushed a covey of Californian Quail into the net with me having failed miserably earlier. Of the 12 or so in the covey we caught and banded 8 including an adult Male and Female the rest being juveniles.

The combined totals for the period is (recaps in brackets)
Goldfinch - 6 (0) all caught at the stream.

Bex banding one of the Goldfinch.

Greenfinch - 2 (0)
Redpoll - 1 (0) the first for a while.
Silvereye - 1 (0)
House Sparrow - 39 (6) mostly juveniles but included a bird banded a couple of weeks after we started banding here. It is now at 1238 days from banding our oldest recap of any species recaptured here.

Several of the juvenile Sparrows had very pronounced growth bands

Dunnock - 2 (2)
Californian Quail - 8 (0) by far the biggest catch far exceding the 3 caught in the past.

The Male Quail on left, female on right

One of the juvenile Quail.

Queenstown - The last session for the year

No banding today but I had nets up yesterday morning and managed to catch 28 birds of 6 species. Fourteen were new and fourteen recaps. Amongst those caught were several starting to moult their primary wing feathers which was a bit of a surprise.

Birds caught were -
Blackbird - 0 (1) this bird was banded on the third day banding here and was the oldest bird recaptured for about an hour.
Song Thrush - 1 (0) a bird starting to moult.

The Thrush was moulting the right wing out of the usual order, although the left was in the ususl sequence.

Chaffinch - 3 (1)
Redpoll - 0 (1) a female banded as an unsexed juvenile back at the begining of March, now starting to moult, but still surprisingly has a prominant brood patch.

The Redpolls moulting right wing.

House Sparrow - 9 (11) a number of juveniles starting to moult but no older birds. One of the recaps was banded on the first day of banding here and is now the oldest bird recaptured here.

One of the moulting H Sparrows

Tui - 0 (1)
Califoronian Quail - 1 (0) the third banded here and the first male.

The male Cal Quail - a real handsome dude.

I wish you all the best for the new year. For me 2016 has been an interesting and enjoyable year and I look forward to 2017.

Island Bay Monday 10 Nov - A new species for the Group

Annette and I had a pretty good session at Island Bay this morning. We had surprisingly good conditions as the forecast for a strong northerly did not eventuate.  Perhaps a bit much sun but not complaining. Our catch was affected by not being able to use our usual net site due to a Blackbird putting her nest in the wrong place but we managed with a new configuration.

We caught 55 birds of 8 species with 43 new and 12 recaps. Species were - (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 13 (4) among the recaps was a bird described as having been scalped when banded in Dec 2012, it now appears to be normal.

The "Scalped" Blackbird as it was as a juvenile in Dec 2012

One of the Male Blackbirds had a sprinkling of white feathers on it's head

Dunnock - 0 (1)
Starling - 1 (0)
House Sparrow - 24 (5) there were 2 juveniles among the catch the first for the year.

The first juvenile Sparrow banded this spring.

Silvereye - 1 (1) When I arrived home there was an e-mail from the Banding Office with a report of a recovery of a Silvereye banded in July 2005 at 3406 days from banding it is our 5th oldest Silvereye.
Fantail - 1 (0)
Tui - 2 (1) A colour banded Tui was also seen it was banded in Feb 2009
Californian Quail - 1 (0) as far as I am aware this in the first banded by the Group. Technically it wasn't ours as it is not on our permit. It is classified as a Game Bird and comes under the umbrella of Fish and Game. Fortunately I have an arrangement with them and it was able to be banded under their permit.

Our first Californian Quail - a very handsome Dude!