Halswell Quarry - Yellowhammers

Earlier this week it was noticed that a large flock of (100+) birds were feeding on newly sown grass seed on the side of Kennedys Bush Rd. This road is on the western side of the Quarry park. The birds were mostly Yellowhammers and Sparrows but there appeared to be a number of Cirl Buntings as well. One count estimated up to 25 CB's, a really significant number.

It was decided to attempt to see if we could catch a few. On Thursday afternoon Ruud and I set up a net in some bush next to the feeding site to see if it was possible to manage this. We were able to get a net in place but with a moderate southerly wind springing up and the site being in full sun we weren't very successful, catching only 2 Yellowhammers.

Ruud with his first Yellowhammer - looking very pleased.

On Friday morning with much better conditions we again had a go. We had some additional help with Jan, Luke & Andrew arriving. We were able to catch 9 more Yellowhammers before they disappeared. It was then found that they had moved to a new subdivision around the corner on Cashmere Rd where all the road verges had been also newly sown giving the birds a large alternative feeding site.

Ruud & Luke with two of Friday's birds.

Kennedys Bush Rd Thursday 29 July - Ruud's place

A small group had a session in Ruud's garden Thursday morning. This is about 100m from Jan's garden where we have banded over 500 birds in the last 18 months. The session was a good steady one with 79 birds of 5 species processed. There were 74 new and 5 recaptures with the recap rate being much lower than I had expected.

As expected Silvereyes dominated the catch with 54 new and 3 recaps. Two of the recaps were banded at Jan's 13 months ago with the other one banded down in the Quarry near the duck pond one month ago. This poses the question of where the 450 we have banded at Jan's have gone?

House Sparrows  with 16 new and 2 recaps were the next highest species, both recaps were banded at Jan's. Other species were 2 Dunnocks 1 Starling and a Blackbird, all new.

Ruud proved to be an extremely good coffee maker and we were treated to a very good brew, thanks Ruud. We also had the comfort of deck chairs when not busy. 

Today's team Jan, Ruud & Kate.

Halswell Quarry Wed 22 July a good steady morning

We had a session at the Quarry this morning, and with some late additions to the team it proved to be a successful one. I had been expecting a smaller group so hadn't feed as much as normal so was pleased with the result.

Thirty four birds of 6 species were processed with 27 new and 7 recaps. Species caught were (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 1 (0)
Dunnock - 0 (1) it was banded at the same site just over a year ago as a first year bird.

The recap Dunnock now in its second year

House Sparrow - 4 (0)
Chaffinch - 2 (0)
Greenfinch - 1 (0)
Silvereye - 18 (5) as we were using the same net site as recent sessions birds have become a little net shy. Two of the recaps were banded in 2018 the rest more recently.
Bellbird - 2 (1) The recap was banded on our first session after lockdown back in May at a fruiting Arbutus tree about 500m away.

The Bellbird recap about to be released

Ruud with "his" Bellbird proudly displaying his red badge of honour.

Jan's Garden Friday 3rd July - A busy morning

We had a very busy morning at Jan’s on Friday. There were birds almost as thick as hair on a cat’s back. By far the most were Silvereyes . There was also a variety of other species but because there was almost always people at the nets extracting Silvereyes others didn’t get a look in. We only had 2 nets up but in order to cope with the number of Silvereyes flocking into them we had to furl one for quite long periods.

We processed 120 birds, a record number for a session, there were 108 new and 12 recaps. As expected Silvereyes made up the bulk with 105 new and 11 recaptures. The recaps were split about even between birds banded at the session 2 weeks ago and those  from last year, with 2 banded down in the Quarry. The only other species caught were 2 House Sparrows and 1 new and 1 recap Greenfinch. The recap Greenfinch was banded down in the Quarry in the Conservation area near the pond  in Sept last year.

Halswell Quarry, Thu 25 June - a good morning

We had a good session at the Quarry this morning. This was surprising as there was misty drizzle on the drive to the site but stopped when I arrived. Although there was low cloud and a threatening sky further precipitation did not start until we had taken the nets down and were packing up.

We processed 52 birds of 4 species with 32 new and 20 recaps. There was also a large number of multiple catches of already handled birds. The total was dominated by Silvereyes with 25 new and all of the 20 recaps. There were also 4 House Sparrows, 2 Song Thrushes and a solitary Bellbird. The oldest Silvereye recap was banded Dec 2017. This is the first time it has been recaptured and at 931 days is now our oldest bird recaptured of any species at the Quarry. Another 2 were banded in Jan 2018 another 11 were banded during the winter of 2019 and the remainder last week.

Eleanor banding the first Thrush caught, our first for a considerable time.

The second Thrush

Ruud banding the Bellbird

Halswell Quarry - Sat 20 June

We had planned to have a session at the Quarry last Thursday but persistent rain put a stop to that. The rain continued on Friday but appeared to have stopped on Saturday morning. A couple of us decided to give it a go and managed to get a net up for an hour or so before precipitation again started.

By the time we had the single 9m net up there were already half a dozen Silvereyes in it. It was a hectic time with Silvereyes constantly attempting to get caught and even though we set the banding table only a few meters from the net they kept coming. We ended up with a total of 41 birds. 3 new House Sparrows and 34 new Silvereyes and 7 Recaps. There were plenty of other birds about but with someone constantly at the net they didn't have a chance to get in. The oldest recap was banded Jan 2018 and it now our oldest recap at this site.

We caught a Silvereye with what I am calling "Scaly Foot" I am not sure what the cause of this is but hopefully we can find out soon. We have now had about 6 examples of this condition.

Jan's Place Thu. 11 June - a very green and busy morning.

We had a session this morning in Jan & John's garden on the rim of the Halswell Quarry. It was a very busy session from the start with constant stream of birds into the nets.  The total was 101 with 94 new and 3 recap Silvereyes, a new Bellbird and 1 recap; a House Sparrow and a Blackbird both new. All the recaps were banded about a year ago with all except 1 being banded in this garden and the other was banded down in the Conservation area of the Quarry about 1km away.

Todays team. Ruud, Kenny, Jan our hostess, Andrew and Susan during our only break.

Susan who is a Vet has just taken a sample from a Silvereye that had an unusual growth on a foot in the hope of discovering the pathogen causing the problem

The Bellbird recap had a very sharp spike on a primary indicating an old bird. It also had a white covert feather.