Halswell Quarry Thursday 6 Sept - a reasonable catch.

We had a session at the Halswell Quarry on Thursday morning. The session was held at the opposite end of the Park from the recent ones in an area replanted in native trees.With some of the regular banders away we were a smaller group than usual so only had two nets up instead of the usual four. Despite this we still had a steady flow of birds catching 39 of 6 species. There were 35 new and 4 recaptures. Species caught were -
Blackbird - 1 (0)
Starling - 1 (0) This is the first Starling we have caught this year.

Eleanor banding her first Starling.

House Sparrow - 8 (3) Included in the recaps was one banded in one of the first sessions and is now at 273 days the oldest bird recaptured at this site.
Greenfinch - 8
We had a group of Tai Tapu School children, who were on a nature tour drop by. Although they were limited by their tight schedule they enthusiastically watch a Silvereye being processed.

The children watching a Silvereye about to be released

New Banding Office Newsletter

The link doesn't seem to work so try this one.
download

https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/our-work/bird-banding/banding-newsletter-august-2018.pdf

The above link should take you to the latest NZ Banding Office Newsletter. It is well worth a read with a lot of interesting stuff. A number of the authors I have had the pleaser of knowing over the years. Sandy is a friend and ex colleague, Jack is a great guy and I have had the pleasure of banding on his farm a number of times, Chris I spent a week on an Island banding Penguins, Murray I have known since I was a teenager and he was with the Wildlife Service. Lance I have never met but the group I was with in Wellington was responsible for banding the House Sparrow that  started him on his banding related journey.

Halswell Quarry 30 Aug - A quiet morning.

We had a relatively quiet morning's banding at the Quarry today. The nets were erected amongst the flowering gums and wattles in the Australian section where there had been a lot of birds last weekend when the area had been checked. Unfortunately numbers (esp. Bellbird) had dropped during the week. I suspect birds had moved to Kowhai trees that are now in full bloom. We were joined today by George who is down from Wellington where he was part of the group I banded with there. Also we had Andre come along. He is a South African trained bander who wants some experience with New Zealand birds.

Today's Team. Back L to R - Eleanor, Ron, George, Andrew (CCC Park Ranger), Andre. Front - Christine ( CCC ecologist), Sandra (scribe) & Jan

We caught a total of 24 birds of only 4 species with all but one being new. Silvereye 16, Chaffinch 4, House Sparrow 2, Yellowhammer 1 and a Bellbird recap.

Andre with the first Yellowhammer he has handled and banded

The Bellbird recap. The first Andre has handled (but he didn't get to band it).

Queenstown Fri 3 August - heaps of birds

I had a session here this morning, same site as a couple of days ago. Again the start was delayed by damp weather but once it cleared it was all go. Caught a record number of birds for down here. A total of 115 birds caught of 6 species with 90 new and 25 recaps.

By far the majority were Silvereyes with 60 new and 22 recaptures . This is a record number of Silvereye, the previous record was set 5 Aug last year. . Two of the recaps were banded on 20 Sept 2015 they were consecutive numbers AP-16326 & 27 they are now the oldest recaptures here at 1048 days from banding. Except for one being caught the day after banding neither had been recaptured before. The previous record holder AP-16331 which had been caught two days ago was also banded on the same day. Another recap had been banded at The Thurlby Domain, not a huge distance just a few ks but still good to get and the furtherest  we have made.

Other species caught were -
Chaffinch - 3 (1)
Greenfinch - 4 (0)
House Sparrow - 16 (2)
Bellbird - 1 (0)
Tui - 6 (0)

The first Tui caught, a young male.

Of back to Chrstchurch in the morning, then up to Auckland for a for a couple of weeks, so no banding for a while.

Queenstown - 1 August

After heavy rain started about 7.30 this morning I thought my banding plans were history. But about 9 it cleared as quick as it started and I ended up having a pretty successful day. This morning I had a double rigged net up here at a site I have been feeding for the last couple of days. Caught 55 birds of 7 species with 43 new and 12 recaps.

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Chaffinch - 6 (0)

All except one of the Chaffinch were male

Dunnock - 1 (0)
House Sparrow - 5 (2)
Starling - 1 (0) The first for a while.

The Starling was a stroppy male already getting its breeding plumage 

Silvereye - 27 (12) one of the recaps was banded 20 Sept 2015 a week or so after banding started here. At 1046 days from banding is the oldest recap here.
Bellbird - 1 (0) A female, the first new one for several months.

The Bellbird was an adult female.

Tui - 2 (0)

This afternoon I had a session at Moorhill Rd, catching birds stealing chook food. Unfortunately I put up an extra net from the setup I had last time and this turned out to be a big mistake. There was a very poor catch rate until I took the extra net down and then it improved until I had to call it a day as darkness approached. Ended up with 19 birds of 3 species, all new except Dunnock 2, Chaffinch 8 and 8 Yellowhammer and a recap.

Halswell Quarry Thu 26 July - a good, if cold morning.

We had a successful session at the Quarry this morning catching 42 birds of 7 species with 36 new and 6 recaps. The forecast was for a calm mild morning after a light frost but they were wrong. It clouded over and a bitterly cold southerly breeze came up. The nets were put up at the other end of the Park from the last few sessions which is more exposed to a southerly.
Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Chaffinch - 3 (0)
Greenfinch - 8 (4) the most we have recaptured in a session.
Blackbird - 0 (1) the first Blackbird we have recaptured here.
Dunnock - 2 (0)
House Sparrow - 17 (0)
Silvereye - 5 (1)
Bellbird - 1 (0)

Todays team L to R. Kenny, Andrew, Ron, Phil, Eleanor, Jan (feeling the cold) and seated our scribe Sandra. 

In front is our mascot, Tess.

During slow periods and during a welcome coffee break we were entertained by Ron who as well as supplying the hot drinks has a wealth of knowledge and information from his years in the Old Wildlife Service and the Dept. of Conservation. He has been involved with many of the conservation efforts with NZs rare and unique birds from Bush Wren to Black Stilts as well as more recently the hunt for the elusive S I Kokako. He should write a book.

Halswell Quarry, Thu 19 July.

We had a session at the Quarry on Thursday morning. A significant drop in numbers and variety from recent sessions. A total of 35 birds caught with 32 new and only 3 recaps. Only 3 species were caught with 27 new Silvereye and 2 recaps, 4 new and 1 recap Bellbird and a solitary Grey Warbler , the first for a while.
This was the highest number of Bellbird we have caught in a session and the first recap. We have now banded 15 Bellbirds, all Male except one. Amazing that we only caught 2 of the 100+ Silvereye that we have banded in this area over the last few weeks, I suspect there is a large turn over of birds.

Eleanor extracting one of the Bellbird

Andrew being closely observed by his two delightful children while processing the Grey Warbler