Cashmere Rd Thu 6 Jan - the rain came but the birds forgot

We had a session at the Cashmere Rd site Thursday morning. A week ago there was a huge flock of birds, mostly Starling, Blackbird & Song Thrush feeding on plums on several large trees. Unfortunately by the time we got over the New Year and subsequent holidays the birds had departed and we had a very poor catch rate. We only caught two birds a Blackbird and a Song Thrush, before it started to rain. We were packed up and on our way home by 10am.

It looks like the Blackbird had a close encounter with a predator as it was replacing four feathers on the right side of its tail.

The only highlight of the morning was that Rudd on his bike ride home spotted a dead Starling on the side of Cashmere Rd. Being a good birdman he checked it out and found that it was banded. The bird had been banded at the Halswell Quarry last September, so not very long and at about 1km not a great distance but still a good record.

Last Tuesday we did some more Pulus banding. We banded 3 more Kingfisher chicks from a nest in a retaining bank below the workshop in the Quarry and 3 Welcome Swallow chicks from an old concrete bunker behind the workshop.

The three Kingfisher youngsters. A much more even sized brood than the one last month.

Jan with her arm in the Kingfisher hole. Reminds me about a song about a Woodpecker hole

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One of the Welcome Swallow chicks

No recent Banding Sessions but some Pulus have new bling

 Although we have not had any organized sessions recently we have managed to band a number of youngsters.

Little Owl - Two banded in a nest box at the Cashmere Rd site These were eggs when we banded their mother a month or so ago.

One of the Little Owls held by a very Happy Bloke.

Starling - Three youngsters banded in a neighbour's nest box. They fledged on Christmas Eve, the second brood from this box this year.

Kingfisher - A brood of five banded at a property across the road from the Halswell Quarry. They also have fledged.

There was a huge difference in the development of the Kingfisher chicks, from well feathered to only just bandable.

Redpoll - Four were banded this morning at the Quaifers Rd Wetland.

Halswell Quarry, Japanese Garden - Thu 9 Dec

 On Thursday we had another session at the Quarry amongst the cherry trees in the Japanese Garden. This is the same site we were at last week which is not always a good idea as there is usually a drop in numbers in the second week. But as most of the fruit is now consumed we thought we would try.

We had a group of school children come and have their lunch near us and they showed a lot of interest in what we were doing.

Ruud doing what he likes best, Entertaining & Educating kids

It was a reasonably successful morning with 24 birds of 6 species processed, 20 were new with 4 recaps.

Species caught were -

Blackbird - 3 (1) a big drop from last week indicating that Blackbirds might not be as stupid as we think.

House Sparrow - 10 (2) a bit of an increase probably due to some wheat being scattered around in the previous few day, One of the recaps was banded Oct 2018, so a reasonable age.

Our first juvenile Sparrow for this spring/summer.

Greenfinch - 3 (0)

Silvereye - 2 (1) the recap was banded last week.

Song Thrush - 1 (0)

Dunnock - 1 (0)

Fantail - 1 (0) this was colour banded by Laura as part of one of her studies.

The Fantail getting its bling

The fantail with its bling plus a little royal purple

Halswell Quarry Thu 2 Dec - A wet start then some good banding.

 We had a session planned at the Quarry this morning to try to catch birds feeding on small cherries that have formed on flowering cherry trees in the Japanese Garden section. Upon sticking my head out the door found, contrary to the forecast, it was raining steadily. When I arrived at the Quarry it was still raining, not hard but too hard for mist netting. A few others had also arrived so we decided to check some nest boxes, and banded 3 young Starlings in one so it wasn't a complete waste of time. While standing around talking the weather decided to clear up. Up went some nets and we were underway an hour and a half later than planned.

In the next couple of hours we processed  32 birds of 8 species with 26 new and 6 recaptures.

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)

Blackbird - 9 (4) the first 2 caught both had pox on their legs which is in my experience unusual in Blackbirds. One also had a crusty/scabby area on its belly around the vent and I am not sure what is was. These 2 were the only birds caught with any problems.

The Blackbird with the large Pox on its leg.

The one with a small pox and a crusty bottom.

Song Thrush - 1

Dunnock - 1

House Sparrow - 6 (2)  one of the recaps was banded April 2018 and is now the oldest Sparrow we have recaptured. It was banded only about 100m from where it was recaptured.  In contrast the other recap was banded at Ruud's place about 1km away.

Greenfinch - 2

Goldfinch - 3

Two of the Goldfinch, probably a pair. Caught together and banded in a short ceremony.

Silvereye - 1

as well as the 3 Starling nestlings from the nest box.

A Little Owl in a box and a few others.

 A bit of a late post I am afraid as our internet was out for a couple of days. On Tuesday, 23 Nov Ruud and I checked out some of the Little Owl nest boxes we have erected during the last six months. The first one we checked had a Starling's nest with 3 bandable chicks which were duly given some bling. The next was empty except for the possible start of a nest, again probably Starling. This box was the original one that we banded a couple of chicks in last year. But the third was occupied by Mrs Owl well I presume it was female as all the books say it should be. But then again not sure that Owls read about what Owls should be doing. She was sitting on two fresh looking eggs, as we had checked this box a couple of weeks ago and found it empty this was a bit of a pleasant surprise. This is the first box of the eight boxes we have erected that has been occupied by an owl. She was duly banded and returned to her duties.

A rather startled looking Little Owl

A vey happy chappy with a rather bemused looking bird.

Photos courtesy of Ruud, "the Bug Man"

 

We later visited a nursery where we had banded a brood of Welcome Swallows last year. Although they had moved the nest position it had a couple of large chicks which we duly banded.

All in all a couple of successful hours.

Halswell Quarry Fri 5 Nov - Another pleasant morning at the Quarry

 We had a session at the Quarry this morning. The nets were put up at a new site which is several hundred meters from previous sites. Jan suggested this area and although I had some misgivings we gave it a go. We ended up with 24 birds of 6 species processed with 17 new and 5 recaptures. The number of recaptures was a pleasant surprise and it shows the benefit of nets in a new position.

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)

House Sparrow - 9 (0) the first 5 were Males and then we got a couple of girls.

Coralie displaying one of her boys.

Blackbird - 4 (1) all the new birds were Juveniles but the recap was an old girl, banded in May 2018 it is now at 1260 days from banding our oldest Blackbird.

The old Blackbird

Starling - 1 (0)

Song Thrush - 1 (0)

Dunnock - 1 (1)

Silvereye - 1 (3) one of the recaps was banded Feb 2018 and is at 1373 days from banding our oldest recap of any species.

Hazel & Ruud sharing a joke - perhaps about the size of their birds?

Cashmere Rd Thu 21 Oct. - A quiet but enjoyable session.

 We had a session at our Cashmere road site this morning, I hadn't expected to catch a lot of birds which was the case. With only 10 birds processed it was fewer than I had thought, but with 6 species at least there was a bit of variety. All birds were new except for a Blackbird recap that had been banded a couple of months ago.

New birds were - 1 each of Silvereye and Chaffinch, 3 House Sparrows, 2 Starlings and 2 Goldfinch, the first we have caught for some time. 

Vanessa was able to band her first ever Chaffinch and Goldfinch. which made her day.