Tuesday 20 Sept - A yellow morning and a new Banding Office newsletter

On Tuesday morning Ruud and I set up a couple of nets in the Halswell Domain with the hope of catching some of the Yellowhammers that are currently feeding there. On Monday while doing a bird count in the Domain I discovered that there was a couple of large flocks of Yellowhammers with some Finches feeding on a couple of playing fields there. Ruud and I jacked up a sort of plan about 10pm on Monday evening. Of course, the plan didn't work as the birds were feeding in a different area. The morning proved to be a great one for banding, overcast and calm so we went ahead and erected the nets. It was then a matter of driving the birds gently towards the nets.

Over the last few years we have tried to catch Yellowhammers feeding at this time of year with very limited success, The biggest catch has been 5 so we were very pleased to catch 15 birds, all yellowhammers. Due to the number of dog walkers the flocks were constantly being moved around, this meant we had a lot of walking and some frustrating drives.

I have difficulty aging and sexing Yellowhammers as they seem to be such a diverse lot both in colour and pattern of colour, especially of the head. Amongst the birds caught were bright yellow, pale yellow almost cream and very brown, almost sparrow like.

Ruud looking very happy after banding the first bird of the day.

Still being a L1 Trainee Ruud had the task of banding all the birds. 

A very Brown bird, presumably a late fledged one.

The latest Banding Office Newsletter.

I have recently received the latest Banding Office newsletter and it's well worth a read. We even get a small mention. Below is a link to it.

 

In the 18^th edition of BirDBanD you will find information regarding bird flu, stories about a banded Banded Dotterel and a banded Banded Rail, the first rule about bird banding, and Kākerōri having a reason to party!

Halswell Quarry - Yellowhammers

Earlier this week it was noticed that a large flock of (100+) birds were feeding on newly sown grass seed on the side of Kennedys Bush Rd. This road is on the western side of the Quarry park. The birds were mostly Yellowhammers and Sparrows but there appeared to be a number of Cirl Buntings as well. One count estimated up to 25 CB's, a really significant number.

It was decided to attempt to see if we could catch a few. On Thursday afternoon Ruud and I set up a net in some bush next to the feeding site to see if it was possible to manage this. We were able to get a net in place but with a moderate southerly wind springing up and the site being in full sun we weren't very successful, catching only 2 Yellowhammers.

Ruud with his first Yellowhammer - looking very pleased.

On Friday morning with much better conditions we again had a go. We had some additional help with Jan, Luke & Andrew arriving. We were able to catch 9 more Yellowhammers before they disappeared. It was then found that they had moved to a new subdivision around the corner on Cashmere Rd where all the road verges had been also newly sown giving the birds a large alternative feeding site.

Ruud & Luke with two of Friday's birds.

Queenstown - recent banding

We have had two sessions here since the last post. On Thursday 20th I had nets up at a new site and caught 38 birds of 5 species with 23 new and 15 recaps. The highlight of the day was a couple of old recaptures. Yesterday, 23rd Rachel came over from Hawea for the day, we caught 58 birds of 6 species with 42 new and 16 recaps. A record number of Yellowhammers being the highlight as well as capturing 2 female Bellbirds.

The combined totals of the two days was - (recaptures in brackets)
Silvereye - 23 (16)
House Sparrow - 11 (2)
Chaffinch - 11 (1) the recap had been banded on the first day of banding here, 12 Sept 2015 so is now the oldest bird recaptured of any species.
Yellowhammer - 10 (1) all caught on the 23rd and is the highest total for a single days banding here.

Photo Rachel Hufton

The Yellowhammers come in a multitude of facial patterns. Photo Rachel Hufton

Tui - 6 (2) most of the new birds were first year females.
Bellbird - 3 (7) including 1 new and a recap female. One of the new males had all 3 front claws missing and had obviosly recieved some trauma to its right leg.

The new female Bellbird

The munted foot and leg of the male Bellbird. Photo Rachel Hufton

Song Thrush - 1 (1) the recap was banded Dec 2015 and is the oldest recaptured Song Thrush This is the first time it has been caught since being banded.
Dunnock - 0 (1)

A new site, Moorhill Rd - a lot of Yellow

I had a session at a new site this afternoon. It is the property of a Lady who returned a band from a dead sparrow and is about 1.5km from my main site near Queenstown. She has heaps of small birds feeding on left over chook food. She feeds her small flock of multicoloured hens and an old rooster called Roger on the driveway.

The hens are an interesting collection

She normally feeds the hens about 4pm and the birds arrive almost instantly. I set up one net about 3.30 and waited but not for long. Banded 30 birds of 3 species also caught a number of House Sparrows but did not band them. Banded 2 Chaffinch, 8 Dunnocks and a masive 18 Yellowhammers. Also recaptured a banded House Sparrow that had been banded at the main site back in January as a newly fledged juvinile.

A couple of the Yellow fellows

Zoo Stream Wed 19 Nov - Yet another old bird

I put up a couple of nets this afternoon at the little stream over the fence from the Zoo. I didn't stay very long as the catch rate was slow and then with sun coming onto the nets it got slower. Managed to catch 16 birds of 6 species with 12 new and 4 recaps.
Chaffinch - 1 (0)
Goldfinch - 3 (1) included was the first juvenile Finch for the year

The Juvenile Goldfinch with a bird possibly its father.

One bird had retained 3 juvenile outer primaries, something I don't see very often.

Greenfinch - 5 (2) both the recaps had been banded here at Hornsey Rd, 1 in 2013 and 1 in 2012.
House Sparrow - 1 (0)
Silvereye - 2 (0)
Yellowhammer - 0 (1) A bird banded at Newtown Park over the fence on the other side of the Zoo on 19 July 2009. At 1949 days it is now the oldest Yellowhammer recaptured at any site by the Group, beating the old record of 1114 days by a considerable margin. It is the first Yellowhammer we have caught in the Zoo area this year and the first one ever at this time of the year, normally they are winter visitors but perhaps there is a small breeding population in the area.

The "Old" Bird

 This makes three species that we have recorded our oldest recaptures during the last couple of weeks.

Newtown Park Monday 4 June - Yellowhammers

The Yellowhammers that were in Houghton Valley appear to have moved to Newtown Park about 1 k away. There seems to be about the same number of birds but my count the other day was interupted by a Falcon that caught one and put the others to flight.

Went down this morning  and put up a couple of nets and managed to catch 20 plus a couple of Goldfinch and a Greenfinch. Had hoped to get a recap or two but no luck.

A bird in the hand - a nicely coloured male

A bird in the net - another male

Not sure how long they will stay in the area as there were two Falcons there this morning.