Harrier Update - Some Rehab birds and a couple of road casualties.

 I haven't done much in the way of banding recently mainly due to a medical issue. Had a minor op which didn't heal as planned, so I am a bit restricted for a while.

Ruud and I did manage to get out to the Wildlife hospital that is based near Willowbank and band some birds that are in recovery before they are released. There was 1 Little Owl and 3 Harriers, 2 of the Harriers were road casualties, 1 from near Kaikoura, the other near Flock Hill. The third bird is suffering from lead poisoning and came from near Hanmer Springs.

Pauline the Vet at the Wildlife Hospital with one of the Rehab Harriers which is starting to get quite stroppy and no doubt looking forward to its freedom. 

There have been 2 road fatalities reported. One was a bird we banded at Lakeside, and it was found dead on Harts Rd about 400m from where it was banded 89 days ago back in July.

The Harts Rd bird showing its bands. I hope the bands are still as easy to read in several years' time instead of just a couple of months.

 The other was found about 25k on the east side of the Hamner Springs turnoff on St Highway 7. It had been banded just north of Blenheim in April 2020 by Dave Bell. This is about 170k away, so it had made quite a journey. 

Another report received was from Phil who managed to get the color band number of a bird. It had been trying to catch a newly fledged Song Thrush at his place in Motukarara, where it had been banded 19 days before.

 so I am a bit restriced for a while

Tuesday 20 Sept - A yellow morning and a new Banding Office newsletter

On Tuesday morning Ruud and I set up a couple of nets in the Halswell Domain with the hope of catching some of the Yellowhammers that are currently feeding there. On Monday while doing a bird count in the Domain I discovered that there was a couple of large flocks of Yellowhammers with some Finches feeding on a couple of playing fields there. Ruud and I jacked up a sort of plan about 10pm on Monday evening. Of course, the plan didn't work as the birds were feeding in a different area. The morning proved to be a great one for banding, overcast and calm so we went ahead and erected the nets. It was then a matter of driving the birds gently towards the nets.

Over the last few years we have tried to catch Yellowhammers feeding at this time of year with very limited success, The biggest catch has been 5 so we were very pleased to catch 15 birds, all yellowhammers. Due to the number of dog walkers the flocks were constantly being moved around, this meant we had a lot of walking and some frustrating drives.

I have difficulty aging and sexing Yellowhammers as they seem to be such a diverse lot both in colour and pattern of colour, especially of the head. Amongst the birds caught were bright yellow, pale yellow almost cream and very brown, almost sparrow like.

Ruud looking very happy after banding the first bird of the day.

Still being a L1 Trainee Ruud had the task of banding all the birds. 

A very Brown bird, presumably a late fledged one.

The latest Banding Office Newsletter.

I have recently received the latest Banding Office newsletter and it's well worth a read. We even get a small mention. Below is a link to it.

 

In the 18^th edition of BirDBanD you will find information regarding bird flu, stories about a banded Banded Dotterel and a banded Banded Rail, the first rule about bird banding, and Kākerōri having a reason to party!

A Harrier Banding Update.

 In the last few weeks Phil and I have been attempting to trap and band some more Harriers. We have had mixed results with most days no birds but have also had some success. We have had traps set on the farm at our Cashmere Rd banding site and at Phil's place at Motukarara. At Cashmere Rd we have banded 3 birds, an old male and 2 young females.

The older of the two females with eyes going yellow

The younger female still with brown eyes.

The old male with pale yellow eyes.

Phil holding the male.

The total at Motukarara is 4 with 2 old males and 1 younger and an older female. 

Phil proudly holding the first Harrier banded on his property.

The first bird with pale yellow eyes of an old fella.

 

The young female with brown eyes.

We have now colour banded over 20 Harriers in the Canterbury region, mostly in the Ellesmere area as well as the Cashmere Rd and at Motukarara so if you are in these areas please keep an eye out for banded birds. They are out there somewhere. Our birds have a metal band on the right and a red band with a 3-digit number in white on the left.

Jan's Place, Kennedys Bush Rd. Wed 31 August

 We had a very successful and enjoyable session at Jan's this morning. There were pleasant conditions, calm and sunny but with enough shade in which to put the nets. We were only a small team consisting of Jan, Della, Kenny and me. We caught a total of  67 birds of 5 species with 62 new and 5 recaps.

As is usual at this time of the year at this site the majority of birds were Silvereye, with 54 new and 3 recaps. The oldest recap was banded just under 4 years ago on 8 Sept 2019. It is surprising that the recapture rate is so low as we have banded over 700 at, or near, this site. In contrast recaps made up 50% of the House Sparrows but there was only a total of 4.

Starlings were a big surprise with 5 banded, this is a record number caught in a session in or near the Halswell Quarry. Other birds were 1 each of Chaffinch and Greenfinch.

Della with her first Starling

And taking a record shot as a reminder.

Wednesday 24 August - not much activity.

 We had a session at the Cashmere Rd site this morning which was vey disappointing. Only 8 birds were caught with 6 Silvereyes, 1 Blackbird and a House Sparrow. All were new. There were a lot of birds about but with unexpected bright sunshine and trees still bare the nets were very obvious.

Today's team, left Chris a L3 permit holder and a very good trainer, Vanessa, Della and Steph doing some banding.

Some other recent Banding

On my way back from a trip down south I called in at the Raptor Trust in Timaru and banded a couple of rehab birds. A Harrier and a Little Owl, all going well both should be released soon.

For the first time with a rehab bird we colour banded the harrier

                                        It was a young bird with brown eyes and plumage.

We have also managed to catch and band another Harrier locally.

Although both birds were male this one is an old fella with a pale yellow eye and lighter plumage.

Friday 12 Aug - another couple of Harriers banded.

 On Friday Phil and I checked the Harrier traps that had been set and baited by my brother. We had hoped to repeat a similar catch to the last session but were a bit disappointed with a catch of two but, that is a lot better than none. Unfortunately we have been unable to do much banding for the last few weeks. Firstly the weather has been terrible and then, just as it started to improve, I had to go into isolation with Covid. 

There was a noticeable drop in the Harrier numbers in the area where the traps were set from the last session. This could be due to a number of factors. Perhaps birds have moved on back to their breeding areas or with the onset of lambing in the area with birds being able to find ample food without taking the risk of going into dodgy looking traps. Hopefully, as we get more Harriers banded and repeat sightings we might learn a bit more about what they get up to.

This was Phil's first Harrier banding for a number of years since he did some with the Marlborough Group, but like riding a bicycle he hadn't lost the art. Both birds caught were judged to be Males and both old birds, one in particular very old.

Phil banding his first Harrier for a number of years under the gaze of his L3 tutor.

We use a tube made out of large fruit tins to make the banding easier and safer for both Bird & Bander.

We also use a different method of weighing, it looks a bit ungainly but it is very effective and quick.

The last bird banded had a classic "Old Birds Grey Wing"

Halswell Quarry Friday 22 July - A couple of old birds

Our planned session at the Quarry on Wednesday was abandoned due to rain. It had already been raining almost every day for the previous week and continued until around midday Friday. As I wanted to collect the feeders for use in next weeks proposed session at the Cashmere Rd site I went down Friday afternoon to pick them up. Just to make some use of the trip I erected a net and was surprised by a steady flow of birds especially as the feeders hadn't been topped up since Tuesday and one had mysteriously disappeared. 

In less than 2 hours I caught 21 birds of 5 species with 17 new and 4 recaps. 

Species caught were- (recaps in brackets)

Blackbird - 1

Fantail - 1

Silvereye - 10 (2) Both the recaps were banded this year.

House Sparrow - 4 (1) The recap was banded Aug 2019 and at 1079 days from banding is a reasonably old bird for a Sparrow.

Bellbird - 1 (1) Both birds were male and were caught together. The new bird was a youngster and was possibly being hassled by the older banded one. The recap was banded June 2019 and is now at 1128 days from banding our oldest Bellbird recaptured.

The Bellbird showing the red eye of an older bird.

All the recaps had been banded at the Quarry, in the Conservation Area, which as a bird flies is only a short distance.