Houghton Bay 12 December

I spent a bit of time this afternoon at the Houghton Bay stream.  I had tried to con a couple of people to come along as well but, no takers. Was late getting there as I had to wait for a serviceman to come and fix a stove so was very happy to catch 41 birds of 8 species. There were 34 new birds and 7 recaptures.

Species caught -
Dunnock - 1 (0)
Greenfinch - 2 (0)
Goldfinch - 3 (0) 2 were juveniles the first for this spring.

The first Goldfinch Juvenile.

House Sparrow - 2 (0)
Silvereye - 22 (6) the oldest was banded April 09 all the rest in 2011.
Grey Warbler - 0 (1) a bird banded as an adult in April 2010.
Fantail - 2 (0) both were juveniles

Juvenile Fantail showing their usual defiance.

Tui - 2 (0) also both juveniles

Island Bay Saturday 8 Dec - some old birds.

Annette, Ros, David and I had a very successful session this morning. We had very good conditions with the forecast showers not eventuating and the southerly wind dying away. In all we caught 117 birds of 8 species with 106 new and 11 recaptures. 1 of the recaps is in the wait and see basket with a number that does not seem to be one of ours. The number of recaps was lower than I had hoped for but does include a few good ones.

Species caught were (recaps in brackets)

Blackbird – 18 (0) all but 2 were juveniles with the other 2 being 1 year old. One of the young birds had a nasty wound on the back of its head. It was starting to heal and looked to have occurred several days ago. 

The wound on the back of a juvenile Blackbird's head

Chaffinch – 3 (0)

Greenfinch – 2 (0)

Dunnock 3 (0) all juvs.

House Sparrow – 73 (8) one of the recaps was banded 24 Feb 2007 on our first banding day at this site and was the first Sparrow banded; not sure if it was the first bird but it is highly likely. It is now at 2114 days the oldest bird of any species banded and recaptured there. There was one Sparrow caught with a number recorded that is not in our data base so I will have to investigate it's origins. Interestingly 28 of the birds were judged to be juveniles with (including recaps) 28 adult female and 26 adult male.

Two of the male Sparrows had chestnut coloured bibs instead of the usual black, which is I understand caused by a recessive gene.

Male House Sparrow with chestnut bib instead of the usual black.

Starling – 6 (0)

Silvereye – 0 (1) it was banded 14 July 07 and is at 1974 days our oldest Silvereye recap at this site.

Tui – 1 (2) one of the recaps  was  banded Jan 2011 as a newly fledged juvenile so good to catch it as an adult. The other was a colour banded bird which was banded 4 Nov 2007, and is now at 1861 days the oldest Tui at this site. In the 5 years since it was banded the only sighting was in Zealandia July 2011.

The older Tui still sporting the full set of colour bands

We once again enjoyed great hospitality including a scrummy morning tea (except for David who left early)

Bridie's - a couple of old birds

I have had some of trapping sessions down the road at Bridie's over the last couple of days; on Friday evening and an hour this morning. Not a big catch with 16 birds of 4 species, 6 new and 10 recaptures.
Species caught were-
Starling - 0 (1)
House Sparrow - 4 (0)
Silvereye - 0 (5) The oldest was banded in July 07 and at 1975 days has joined the 5 year group.
Blackbird - 2 (4) A male that we have named White Eye because of some white feathers on the side of his head was caught for the 18th time. He was originally banded in August 04 as a first year bird so is now aged as a 10. At 3037 days from banding he is our oldest Blackbird recaptured at any site with only a female that was recovered after a fatal car accident at 3299 days from banding being older. Hopefully White Eye will survive another year or two and take over the mantel completely. By the look of the bill full of food he was taking away he is still breeding and is a busy boy.

Houghton Bay - Wednesday 28 Nov

Spent a couple of hours at the Houghton Bay stream Wednesday morning. After having had 2 afternoon sessions  thought I would see what was around during the morning. Caught a total of 24 birds which is much lower than the afternoon tallies but still caught some interesting birds. Six species were caught with 13 new and 11 recaptures.

Species caught were -
Blackbird - 2 (1)
Goldfinch - 1 (1) first recap for a considerable time, a bird banded as an adult about a year ago.
Greenfinch - 1 (1)
Grey Warbler - 1 (0) the first juvenile for this spring
Fantail - 1 (0)
Silvereye - 7 (8) a very high recapture rate for this site. No really old birds, 3 banded 2010, 3 in 2011 and the other 2 this year.

Zoo banding - Sat 24 Nov

With good conditions despite the forecast predicting showers we managed to catch 59 birds of 10 species with 39 new and 20 recaps. Ten species is a high number for this site but with a bit of luck it could have been higher. We didn't catch any Grey Warbler despite there being a number near nets. There was also at least 2 singing Bellbirds in the area. We didn't actually see any but the Zoo Keepers report seeing birds several times in the last couple of weeks. The other bird that would have been great to catch was Shinning Cuckoo, there were 2 playing chase near the double vertical net but unfortunately they took a right turn when a left might have put them into the net. 

As was to be expected a number of species like Blackbird, House Sparrow and Starling had a number of juveniles amongst the catch. 

Juvenile Blackbird being processed

There was a good turn out of people which was pleasing as there is so much on at this time of year.

Young Stan taking a break to have a bite to eat

Species caught were – (recaps in brackets)

Blackbird – 10 (0) they were mostly juveniles with 2 nestlings as well from a nest about 10 m from the banding station.

Mrs Blackbird back brooding her newly banded chicks

Dunnock – 3 (4) the highest total we have caught at the Zoo and reverses the trend of lower numbers over the last couple of years.

Chaffinch – 1 (0)

Greenfinch – 5 (2) 1 of the recaps was banded at the Zoo in Sept 08 as an adult so is now a 6+ bird and was caught at Hornsey Rd a couple of times this year.

House Sparrow – 10 (1)

Fantail – 1 (0) this was a juvenile and there seem to be several family groups in the area which is good to see.

Song Thrush – 1 (0) our first since May and only the second for the year.

Starling – 5 (0) there had been a huge number of newly fledged birds about earlier in the week but they seemed to disperse about Thursday.

Tui – 1 (0)

Silvereye – 2 (13) with only 2 new birds and I of those being a juvenile it seems we have most of the resident Silvereye banded. 3 of the recaps were banded in 2009 with 1 recaptured for the first time; another was banded in May 06 so has passed the 5 year mark

Houghton Bay - Mostly Silvereyes

I have had a couple of short sessions at Houghton Bay; this afternoon and another a few days ago. Caught a total of 89 birds of 9 species, with 73 new and 16 recaptures.

Species caught were (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 3 (2) the oldest recap was banded Dec 08 and is now the oldest Blackbird banded and recaptured at this site.
Chaffinch - 6 (0)
Greenfinch -1 (0)
Goldfinch - 2 (0)
Dunnock - 1 (0)
Fantail - 1 (0)
Grey Warbler - 2 (0)
House Sparrow - 2 (0)
Tui - 1 (1) The recap was banded Nov 10
Silvereye - 72 (13) The oldest recap was banded on 19 Jan 08 at the first session at this site and is now the oldest bird of any species banded and recaptured there. It was good to get a resonable number of recaps with all but 1 being banded at this site. This is in sharp contrast to the last 12 months when very few locally banded birds have been recaptured.

An old Tui Recovery

Recieved a recovery report from the DOC Banding Office of a Tui caught by a cat in Hataitai. It was a colour banded bird that was banded at the Zoo as an adult in Aug 2004 so would have now been at least 10 years old. This is our longest Tui recovery, recapture or sighting. Surpisingly this was also the first report of it since it was banded so where has it been for the last 8 years?