Another Harrier Update

 Things have been a little quiet on the banding front lately especially with Passerine banding due to rubbish weather and a lack of catchable birds. The only ones have been caught by Ruud at his place when he got a bit bored and put a net up for some practice. He didn't catch much but did recapture a couple of Silvereyes that are almost certainly a pair. They were both banded on the 1 Aug 2019 at Jan's, which is only a about 100m from the recapture site so have probably stayed together for at least several years.

One of Jan's/Ruud's old Silvereyes

We have also attempted to catch some more Harriers with varied success. We have set the trap at Phils on several occasions with only one attempt being successful with two birds caught.  Both sessions were of short duration due to inclement weather. This week we have also set traps on two occasions near Southbridge with four traps set each time. On Monday we had some success with 3 birds caught, Two young birds caught together and an adult female. All were caught in the same trap and I suspect the older bird is the 2 youngsters' mother. Yesterday (11 May) we again set the traps with even less success, with the only catch being the recapture of the adult from 3 days before. The poor result was not because of a lack of birds as we had a number inspecting the traps but not going in. Perhaps they are not hungry at the moment having feasted on some of the duck hunters' mistakes.

The under wing of the Adult showing the moult progress.

The adult with a yellow eye

One of the young birds with its brown eye.

We have had a couple of birds we banded featured on TV this week. If you watched "Seven Sharp" on TV 1 last evening, you might have seen an article on Raptors being presented to a school in Timaru. The two stars were a Harrier and a Little Owl. The keen eyed amongst you might have seen that both birds were banded. This was done at the NZ Raptor Trust property in Timaru with our help.

The TV Star being held by her trainer.

Angie banding the TV star.

Banding Update - March, April

 We haven't been doing a lot of banding over the last month or so. It mostly consisted of a couple of Hospital visits and some Harrier banding.

The Hospital visits were not thankfully of the human kind but wildlife ones. The first was to the South Island Wildlife Hospital at Willowbank. This was the only session with much variety. There was a Kingfisher, 2 Harriers, 2 Little Owls and 2 Moreporks. The latter were the most interesting for me. Pauline who is the Vet and manager of the hospital now does most of the banding, but I pulled rank and banded the first Morepork. I had not banded one before, have caught several in mist nets but was not able to band them as my permit did not cover that particular site. Pauline banded the rest and is becoming very competent. 

The second Hospital visit was to the NZ Raptor Trust in Timaru where there were 7 Harriers waiting for their bling. These were duly banded by Angie and Jenni who are also becoming good at banding these birds.

Angie bands a bird while Jenni holds the dangerous bits.

Most of the birds were youngsters who have yet to learn that cars are dangerous.

We have also caught a number of Harriers at two of our local sites. At Phil's place in Motukarara we have banded 7 birds and recaptured another twice. This is proving a great site for Harriers, not sure if they are all local or if this property is on a flight path, perhaps between Lake Ellesmere and Banks Peninsula.

One of the Motukarara birds saying "If you touch me I will bite your nose off"

In the Lakeside area near Leeston we banded a couple of birds. This was actually a bit disappointing as there were a number of birds about and we had several traps set. Both birds were caught at the same time in the same trap. One was an adult female and the other a young male, I suspect they might have been Mother and Son. There were also two other birds waiting to possibly enter the trap.

Two birds in a trap.

The Young male with its brown eye.

The Older Female with a Yellow eye.

PJ Holding the male.

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.