Some Banding this week - Silvereyes at Jan's & Redpolls at the Awatea Swale.

 We had a session at Jan's place next to the Halswell Quarry yesterday, 17 Sept with very marginal conditions. There was a strong gusty westerly blowing and although we put nets up out of the worst of the wind, gusts would still catch them at times. There had also been a very marked drop off of bird numbers during the week due to the warm weather with birds dispersing to their spring haunts.

We processed 21 birds which was better than I had expected considering the conditions,. There were 19 new with 2 recaps. Silvereyes were the main species with 16 new and a recap, 3 new House Sparrows and a Chaffinch recap made up the rest. The Chaffinch was banded at this site 1 Aug last year.

I have also attempted to catch some more of the Redpolls that are feeding in a large flock in the water retention swale on Awatea Rd with mixed success. Last Sunday I caught just 4 before the flock moved to another feeding area. On Wednesday I was a bit more successful catching 12. This makes a total of 25 banded at the Swale over the last few weeks. The only bycatch was a House Sparrow. I had thought some Goldfinches might have been possible as there are 20+ feeding with the Redpolls.

Most of the birds are drab first year birds but there are a few brightly coloured older males.

 

This bird is more of an Orange poll rather than the usual Redpoll

Awatea Rd Swale - a few Redpolls

While doing a bird count last Sunday I found that there was a large number (100+) of Redpolls feeding in the water retention swale across the road from where I live. On Monday I tried to catch some, erecting 2, 2 Shelf 15m nets in the only bit of shade available. In the first attempt I caught 4, these are the first caught in Christchurch for a long time. After the first attempt I had to abandon catching as a woman with a completely out of control dog came along. It would bark at anything and everything.  It was loose and she couldn't catch it or control it in anyway. Every time she went past me she said "sorry" and carried on.

This morning I had another attempt, managing to catch 5 before a gang of Magpies (at least 7)came along and all small birds disappeared. I am away down South now for the next couple of weeks so I will have to wait until I get back to see if the birds are still around.

All the Redpolls caught and seen appeared to be of the Lesser type.

The first Redpoll I have caught & banded in Canterbury for a long time.

Queenstown Wed 27 Dec - Chaffinch & Redpoll

I had two totally different banding sessions yesterday. In the morning I caught Chaffinch in the neighbour's hen house and in the afternoon I set a couple of nets up at the stream at the bottom of the property.

AM - Hen House

Caught 17 Chaffinch, 4 new and 13 recaps. There were also about 40, mostly juvenile House Sparrows but I avoided catching them as I will probably run out of BP bands if I was to band them all. Of the recaps 3, AP 18306, 08, 09 were originally banded on the first day of banding here so at 837 days from banding they are the oldest birds of any species caught here. They beat the Blackbird caught on Tuesday by a day.

PM - Stream

The afternoon catch was a total contrast, 52 birds of 11 species with 47 new and just 4 recaptures. The 11 species in one session is I think the highest number caught down here although several species were only represented by 1 or 2 individuals.
Species caught were - (Recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 1 (0)
Song Thrush - 1 (0) a newly fledged juv.
Redpoll 16 (0) surprised not to recapture any of the 400 or so birds banded at this site over the last few years.

Several of the male Redpols are very well coloured while others have only a reddish wash.

One of the Redpolls was actually an Orange Poll

Goldfinch - 2 (0)
Chaffinch - 1 (0)
Greenfinch - 1 (0)
Yellowhammer - 2 (0)

Both Yellowhammers were females

Dunnock - 1 (1)
House Sparrow - 0 (2)
Silvereye - 2 (0) One of the birds appeared to have had a broken tarsus that had healed well but slightly out of alignment.

The broken leg now healed

Tui 0 (1) the same bird as recaptured on Tuesday about 500m away.

Queenstown 20 Feb - A few more Redpolls

I had another short session at the Stream yesterday afternoon. A lot less birds about, possibly due to sun on the net making it more visable. Caught another 20 new Redpolls and had a bycatch of 3, 1 new Silvereye and a new House Sparrow and a recap. The recap was banded on the second day of banding here 13 Sept 2015 so it is now the oldest recap of any species caught here. One of the redpolls was missing the lower right leg and foot. It appeared to be healthy but with a weight of 11g it was at the lower end of the range.

With a very well healed wound not sure if it is an injury or perhaps it was hatched like that?

I understand that the "Birdie Boffins"in the UK and Europe are as from 1 Jan 2018 going to re-merge the Lesser and Common Redpolls leaving only two types, the Common and the Arctic. This will at least help with deciding which is the one in New Zealand. Or will it?

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.

Queenstown - A new species for the site

I have been back here for a week or so but didn't do any banding for the first few days due to very welcome rain, then some windy days. I have now managed to get some banding in over the last 3 days. On Monday I put a 6m net up at the stream to see if birds were still coming after the rain. I had to furl the net after about half an hour as I couldn't cope with the numbers. Caught 33 birds, almost all Redpolls.
On Tuesday I put a double 12 m rig up at our neighbours next to some elder bushes that are laden with berries. Not a big catch with 17 birds but at least a bit of variety. Yesterday, Wednesday, I went back to the stream and caught another 32 birds with again the majority being Redpolls. However one of the Fantails that have been avoiding the nets over the last few weeks made a mistake and was caught. The first one banded down here and the first South Is. Fantail that I have banded for about 25 years.

Totals for the three days were -
Blackbird - 1 (0)
Dunnock - 4 (0)
House Sparrow - 2 (2)
Chaffinch - 3 (2) one of the recaps was banded in the first week of banding down here and is now the oldest recap.

The old Chaffinch - but still probably only a young bird.

Greenfinch - 2 (0)
Goldfinch - 1 (0)
Silvereye - 3 (0)
Starling - 2 (0)

Starlings have almost finished their moult and have now got their spotted winter garb.

Fantail - 1 (0) Back in the Spring there appeared to be only a pair of Fantail on the property but they have bred well and there is now a large number of young birds about.
Redpoll - 54 (5) one of new birds was a very pale coloured juvenile with well above average wing and weight. There is a theory that a few Mealy/Arctic Redpolls were introduced with the original Lesser perhaps this bird caries some of their genes?

The pale Redpoll - a poor photo, (I was a bit rushed at the time)

Island Bay 23 March - Lots of Sparrows & a new species

Ros and I had a busy morning at Island Bay catching 95 birds of 8 species with 88 new and 7 recaptures. The highlight of the morning was a single bird of a new species for the site, a juvenile Redpoll. We have been banding there since Feb 2007 and as far as I know this is the first Redpoll seen there let alone caught.

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 1 (3) the new bird had a wing length of 140 mm which is the longest we have recorded with the previous being 137 mm. The bird has finished its primary moult so was aged as a 2+.

The wing of the long winged Blackbird

One of the recaps banded as a spotty youngster a couple of months ago and now nearly finished its body moult

Dunnock - 3 (0)
Chaffinch - 3 (0)
Redpoll - 1 (0) Redpolls are regular Winter visitors to Wellington City, feeding on annual, winter seeding grasses on playing fields but are rarely seen over Summer and Autumn  We haven't caught one at the Zoo in the 12 years we have been banding there.

The Redpoll about to go on its way.

House Sparrow - 77 (4) still a huge number of Sparrows at this site with some recently fledged. Two of the recaps were banded recently and the other two last year.

Male Sparrows show a wide range of moulting

Grey Warbler - 1 (0)
Fantail - 1 (0)
Silvereye - 1 (0)

As usual we were treated to great hospitality including a delicious morning tea (actually coffee)

The morning tea spread.