Halswell Quarry - 15 Feb

We had another session at the Halswell Quarry in Christchurch this morning. Although it was fairly busy mid morning, overall it was a steady session. We caught 18 birds of only 4 species; all were new. The highlight was catching 2 Fantails. Normally these birds are experts at avoiding nets but these 2 must have miscalculated. Other birds caught were 3 Chaffinch, 6 House Sparrows and 7 Greenfinch.

Eleanor & Andrew banding Greenfinch under the watchful eye of our scribe Sandra

Kenny banding one of the Fantail.

Halswell Quarry 1 Feb - a reasonable morning

At the Quarry this morning we had a reasonable catch despite the threatening weather. With the Ex tropical Cyclone Fihi bearing down we started off with rain which surprisingly cleared enabling us to make a start, even if a bit late. By midmorning the wind was getting up and despite having the nets in a sheltered area they were starting to be affected so we packed up a bit earlier than planned.

We ended up with 25 birds caught of 7 species, 1 each of Blackbird, Song Thrush and Greenfinch. Silvereye 4, Yellowhammer 2, our first for the site, and 13 new and 1 recap House Sparrow.

Most of the team during a quieter spell

The first Yellowhammer

Eleanor with her first Yellowhammer

A feature of the day was the number of interested visitors we had, including one that was found just about to "release" a bird from a net with the aid of a pocket knife.

Some of our visitors watching proceedings, the boys were very interested and all got to release a bird.

Christchurch 25 Jan - a very quiet morning at the Quarry

A small group consisting of Eleanor, Kenny, Jan and I with Sandra as scribe had a very quiet morning yesterday at the Halswell Quarry. In the first hour or so we caught 2 birds and watched as numerous others bounced out or flew over or walked under the nets. Later a few started to "stick" and we ended up with 14 birds, all new. House Sparrows 7, Greenfinch 5 and 1 each of Silvereye and Chaffinch.

Kenny & Eleanor with the first 2 Greenfinch caught while Sandra is busy scribing.

Queenstown - the last few days down here

We are driving back to Christchurch tomorrow so this trip draws to a close. I have done some banding most days since the last post with mixed results. On Fri 13th I had nets up near the house but on the other side of the property from last week, again hoping to catch unbanded Tui. In this I was partly successful catching 4, also another new female Bellbird and heaps of House Sparrows, mostly juveniles.

The new female Bellbird, by the pollen on its head there must be still some flax in flower in the area

On 14 in the morning & 15th in the afternoon I tried my luck at the stream. The numbers caught were a bit below expectation. On the 14th 15 birds all new except 1 recap House Sparrow. The next day even fewer with 12 all new, except a Dunnock and a Sparrow recap. The 2 Sparrow recaps were both banded as unsexed juveniles, 1 in Dec '15 and the other Dec '16. So it is good to now be able to record both as definitely male.

What was originally a scruffy juvenile is now a handsome dude.

Two juvenile Dunnock caught at the stream, 1 on each day had the same deformed looking tarsus on the right leg.

Today, 16 Jan I caught birds in the neighbour's hen house, catching a lot of juvenile Sparrows and recaptured a few. Also recaptured 4 Chaffinch including 1 banded on 12 Sept 2015, the first day of banding here. It is now the oldest recap of any species.

Queenstown - Stream 11 Jan

After a couple of poorer afternoon sessions at the stream recently I decided to have a quick look this morning expecting a quiet time. However not for the first time I was wrong and caught a reasonable number of birds in a short time. A total of 23 birds caught, 19 new and 4 recaps, with 9 species there was also a good variety.

Birds caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Dunnock - 3 (1)
Greenfinch - 4
House Sparrow - 1
Yellowhammer - 0 (1)
Goldfinch - 3 (1) included was the first juvenile for the year and the recap was the oldest recaptured here.
Redpoll - 5 also included the first juvenile.
Chaffinch - 2
Silvereye - 1
Tui - 0 (1)

One of the highlights of the morning was a family of Brown Creeper feeding in the area but unfortunately they stayed too high to get caught.

Queenstown - A couple of quiet sessions

I have had a couple of sessions since the last post. Yesterday afternoon I went down to the stream and this morning I put the same nets up as a few days ago.

Stream 8 Jan PM

With a warm dry day I had expected a reasonable catch however, esp. for the first couple of hours, it was very quiet. Ended up with 17 birds, all new except 1. With 8 species at least there was a bit of variety.
One each of Blackbird, Dunnock, Chaffinch and Yellowhammer, 5 Redpoll, 2 Goldfinch, 4 Greenfinch, 1 new and 1 recap Silvereye. This was the smallest catch of Redpoll at this site for the last few summers. This time last year it was usually between 25 & 30.

The Blackbird aged as a 2 was well into its first full moult.

One of the Greenfinch was the first Juvenile caught this Spring/Summer

The Yellowhammer had moulted all the feathers on the top of its head and was regrowing them all at once.

9 Jan AM

It was probably a mistake to use the same net sites as the other day as I usually find that this reduces the catch and in this case, except for juvenile House Sparrows this proved correct.
Caught 20 birds but only 3 species. Tui 1 new and 1 recap, Bellbird 2 new including the first adult female for some time. And 13 new and 2 recap House Sparrows, all were Juveniles. The session was also shorter than usual due to getting a lunch invitation.

The first adult female Bellbird for a while.

Queenstown - first session for the year 2018

Had the first banding session for 2018 here yesterday, on 5 Jan. Rachel came over from Lake Hawea to join me. The plan was to catch Tui near the house in the morning as there appeared to be an influx of new birds and then in the afternoon catch Redpolls at the stream. The first half of the plan exceeded expectations but the second had to be cancelled due to rain setting in about midday. A good rain would be great but this was only enough to stop the banding and then it stopped.

We caught 23 birds with 11 new and 12 recaps but only 4 species.
Dunnock - 2 recaps one of which was banded as a nestling 2 years ago, so good to know it made it to adulthood.
House Sparrow - 5 new and 3 recaps. Not targeting Sparrows at the moment so these were really bycatch.
Bellbird - 1 new and 3 recaps.

The Bellbird, an adult male getting its bling.

Tui - 5 new and 4 recaptures. This makes 8 new Tui caught in the last week or so, just when I thought I had most of the locals banded. Included in the catch was a newly fledged bird, the first down here.

Rachel with one of "her" Tui

The smaller throat tuft of a second year male

The larger tuft of an older male.