Banding amongst the Vines and a Harrier update.

 We had a very quiet morning this morning at our vineyard site. There was only a small but keen group of us and the weather was near perfect with the one thing missing being birds in the nets. We ended up with a pathetic total of 7 birds of 3 species. The one highlight was our first recap from elsewhere. A Silvereye that had been originally banded in the Conservation Area of the Halswell Quarry by Annemieke from the Banding Office on 3 June last year. Although it was only a distance of just over a Kilometer in a direct line it is hopefully the first of many. The other birds caught were all new, 2 each of Silvereye, Blackbird and Song Thrush.

The Little Traveler.

An Update on our Harrier Banding.

In the last week we have managed to catch and band a further 4 birds and recaptured 1. Its almost a year since we started our Harrier banding project. In that time, we have caught and banded 23 birds, mostly in the Motukarara and Leeston/Southbridge areas, with a few at other sites. We have also made recaptures of 6 of the banded birds and there have been 3 recoveries. All the recoveries were from road killed birds and all were female.

Most of the recently caught birds have been youngsters with brown eyes like this one.

Most of the harriers are banded with a Banding Office metal band on the right leg and a Red band on the left. The red bands have 3 large digits printed on them. If anyone sees one of the birds with these bands please let either the Banding Office or me know. We would like if possible, the band number, the Date and the location. The most likely place to see them is probably when feeding on roadkill.

As well,we have banded 19 birds that were in Rehab in Wildlife Hospitals, 13 here in Christchurch and 6 in Timaru. Most of the rehab birds have been released in the area from which they came in places stretching from Kaikoura to Twizel.

Banding Among the Vines, Monday 27 Feb.

 Yesterday, 27 Feb we had a session in a Vineyard, where I hoped we would catch some larger birds such as Thrushes and Starlings. This had a twofold purpose, to give some of the trainees practice with banding larger birds as we don't catch many, and to give Chris who in his other life is a scientist with LandCare Research at Lincoln, some targets to collect blood from. He wanted Blackbirds & Song Thrushes to sample for Avian Malaria as part of a study into whether these species carry this pathogen and possibly spread it to vulnerable native species esp. Yellow Eyed Penguins.

Although the catch wasn't as big as I hoped for, we did get some of the target species. No Starlings but 10 Blackbirds and 4 Song Thrushes so Chris was happy to get some samples. The only other birds caught were 2 Silvereyes and a solitary Goldfinch. Interestingly, all Thrushes and Blackbirds were aged as first year birds, apart from 1 Blackbird.

The rows of Grape Vines have recently been covered with protective netting to prevent birds from pecking the ripening grapes. This seems to have been effective as bird numbers have dropped since the netting has been put on.

Chris collecting one of the samples.

Vanessa banding one of the Thrushes.

Alice and Kenny busy at the banding table while Steph brings in another bird.

Raptor Banding - Harriers and Little Owls

 Arrived back from a trip down to Queenstown last evening. On the way south I called in at the NZ Raptor Trust operation in Timaru to assist Jenni and Angie with banding some Raptors that are in Rehab. It was also planned to band a Falcon, but it wasn't available on the day. Seven Harriers and eight Little Owls were banded, with one of the Harriers being a TV star. The folks at the Trust are currently having their busiest year on record.

If anyone has watched the TV series "One Lane Bridge" you would have noticed that a Harrier features prominently in it. The bird in question was injured and taken into care by the Trust. Unfortunately, it did not make a full recovery and has become an advocacy bird, being taught to fly with a handler in control. If it gets into another series, I am not sure how the band will be handled. The Harrier is flown for visitors, especially school groups.

The TV star in the hands of its Handler.
Note the very pale legs. This was due to when it was originally injured it was kept for a period before being brought into the care of the Trust. Unfortunately it was fed an incorrect diet causing the unusual coloration.

Of the Harriers banded the majority were juveniles although there were a couple of older birds including one that was originally in rehab back in 2017. It was identified by comparing x-rays of its healed breaks. 

One of the young birds with it's dark brown eye.

This bird, a yearling male was in wing moult

One of the birds getting its "bling' Angie banding and Jenni holding.

The Little Owls were also mostly juveniles with a couple of older ones. One of the Little Owls was also in wing moult.

Little Owl newly banded.

Jenni banding Angie holding.

Angie banding and Jenni holding.

In the last few weeks we have had a couple of attempts at trapping Harriers. The first was a total failure not catching any. The second was a little better with 2 being caught. One was a recap, originally banded last May only a short distance from where it was recaptured. The other was a new second year male. The birds were caught together in the same trap which I thought was unusual. 

The new bird was another bird in wing moult.

The recaptured bird, still showing a little white on the back of its head but now has the yellow eye of an adult. 

Gill, one of a couple of visitors from the UK, about to release this bird.

Wrybill Banding Down South

 I have been away for most the year so far and have not done any banding. Hopefully there will be something in the next few weeks. 

Rachel who trained with me down in the Queenstown area has sent me some information and photos of her Wrybill banding. She now works with the Aspiring Biodiversity Trust and amongst other things monitors Wrybill on the Makarora River which is at the head of Lake Wanaka. I think this must be about the remotest Wrybill breeding area in the country. As well as weather and flood related problems this small flock has to contend with not only people walking but also driving and riding horses through nesting birds, not only Wrybill but also Black fronted Terns and Banded Dotterels. All these are threatened, endemic species.

One of the birds she monitors was originally banded up here in Canterbury over 11 years ago, not the oldest Wrybill on record which is 23 years but still a good age especially as it has to fly considerably further than most on its annual migration. Its chick is featured in some of the photos below.

Even as a small chick Wrybills have the bent bill of their species.

A little chick getting its weight taken.

Chicks have legs large enough to take a band at a very young age.

Their eggs are extremely well camouflaged amongst the river stones.

The old, banded bird. The band is on the right tibia.

All photos by Rachel Hufton

Not much banding this year - Have been on Holiday

 There hasn't been much banding going on so far in 2023. I have been away for most of it and am away again next week. There were some interesting rehab birds that I did band last week. Eight Little Owls were waiting for me when I got back from our holiday and were duly given their bling as was a Bellbird. The most interesting was a Crested Grebe which was a first for me. Its legs and feet are weird close up and the band has to be adapted to fit. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos which is a pity. 

The Bellbird back in its cage with its bling

The Crested Grebe sitting in its's pond on a Lily pad

One of the Little Owls getting ready to go back into the Aviary.

There were another 4 little Fantails in a nest at Jan's that were also banded. This makes 10 that this pair have raised, broods of 2, 4 & 4. Also managed to band the male of the pair.

Jan with one of her little Fantails

The 4 babies' ready to go back into their nest. 

We did set the Harrier traps on Friday but were completely unsuccessful with very few birds even seen. We were also disappointed when we checked out a report of a Harrier nest in a paddock of barley that had been harvested. It had 2 large chicks in it when it was found but by the time we got there it was empty.

The empty Harrier nest.

Not much Banding as we get ready to relax.

 There hasn't been much banding recently. We had planned to set traps in an attempt to catch Harriers yesterday but were thwarted by the weather. The plan was to set the traps at my niece's property near Southbridge. The forecast was for light rain to develop in the afternoon, but it arrived several hours early just as we were starting to set the traps up. The trapping attempt was abandoned, and we will be unlikely to try again until next year. 

We did manage to band some interesting birds last Tuesday when Jan, Ruud and I banded some interesting Puli. At the Cashmere Rd property there were 4 Little Owls in one of our nest boxes which were duly processed and returned to their box. This is the largest brood we have managed to band. 

Ruud removing the Owlets from their box

One of the little, Little Owls getting its bling

Dan the property owner looking very happy with one of "his" owls

 

A photo of one of the chicks taken a fortnight ago.

After the Owls we then went to the Quarry to check out a Kingfisher nest hole. Judging by last year's records I thought that the chicks would still be too small. I was wrong they were well feathered and ideal for banding. The 4 chicks duly received their bling while they squawked and pooped as Kingfisher chicks do. Interestingly last year in a nest hole in the same bank we banded 3 chicks on Jan 4, so about 20 days later than this year.

Jan, who had the smallest hands extracting the youngsters from their nest hole

.

The chicks were all well feathered, not like last year when there was a big variation.

Halswell Quarry - Thu 1 Dec In Japanese Garden

 We had a session amongst the ornamental Cherry Trees yesterday morning. These trees are a magnificent sight when in full flower in the spring. They then produce small fruit that are very sour (at least to my taste as I have tried them) however birds esp. Blackbirds find them to their liking. We set the nets up with near ideal conditions, little wind and overcast. Unfortunately, the cloud dispersed midmorning and the nets became very visible.

We didn't have a big catch, processing 17 birds but with 8 species at least there was some variety. All except 1 were new. Blackbirds our target species made up the bulk of the catch with 10 birds. Blackbirds are ideal for trainees who need experience in handling larger birds. Other species caught were 2 Bellbirds and 1 each of Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Song Thrush, Silvereye and Starling. The most interesting bird of the day was a recaptured Chaffinch the only recap of the day. It had been banded on 27 Oct 2018 and is now the oldest recaptured Chaffinch we have had. This is the first capture since it was banded, and it was banded about 200m from the recapture site.

Grant banding the first bird of the day

Stephanie with the first Bellbird she has banded

Della banding "her" Bellbird

We don't catch a lot of Goldfinch, this one was judged to be an adult female.

Juvenile Blackbird, surprisingly for this time of year as all the Blackbirds except 2 were old birds.

The only Recap for the day, the old Chaffinch.

As well as the above birds caught in mist nets, we have banded a number of nestlings over the last few days. Five Starlings in one of the Owl boxes, 3 Blackbirds and 4 little Fantails in nests at Jan's place.

We also have 4 little Owlets in a box at Cashmere Rd that hopefully will be large enough to band in a week or so.

One of the Owlets.