Hornsey Rd Wed 24 June - a Silvereye record

I set the funnel trap here again on Wednesday morning with almost alarming success. Caught 131 Silvereyes which is the most individual Silvereyes I have ever caught here in one day since starting in 1995. The previous record was 124 caught on 21 July 2003 and the second highest was 114 on 26 June 2006. Wednesday's total included 43 new birds and 88 recaptures, most of the recaps were banded in the last couple of years, especially the last month or so. But there were some older birds, 11 banded in 2013, 5 in 2012, 7 in 2011, 1 in 2010, 1 in 2009 and 2 in 2008. It was the first time that the bird banded in 2010 has been recaptured so hopefully there are still more older birds out there.

The Foreign Band - It was very local

I have managed to track down the details of the Silvereye with the "Foreign" band, (see previous post). It was banded by the staff at the "Nest" (Animal Hospital) at the Zoo so had only moved a few 100 meters. The bird had been in rehab at the Nest and was banded before its release. Great to know that is still around.

Wellington Zoo Sat 20 June - another busy day

Despite a dire weather forecast we had near perfect conditions for our Zoo session on Saturday. Low cloud and a light southerly, from which the Zoo is protected, and rain that held off until the last net was down. We had another very good catch with 158 birds of 7 species with 109 new and 49 recaptures. Fortunately we had a very good team of banders and helpers with enthusiastic youngsters. Several new people were trying the experience for the first time as well as some very experienced banders.

Some of the "Team" busy around the banding table.

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 1 (0)
Dunnock - 0 (1) a bird banded in Feb 2012 so a reasonably old bird.
Chaffinch - 3 (0)
Greenfinch - 21 (4) the oldest recap was banded 2010
House Sparrow - 27 (7)
Yellowhammer - 2 (0) our first new YH's at the Zoo for about 3 years.

George with his second Yellowhammer - somehow he managed to band both.

Silvereye - 65 (37) Most of the recaps were from the last couple of years especially the last 2 sessions but there were some older birds. Six  from 2013, 2 from 2012, and 1 each from 2011, 2009, 2008 and 2007. The 2007 bird is at 2954 days from banding our 3rd oldest Zoo banded Silvereye, surpassed only by birds at 2976 and 3276 days.
We had a Silvereye with a band which was not one of ours, I am trying to find its origin - watch for an update.

Our youngest participant about to release a Silvereye

Houghton Valley School - Wed 17 June

George and I had a busy afternoon at the Houghton Bay School. We were ably supported by Andrea as our scribe and George's Grandparents as enthusiastic observers. We also had a lot of Silvereyes and happy children. Dave the Caretaker at the school and our main contact there brought down small groups of kids so they could see the activity and most were able to hold and release a bird.

Some of the kids releasing their birds.

The target species at this site is Silvereye as they are ideal birds to show children and for them to be handled (they don't bite). We caught 45 new and made 4 recaptures, 2 of the recaps were from the Houghton Bay site at the bottom of the valley. Only other birds caught were a Blackbird and a Dunnock.

Hornsey Rd 16 June - Silvereye roundup

I set the funnel trap here this morning primarily to check on the Silvereye numbers. I was pretty successful and there appears to have been an influx of birds during the cold weather we have had over the last few days. Caught 80 with 22 new and 58 recaps. Among the new arrivals were several older birds. Thirty five had been banded this year including 3 from the Zoo and 2 from Houghton Bay. 10 were banded last year, 6 in 2013, 4 in 2011, and 1 each in 09, 08 and 07. This year, up to now, we have caught 73 new Silvereye at this site - in all of last year we only caught 71. This time last year we had only caught 6 new birds.

By-catch included 1 new Blackbird, 1 new Greenfinch and a H Sparrow recap.

Houghton Bay Saturday 13 June

We had a successful session at the Houghton Bay stream on Saturday. Caught 60 birds of 9 species, only 4 were recaps which is a bit disappointing. We have banded over 5500 at this site since we started there in 2008, so I think there must be a large number of birds in the area.

Yvan, George, Anna (courier) and Andrea (scribe) busy at the banding table

Species caught were -
Blackbird - 4
Dunnock - 1
Chaffinch - 4
Goldfinch - 1
Greenfinch - 9
House Sparrow - 2
Grey Warbler - 3
Fantail - 1

Alan banding the Fantail closely watched by his son Sam and his son's friend Axel.

Silvereye - 33 with 4 recaps,  the oldest was banded in 2011

Axel and Sam each with a Silvereye to release

Hornsey Rd 9 June - more Silvereyes

I set the funnel trap at home yesterday and had a pretty good catch. Caught 43 birds with, as expected, most being Silvereyes - 22 new and 12 recaps. No old birds among the recaps with a 2012 bird being the oldest.  Often older birds don't return until July. Silvereye numbers are about 3 weeks ahead of most years when we don't usually catch significant numbers until the end of June into July.

One of the Silvereyes had a very orange chin.

Other birds caught were 2 new Greenfinch and 4 new House Sparrows and a recap.