Halswell Quarry Thu 27 Oct - a good morning and a new species

 We had a session in the Conservation area of the Quarry this morning with very good conditions, overcast with very little wind. There was the odd spot of rain but fortunately it didn't come to anything. Twenty-two birds of 7 species were caught with all but one being new.

Birds caught were -

House Sparrow - 5

Greenfinch - 8

Redpoll - 2 

these are the first Redpolls we have caught at the Quarry. Others have been caught nearby and they are regularly seen within the quarry and probably breed there but until now we haven't caught any. Although they could have been a pair, they were caught in separate nets at least an hour apart.

The male in bright breeding plumage.

The female Redpoll being extracted from the net.

The female being banded

Starling - 1

Silvereye - 1 new and a recap that had been banded at the same spot a couple of years ago.

Song Thrush - 3 one an adult caught in a net and 2 Puli from a nest that eagle eyed Jan spotted.

Fantail - 1. In the last few days, we have also banded 3 Fantails at Jan's place which adjoins the Quarry, 2 Puli from a nest and 1 of their parents. 

Jan proudly holding the Fantail

Fantail ready for release

A couple of Little Owls Banded

 We have recently banded two Little Owls, both presumed females, in nest boxes each with 3 eggs.

The first was at our Cashmere Rd site. It was in the same nest box as the birds banded last year but to my surprise it was unbanded and we had banded an adult a year ago. According to the reference books it is the female that incubates during the day so unless this bird is an exception to this rule it is a new female. If anyone knows if this is correct, could you please let me know.

The Cashmere Rd Bird.

The other bird was in a box erected by Kenny at his property in Loburn. In my opinion he had erected the box in a completely unsuitable place. I spend hours trying to work out the best place to erect boxes with very limited success and Kenny sticks one up and has almost immediate success. I think I might have to change my strategy.

Kenny and one of his sons Stanley had built the box from plans taken from the internet. The box was erected high up in a sapling eucalypt tree at a height that I wouldn't even attempt. One of the main considerations being that they wanted to be able to observe any activity from the house. Kenny in a previous life was an Arborists so had no trouble erecting the box and checking it. 

Kenny and Stanley with their Little Owl

Kenny making his way up to the box.

Kenny banding the bird

Kenny replacing the bird in the nest box

 

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.