Houghton Bay 14 Nov - A mixed bag

We had a banding session at the Houghton Bay stream this afternoon. I was assisted by Sarah and Chye-Mei from the Zoo who were attempting to get some more experience. Unfortunately due to my giving not very clear directions they were a bit late in arriving, but still managed to handle some birds.

We caught 34 birds of 7 species with 23 new and 11 recaptures. Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Chaffinch - 2 (1)
House Sparrow - 6 (0)

Chye-Mei taking the wing cord of one of the Sparrows

Silvereye - 10 (9) the oldest bird was banded Nov 2010

Sarah looking rather pleased with "her" Silvereye

Starling - 1 (0)
Grey Warbler - 1 (0) Heard a Shining Cuckoo (They parasitise GW nests) calling near the banding site. First one seen or heard over the 5+ years and 100's of hours spent at that site.
Fantail - 1 (0)
Tui - 2 (1) one of the new birds was  newly fledged our first for the year, the recap was banded last March as a Juv, now a well developed Male.

The recap left me with a bad case of "Tui finger"

  

Both the older Tui and many of the Silvereye are obviously feeding on the abundant Flax flowers

A couple of Shining Cuckoos and some recaps

I received a message this morning from the 'Nest' (Hospital) at the Zoo that they had a couple of Shining Cuckoos in rehab which were nearly ready for release and that they would like them banded. Ten minutes later I was there with bands and pliers ready to do the deed. These are the first Cuckoos as far as I know that have been banded by the Group here in Wellington and the first that I have banded for about 30 years. Back in the 1980's the Group used to run banding sessions and workshops at Ward in Marlborough and Shining Cuckoos were occasionally caught. The site is now used regularly by Mike Bell and his team from Blenheim.

These two birds looked to be in good condition and are feeding well. They are the first the staff at the Nest have successfully rehabilitated and will probably be released in the next day or so.

PS - 10 Nov. Both birds have been released and flew off strongly.

Bridie's Friday 9 Nov.

After work on Friday evening  I set the trap at Bridie's for a while and managed to catch 10 birds. There were 2 new Blackbirds and all of the rest were recaps. 2 Blackbird, 2 Starling, 2 House Sparrow and 1 each of Silvereye and Greenfinch.

Hornsey Rd 6 Nov - a few birds

I set the funnel trap here this morning after getting back from Canterbury yesterday afternoon. Only caught 16 birds but with 5 species there was some variety and a considerable change from last week.

Blackbird - 1 (3) the oldest banded in Nov 11
Starling - 2 (4) the oldest recap was banded Nov 10
House Sparrow - 0 (1)
Greenfinch - 1 (1) the recap was banded at the Zoo in Aug 11
Silvereye - 1 (2)

Not Much Banding This Week

With work commitments and bad weather there has been only a little banding this week.

Hornsey Rd

On Tuesday I set funnel traps here for a couple of hours. Caught mostly the same birds as last week except there was a little variety. From a total of 38 birds caught only 2 were unbanded, 1 Silvereye and a Dunnock. Of the 31 Silvereye recaps most had been caught last week with a few exceptions, some not for several months and for 3 it was the first capture this year. Also recaptured were 2 sparrows, 2 Greenfinch including 1 from the Zoo, and 1 Dunnock.

Houghton Bay.

On Wednesday morning I went to the Houghton Bay stream with very poor results, caught only 4 birds in an hour so packed up and came home. Caught were 1 Sparrow, 1 Silvereye, 1 Grey Warbler and a recap. The recap was banded Jan 2012 as an adult so is now a reasonably old bird for this small, short lived species.

The Grey Warbler recap showing the red eye of an older bird

I am off to Christchurch for the next few days for a family reunion and then working so there is not likely to be much banding done next week either.

Island Bay Sat 26 Oct - Sparrows

We had a reasonable session at Island Bay this morning with ideal conditions for the first couple of hours and then the northerly picked up to near gale force. I had a good group of banders to help me with Angelina & Sarah from the Zoo, Kate with her parents Mary & Ross, a new member Katriona. We managed to catch 66 birds of 5 species with 48 new and 18 recaptures.

Kate getting some assistance from Ross with an unruly Sparrow

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 2 (2) the oldest recap was banded Aug 2009.
Dunnock - 1 (2)
Chaffinch - 4 (0) all males.

Comparing the moult limits on 3 of the Chaffinch's wings.

Silvereye - 5 (1)
House Sparrow - 36 (13) all the recaps were banded in the last couple of years with the only stranger of the day one that was banded at the Houghton Bay Stream.

Angelina observing (or laughing at?)Sarah removing a Sparrow from the net

We also had a Falcon hit the net and bounce while it was trying to take one of "our" Sparrows.

As is usual we had great hospitality from our hosts, Marion and Ken including a tasty spread and hot drinks.

Houghton Bay 23 Oct. _ A couple of old birds

I spent a bit of time at the Houghton Bay stream this afternoon but I didn't expect to catch much as I had a look a few days ago and there appeared to be very few birds about. However I was wrong and I had a steady stream of birds into the nets. Caught 48 of 8 species with 38 new and 10 recaptures.

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 1 (0)
Dunnock - 1 (0)
Chaffinch - 2 (2) the oldest recap was banded Jan 2011 as an unsexed juvenile, now a handsome male.
Greenfinch - 1 (0)
House Sparrow - 14 (0) a high number for this site.
Silvereye - 18 (7) 1 of the recaps was banded on 21 Jan 2008. Our first banding session at this site was 19 Jan 2008 and this bird is now at 2102 days our oldest Silvereye recapture there, (2 days short of the maximum). It was also the oldest bird of any species there for about 30 minutes, and then along came a Starling.
Starling - 0 (1) This bird was banded on 20 Jan 2008, the day before the Silvereye so at 2103 days not only our oldest Starling at this site but the oldest bird of any species recaptured there.
Grey Warbler - 1 (0)

Hornsey Rd 22 Oct - Silvereyes are Back

I have noticed that Silvereyes numbers have been increasing this last week after an almost complete absence since late July. This morning I set the funnel trap and caught 39 with 8 being new birds and 31 recaptures. Of the recaps 8 had been banded this year, 8 in 2012, 8 in 2011, 2 in 2010, 2 in 2009, 1 in 2008 and 2 in 2007 so a good range of ages. One of the 07 birds was 1 of the cohort of 100 we colour banded that year and appears to be the sole survivor, being the only one we have caught in the last couple of years, but I keep hoping more will turn up.

Possibly the last survivor of the colourful 100