Wellington Colour Banded Tui Sightings

I have recently received three reports from Mary & Ralph of colour banded Tui at their property in Roseneath, Wellington. We colour banded Tui in Wellington from Aug 2001 to July 2010 so all birds must now be at least 6 years of age.


Band No   L Leg   R Leg   Date          Site     Species  Age  Sex   Last Sighting  Days
Y-14708   Y/W    Br/M   4 Feb 09  Roseneath   Tui     A     M     6 Dec 16        2862
Y-14729   Gr/M   G/W   24 Oct 09      "              Tui    A     M     3 Dec 16        2597
Y-4972     K/M    W/G   23 Dec 07      "             Tui     A     M     6 Dec 16        3271

This last bird Black/Metal-White Green had not been seen for 2 years so hopefully there are others out there to be seen. So Wellingtonians, please keep a look out. Our oldest record is 3595 days from banding, hopefully we can exceed that.

Queenstown - A Quail or 2 at last

We are now back in Christchurch after our short visit to Queenstown where I managed to get a bit more banding in. On Tuesday had nets up for the morning and had a reasonable catch but had to let the majority go! I found that the new string of BP bands that I had in my gear was non existent and I had no bands to band Sparrows with so had to let about 20 go. Amongst the new birds banded was the first Californian Quail banded at this site. I actually managed to flush a pair into a net but by the time I had clambered over a fence the male had made its escape.

Yesterday (Wednesday), I had nets up reasonably early (well not really early but early for me) and caught a Blackbird and another Quail before rain set in and play was abandoned. I actually managed to flush 4 Quail (2 pair) into a net but by the time I made the 20 m dash only 1 was left.

Birds caught for the 2 days were -
Blackbird - 3 (0)
Chaffinch - 3 (1) the recap was banded on the first day of banding here and is now the oldest bird of any species recaptured here, beating the one caught on Monday by 1 day.

Not the old bird but a very young one.

Dunnock - 0 (1)
House Sparrow - 0 (3) about 20, mostly recently fledged were released unbanded.
Silvereye - 1 (1)
Tui - 1 (0)

The Tui, a male with its hackles up

My attempt to give it the "finger"

Californian Quail - 2 (0) both females and the first for the site. In the 3 days I actually had 7 Quail fly into the nets but all but these two escaped.

I should be back there in a couple of weeks for an extended period so hopefully will get more banding in then.

Queenstown - back for few days

We are back down here for a few days, mostly to do chores like mowing lawns etc. I hope to get a couple of banding session in as well. We arrived Saturday evening and Sunday was a non banding day with a very strong wind all day so got the lawns mown. Today wasn't a lot better although the wind didn't get strong till late morning so put some nets up for a while. Managed to catch a very modest total of 14 birds of 6 species with 9 new and 5 recaps.

Blackbird - 2 (2)
Dunnock - 0 (1)
Chaffinch - 0 (2) the first caught was a female the first Chaffinch banded here and it is now the oldest bird of any species. The second one was a male banded a couple of days later and it is the second oldest.

Being eyeballed by the old boy

Greenfinch - 4 (0) included was the first juvenile Greenfinch for the year.

The juvenile Greenfinch with its speckly belly

Redpoll - 1 (0) thought I might have caught more as there appears to be a number about.

The Redpoll was a well marked male

House Sparrow - 2 (0)

There are a number of Califorian Quail about after an absence of 6 months or so. (since I recieved a variance to the banding permit allowing me to band them.) They are proving hard to catch as they scuttle under the net, rocket over the net or just fly around it. Had one go in but it came straight out before I could get to it.

Also had a flyover of a Falcon, always good to see.

Queenstown - the last birds here for a while

In the last few days since the last post I have had mixed success with my banding. Two reasonable days and one not so good.  Over that period I caught 40 birds of 10 species with 29 new and 11 recaptures. The new bird number was boosted by 9 pullus (nestlings) being banded.

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 8 (1) inluded in the total were 3 pullus and the first juveniles for the spring.

The first juvenile Blackbird for the year.

Song Thrush - 1 (0)
House Sparrow - 8 (1)
Starling - 0 (1) this recap was the bird banded a couple of days ago.
Goldfinch - 1 (0)

The new Goldfinch sexed as a male by head, wing colour and weight.

Chaffinch - 2 (1)
Dunnock - 6 (0) all pullus from 2 broods each of 3.
Yellowhammer 3 (0) I set a net this morning in an attempt to catch some of 20 or so feeding on grasseed spread about the yard, but only caught 1. Amazing how they can avoid a net.
Tui - 0 (4)

An angry looking male Tui having just been caught for the third time.

Bellbird - 0 (3) all males.

We head back to Christchurch in the morning (Saturday) so there will be no banding for a while. Hope to get back in 2 or 3 weeks.

Queenstown - a touch of yellow

After a couple of days with no banding I have managed to get nets up over the last three. Rather surprisingly the dominant species was Yellowhamer with a sprinkling of some of the other usual suspects. The combined total for the 3 days was 45 birds of 8 species with 30 new and 15 recaptures.

Blackbird - 2 (4) included in the recaps was the oldest recaptured here.
House Sparrow - 9 (1)
Dunnock - 1 (2)
Yellowhamer - 15 (3) 1 of the recaps was banded back in January the others recently.

One of the new Yellowhammers

Goldfinch - 0 (1) this recap was the first  of the species banded here,
Starling - 1 (0)
Tui - 1 (2)

One of the Tui recaps, an adult male.

Bellbird - 1 (2) the new bird was a female, the first caught for a while and helps to address the sex imbalance a little.

The new female Bellbird

Queenstown - the last 3 days

I have managed to get some banding in each day since the last post. The first two were poor but yesterday (Thursday 27th) was a bit more successful. On Tuesday 6 birds were caught, Wednesday a slight improvement at 7 and yesterday 25, not huge but at least an improvement.

The total was 37 birds of 8 species with 13 new and 24 recaptures.
Blackbird - 1 (4)
Song Thrush - 1 (1) the recap was the oldest for the species.
House Sparrow - 5 (10)

Male H Sparrows are looking extremly ha.nsome

Dunnock - 2 (2) one of the recaps is now the oldest of the species caught here.
Chaffinch - 0 (1) this bird is now the oldest of any species caught here. Although it was banded 2 days after the previous record holder, caught on Monday, it was recaptured 3 days later making it older by 1 day.

The recap male Chaffinch, which is at least in its 4th year is probably at its colouful best 

Yellowhammer - 3 (0)

The first Yellowhammer caught was this colourful male

Tui - 0 (4)

Bellbird - ((1)

Queenstown - a quiet start to this trip

Arrived back down here Yesterday afternoon. I put some nets up this morning  to see what was about. The answer was that there was not a lot, at least not where I had the nets. Caught only 6 birds but included were a few interresting ones. One new Blackbird, 1 Tui recap and 4 Chaffinch, 1 new and 3 recaps. The first recap caught, Ap-18449 a male was banded a few days after I started banding here and for a short time was the oldest bird caught here. I then caught AP-18407 another male banded on the first day of banding and the second Chaffinch banded. The last bird of the day was a female Chaffinch AP-18406 the first Chaffinch banded and now the record holder.

The recap Tui, an adult male

The Tui as is usual left his mark, all the blood is mine!

The first bird caught and for a short time a record holder