NZ Banding Office Newsletters

Michelle of the Banding Office has recently produced two interesting and informative newsletters on bird banding in New Zealand. If you follow the links below you should get to them.

Many of you who have been following this blog for a while will recognize things in many of the articles reported and also many of the people involved. Including a Sparrow on Flicka, Monica's Kereru project and the dedicated Kate.

BirDBanD Oct 2016: http://www.osnz.org.nz/sites/osnz.org.nz/files/Banding%20Newsletter%20Oct%202016.pdf

BirDBanD Jan 2017: http://www.osnz.org.nz/sites/osnz.org.nz/files/Banding%20Newsletter%20Jan%202017_0.pdf

Queenstown - More Sparrows & Redpolls

We are back in Christchurch now but I managed to get a few more birds banded before we left. A very similar result as reported in the last post. A couple of morning sessions near the house where the birds caught were mostly House Sparrows both new and recaps. Also another session down at the stream where the majority of birds were juvenile Redpolls. With a total of 9 species caught there was a little variety, although most species were represented by very low numbers. The combined total was 86 birds of 12 species with 66 new and 20 recaptures.

Blackbird - 3 (2)
Song Thrush - 3 (0) includes the first caught at the stream.
Dunnock - 4 (0)
Chaffinch - (0)
Goldfinch - 1 (0)

The Goldfinch, an adult male that has probably been feeding on unripe thistles.

Greenfinch - 3 (0)
Redpoll - 28 (0) the only banded one seen was a well marked male that was clinging to the net but flew off as I reached out to secure it.
House Sparrow - 19 (16) surprisingly included were a number of older birds including both the oldest male and female recaps.
Yellowhammer - 1 (0)

The Yellowhammer was an adult female (I think)

Starling - 1 (1) The recap is the oldest one caught.

The Starling recap, an adult male

Silvereye - 2 (0)
Tui - 0 (1) A bird banded near the house and only the 2nd one caught at the stream.

We have to go up to Nelson for a family wedding so won't get back down again for a month or so.

Queenstown - A bit of variety

Although dominated by two species there has been a bit of variety in banding over the last few days. Eleven species were caught during sessions near the house and one at the stream site. A total of 67 birds caught with 52 new birds and 15 recaptured. The House sessions were dominated by House Sparrows and the Stream session by Redpolls.

Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 2 (0)

One of the Blackbirds had a very tatty tail and probably has trouble steering.

Song Thrush - 1 (0)
House Sparrow - 16 (11)
Dunnock - 3 (0)
Greenfinch - 2 (1) this is the first Greenfinch recaptured here so at a mammoth 17 days is the oldest for the species.

The Greenfinch recap.

Goldfinch - 2 (0)
Chaffinch - 2 (1)
Redpoll - 22 (0) mostly juveniles but a sprinkling of older birds.

One of the older Redpolls, a well coloured male.

A "Golden Crowned" Redpoll

Yellowhammer - 1 (0)
Silvereye - 1 (1)
Bellbird - 0 (1) the second Bellbird banded here and now the oldest for the species.

Queenstown - Final round up for 2016 and a start to 2017

I have crunched the numbers of birds banded down here for last year. A total of 1290 new birds of 17 species were banded and 465 recaptures of 14 species were made. The recap tally includes multiple captures of the same bird. This compares with 533 new birds and 194 recaptures made in the last 4 months of 2015. (Banding started in Sept)

Species caught were - (Recaps in brackets)

1. House Sparrow - 422 (170) Also No 1 last year
2. Redpoll - 257 (17)  No 7 last year. Numbers were boosted by a large number of juveniles caught at the stream at the bottom of the property.
3. Silvereye - 227 (55) Down from 2nd
4. Tui - 62 (46) Up from 12th. The big mover and a pleasant surprise.
5. Chaffinch - 61 (29) Down from 3rd
6. Dunnock - 58 (44) 5th last year
7. Blackbird - 57 (47) 4th last year
8. Bellbird - 37 (43) another big mover, 14th last year. Almoat all males.
9. Greenfinch - 29 (0) 11th in 2015, might get a recap one day.
10. Yellowhammer - 28 (6) down from 8th.
11. Song Thrush - 17 (5) A  big drop from 6th.
12. Goldfinch - 16 (2) 10th last year.
13. Starling - 10 (1) 9th last year.
14. Grey Warbler - 3 (0) new for 2016.
15. Californian Quail - 3 (0) new
16. Kingfisher - 2 (0) 13th in 2015. There appears to hve been a big drop in numbers this Spring/Summer with no breeding pairs as against 3 or 4 last year.
17. Fantail - 1 (0) new. Surprised not more are not caught.

I won't be here as much this year so numbers for 2017 might be down a bit.

First session for 2017

I went down to the stream on Monday for a bit of a look and as there were a few birds about put a couple of nets up. Was pleasantly surprised to catch 24 birds. Most were Redpolls with 19, also 2 Greenfinch, 1 Starling, 1 Goldfinch and a House Sparrow recap.

Queenstown - The last session for the year

No banding today but I had nets up yesterday morning and managed to catch 28 birds of 6 species. Fourteen were new and fourteen recaps. Amongst those caught were several starting to moult their primary wing feathers which was a bit of a surprise.

Birds caught were -
Blackbird - 0 (1) this bird was banded on the third day banding here and was the oldest bird recaptured for about an hour.
Song Thrush - 1 (0) a bird starting to moult.

The Thrush was moulting the right wing out of the usual order, although the left was in the ususl sequence.

Chaffinch - 3 (1)
Redpoll - 0 (1) a female banded as an unsexed juvenile back at the begining of March, now starting to moult, but still surprisingly has a prominant brood patch.

The Redpolls moulting right wing.

House Sparrow - 9 (11) a number of juveniles starting to moult but no older birds. One of the recaps was banded on the first day of banding here and is now the oldest bird recaptured here.

One of the moulting H Sparrows

Tui - 0 (1)
Califoronian Quail - 1 (0) the third banded here and the first male.

The male Cal Quail - a real handsome dude.

I wish you all the best for the new year. For me 2016 has been an interesting and enjoyable year and I look forward to 2017.

Queenstown - Sparrows by the dozen

I have had several banding attempts over the last few days with some success, mostly with Sparrows. On Monday I had nets up for the morning and caught 62 birds which is the highest total for a day. As expected at this net site the majority were Juv House Sparrows. On Tuesday it was a bit windy for nets but I did catch some birds in the neighbours hen house, again mostly Sparrows but also a couple of Blackbird recaps. Both were interesting. One had held the record for the oldest bird caught here, it still holds it but now by a few more days. The other was one of the pulus I banded a couple of months ago. Great to know it has survived at least for this period. Yesterday I had nets up for an hour or so until the wind got too strong, but still manged 16 birds.

The combined totals for the 3 days was -
Blackbird - 1 (6)
Dunnock - 0 (1)
House Sparrow - 49 (20)Mostly juveniles but there were a number of older birds.

This juvenile Sparrow was in the process of renewing some of its tail feathers

A number of Sparrows have very prominent fault/growth bars on their tails.

A few of the juvenile male Sparrows are starting to show their "true colours"

Goldfinch - 1 (0)
Chaffinch - 3 (3)
Starling - 1 (0)

The Starling, the first caught for a while was sexed as a female by its white eye ring.

Bellbird - 1 (0)

I think the Bellbird was a year old bird due to eye colour but not 100% sure.

Tui - 1 (1)
I was hoping to have caught some fledgling Bellbird or/and Tui by now but all those caught were older birds, mostly old boys.

Queenstown - a few more birds

I put up a couple of nets this morning in a differant site than usual, mainly to get away from Sparrows for a change and to try for a few differant birds. Only caught 9 birds but some were interesing.

Birds caught were - a new Dunnock and a recently banded one, two new Chaffinch and a Song Thrush. Three Blackbird recaps, one was banded a few months ago, but DP-6306 was banded as an adult male on the third day banding here and at 656 days from banding is not only the oldest Blackbird but the oldest of any species recaptured. Caught at the same time was DP-6309, a female which had been banded the following day and is now the oldest female BB and the second oldest of any species.

The final bird caught was a bit of a surprise, a banded Redpoll which had been banded back in February as an unsexed juvenile. It is now clearly identifiable as a male although differently coloured than normal. This bird is now the oldest Redpoll recaptured beating the old record by a couple of hundred days.

The recap Redpoll with an orange breast instead of the usual red.

I will not be doing any banding untill at least next week and possibly not untill next year so I hope you all have a great and safe festive season.