Friday 3 June - Back to the Quarry

 Due to Wednesday's session being cut short because of rain, and Annemieke being keen to get a bit more training in before heading back to Wellington, Annemeike and I decided to try again at the same site. Going back to the same site is not always a good idea but as there was just going to be the two of us I thought we might get enough birds to be worth while. This proved to be the case as we processed 33 birds of 5 species with 22 new and 11 recaps. Once again by far the majority were Silvereye with 20 new and 9 recaps. Other species were Blackbird 1, Dunnock 1 and recaps 1 each of Greenfinch and House Sparrow. 

Amongst the recaptures were some interesting birds. The Greenfinch was the same bird caught 2 days ago, and most of the Silvereyes were also banded 2 days ago, but one was  banded back in July 2018 and is now at 1408 days from banding. This is our oldest Silvereye recap. Not to be outdone the only House Sparrow caught was banded June 2018 so at 1457 days is the oldest bird of any species recaptured at the Quarry.

B-75206 The old House Sparrow

A-129414 The old Silvereye

Interestingly, although both these old birds were banded within a couple of hundred meters of today's site neither have been recaptured before.

Annemieke with a long billed Silvereye

This long billed effect is caused by balding at the top of the bill. I am not sure what causes this but  possibly due to something that is being eaten as it often occurs at this time of year.

Annekieke - Displaying and weighing her first Blackbird.

 

Halswell Quarry, 1 June - lots of Silvereyes and then it rained.

 We had a session at the Quarry this morning. Initially there was fairly good conditions, maybe a little too much wind but the net sites were sheltered. For the first 1 1/2 hours we were inundated with silvereyes with all hands to the nets and then the banding table. Unfortunately just as things were steadying down it started to rain. This was totally not in the forecast so, hoping the rain would stop, the nets were furled and we waited for it to blow over. After a half an hour we decided to take the nets down. Just as we finished this task of course the rain stopped and the sun started to appear. But with sodden nets we decided to call it a day and head home for a coffee.  

The site we used was a new one in the Conservation Area of the Park about 200m from one that is regularly used. The total number of birds processed was 46 with 41 new and 5 recaps. All but 3 of the birds were Silvereyes with the others being a recap Greenfinch and a new House Sparrow and Dunnock. I suspect that the reason that there was so little variety was that people were constantly at the nets extracting Silvereyes with more wary species staying well away. If the rain hadn't arrived I am sure there would have been more variety caught as the Silvereye rush was starting to abate.

All the recaps were banded at a nearby site, 3 in the session a fortnight ago. One of the others was banded last year and the last one recaptured was a Silvereye banded in 2019.

Most of the team at work. Left to right, Steph, Chris, Phil and Annemieke adding a little colour to otherwise a drab lot. Not in the picture are the photographer and Jan who was busy as usual.

Annemieke and Steph busy extracting birds.

 

Saturday 18 May - Some more Harriers Banded

 My Brother set the Harrier traps with a variety of bait on Friday evening. On Saturday morning I received a call that a Harrier had gone into one. By the time I made the journey to the site there were two birds in the trap. These were duly processed including a DOC metal band on the right leg and a numbered colour band on the left. We left the traps set and went on a bit of a Tiki Tour of the Coopers Lagoon & Lake Ellesmere area where recent huge swells have done immense damage, just about wiping out the protective shingle beach allowing the sea to overtop the beach and enter the lagoon.

After an hour or so we again checked the traps and found Harriers in two of them. These were also duly processed making four for the day. By far the best days catch we have had and very pleasing.

This bird will hopefully now on be known as Red 105

The first bird caught held by my Bro. who is the designer and manufacturer of the traps we are using. He is also becoming a handy handler of Harriers.

 One of the birds caught was a youngster, clearly shown by the brown eye and plumage. Contrast this with the bird held in the top photo.

Sun 22 May - Some Timaru Rehab Raptors Banded

 On my way back from Dunedin after watching a Grandson graduate I stopped off in Timaru. The purpose was to check out the NZ Raptor Trusts operation and see if birds about to be released were suitable for banding. We banded five birds, 2 Harriers and 3 Little Owls that are all progressing well towards release. Jenni and Angie who are very involved in the birds rehabilitation are keen to obtain a Raptor permit so that the majority of birds can be banded prior to going back into the wild. This is something I am very much in favour of and hope to assist them achieve this. There were two birds that we did not band, a Harrier with an infected wing that might not make the journey back to the wild and a Little owl that is blind in one eye. This bird is the subject of some discussion as to whether it should be released or not.

One of the Harriers originated in Fairlie and we are not likely to encounter it up in our area but the other came from Burnham and will be released back there so it is possible that we might catch up with it again.

The first Harrier banded (named Victor) after banding, possibly wondering what was that all about.

(They give all their birds names)

Angie banding her first Owl, Joey

Joey with the new bling.

The first Owl Banded named Iggy

Halswell Quarry Wed 18 May - all new birds

 Our session at the Quarry on Wednesday morning was reasonably successful, with 19 new birds banded. There were no recaptures made which is a bit surprising as there have been several hundred birds banded in this area in the last few years.

The new birds were - Silvereye 8, House Sparrow 5, Greenfinch 4, Song Thrush 1, There was also a Grey Warbler colour banded as part of Laura's study.

Della with one of the Greenfinch

Vanessa with the Song Thrush.

Another Harrier Banded

In the afternoon I did a country visit. This was mostly a social visit to relatives but I had also arranged for my brother to set Harrier traps. This proved successful and I was able to band another Harrier. As our colour bands had arrived from Canada in the last few days I was also able to colour band this bird. So as well as carrying a bright new metal band it has a Red one with a White  number on the other leg. 

Yesterday's bird, although a female with the yellow eye of an adult, was noticeably darker than the one banded at this site recently and was  probably younger.

The new bird's bling which includes a bit of colour

Some Raptors and a couple of Kingfishers

 After months of frustrating delays, due to Covid and other issues, on Tuesday we finally had a trial run with our newly developed Harrier trap. Although we were only successful in banding one bird it was a very useful  trial and another attempt will hopefully be made soon.

Tuesday's Harrier, an adult female

Today Thursday, I went to the South Island Wildlife Hospital at Willowbank to band some rehab birds. It was planned to band a Harrier and a Little Owl. As it turned out there was a second Harrier and two Kingfishers as well as the Little Owl. I thought it was a very successful visit, the first of hopefully many more.

The bright eyed Little Owl

One of the rehab Harries both of which were male.

Banding amongst the Vines - Sunday 24 April

We had a session at a Vineyard this morning,  not far from the Halswell Quarry as a bird flies. But a bit further by car. It was a bit of a frustrating morning. Firstly I elected to put nets up on the wrong side  of the field, and this should have meant that the nets would have been in the shade. Unfortunately we found out that this side had the weeds cut between the rows of vines but the other side hadn't. This meant that the seed eating finches etc. were not near our nets. Also, it clouded over and a stiff breeze sprang up. The other frustrating thing was watching flocks of 50+ Starlings managing to avoid the nets.

Although we ended up with only 10 birds I still found it a pleasant morning, as usual, good company helps. With 6 species caught we did have a bit of variety. As this was our first session at this site all birds were new and consisted of - 3 Song Thrush, this equals our highest daily catch. 2 Blackbirds, 2 Goldfinch and 1 each of House Sparrow, Chaffinch and Silvereye.

The first two birds caught, Alice with a Blackbird and Della with a Song Thrush. Note the fancy banding table - the trusty car boot

Both the Goldfinches were juveniles moulting into adult colours.