A good days Harrier Banding.

 On Monday 25 March my twin brothers and I set traps to catch Harriers. Well actually one set the traps while we other two took a leisurely drive out to the Country. The first round of the traps was a little disappointing with a new bird and a Recap. After a coffee break thing picked up and we ended the day with 10 new birds banded and 4 recaptures. One of the recaps was only banded in the morning and then caught again in the afternoon in the same trap. Must be a bit of a slow learner.

The twins with one of the birds.

 The other three were a bit more interesting. One had been banded 29 May 20 23, 301 days before. The other two were banded in 2022, one on 6 July making it 628 days ago, and the other on 28 May, at 667 days. One of these birds has interesting eye markings with black lines at the bottom of each eye. This was noticed when it was originally captured and I had thought that with time they would fade, but they are still there with little noticeable change. I calculate that she was at least 3 years old when originally banded and now is at least in her 5th year so it looks likely that the eyes will remain with this feature.

25 Mar 24 (in body moult)

6 July 22 first time caught.

Amongst the new birds looks like an old male. It is like a lot of old males getting a bit pale in places.

Very white below.

It has a pale-yellow eye of an old bird.

We place traps on a number of properties and all the landowners are very supportive of our activities. Frequently stopping bye to catch up on the latest captures.  

A Rap of recent banding attempts.

 There has been a limited amount of banding in recent weeks with birds mostly feeding on the large amount of food available and not yet flocking to any extent. Harriers have only returned to this part of the country in any number in the last few weeks.

On Friday we had a session at the Halswell Quarry at what is usually a reliable site but only managed to band 7 birds. Three each of Dunnock and Chaffinch, and a solitary Silvereye. All were new and most were young birds.

Flight a relatively new bander looking happy with the first bird of the day.

Looking even happier with two birds.

 A couple of weeks ago we had an attempt to trap Harriers with only limited success. Three birds were caught 2 new and a recapture. The low rate of capture is I think at least partly my fault with the trap orientation being wrong and several birds failing to find the entrance funnel.

The three birds for the day all young females.

We have also banded 7 Spotted Shags that have been in rehab at the South Is. Wildlife Hospital. This is the largest number they have managed to rehabilitate. This is due to the dedication of Pauline the Manager and Senior Vet at the Hospital.

Pauline in control of the bitey bit.

Some recent banding and some failures.

 We haven't had any major banding sessions so far this year but have nevertheless banded a few birds.

About 10 days ago Ruud and I banded 3 Kingfisher puli in a nest at Living Springs near Governers Bay. This is at least a month later than we have banded nestling Kingfishers before.

Last Thursday Ruud and I went to the South Island Wildlife Hospital at Willowbank to band some rehabilitated birds before their release.  We banded 7 Little Owls and 4 Kingfishers. Most of the birds of both species seemed to have received their injuries from either having an accident on a road or flying into a window. The exception to this was two juvenile Little Owls that had been blown out of their tree.

Pauline the Vet and Manager at the Hospital banding one of the Kingfishers.

Ruud banding one of the Little Owls.

I recently banded a juvenile Black-fronted Tern that had been raised from a very small chick. It had been picked up in the Waimakariri Riverbed by a well-meaning man, who, because there was no sign of its parents taken it home. He ignored advice from DOC to return it and it eventually ended up with Jackie a bird rescue lady who raised it on whitebait until it was ready to fly. It was then taken to Orana Park and put into a flight aviary, which is where I banded it. A few days later it was released on the Ashley River in an area where there was a flock of Black-fronted Terns, including other juveniles. Despite the fact that it was habituated to humans the release appears to have been successful.

The bird the day after its release when it was roosting with its compatriots.

Its first flight doing a circuit of the area.

Showing off its bands.

Freshly banded.

A few days ago a photo was attached to an E Bird report of a Little Owl with a metal leg band. The photo was taken near Rangiora at a site where we had banded a brood of Little Owls and it is almost certainly one of these youngsters. It is good to know that it is surviving and interesting that it has not moved far from home. 

Unfortunately can't read the number but the band is definitely there.

 

Over the last few weeks we have made several attempts to catch and band Harriers. These have had only limited success with only three birds banded.  Two were at Phil's place at Motukarara and the other out at Lakeside.  

The last Harrier we have banded. A young female.

Final roundup for 2023 - Mostly Little Owl news.

 We have had no organised sessions for a while, mostly due to the sites we use at this time of year having very few birds. So mostly news about Little Owls and the banding of the usual Kingfisher Puli.

We were asked about six months ago if we could erect a couple of Owl nesting boxes at a site development where there were going to be several mature trees removed. The locals were concerned about the welfare of the resident Little Owls. Two boxes were duly erected then, when I went to check them about a month ago, it was found that one had been stolen. This theft must have taken some doing as the tree that the box was attached to was in a secure property. The thief would have had to have taken a long ladder over the fence and removed half a dozen large screws before retracing their steps. Unfortunately, the remaining box had no residents.

The Little Owl hat had been found on the road

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While I was recently away in Auckland, I received a message that a Little Owl fledgling had been found near the site. After much interchanging of messages, Ruud was the only person available to assist. After further discussion it was decided to place the bird in an old mailbox with the hope that its parents would find it. Unfortunately during the following night it died. After examining photos Ruud took and a discussion with him it was apparent that the bird had left the nest prematurely and was in poor health.

 

On my return to Christchurch, I decided to recheck the remaining box and have a look around. I was just in the process of getting the ladder into position when a lady called out and asked if I was interested in Owls. After a discussion with her it emerged that she had taken her 2-year-old Grandson to the Kids Playground across the road where they had found a baby Owl curled up on some of the equipment. Jan (who had come to assist me) and I retrieved the youngster and finding it in good health with a full crop banded it and placed it securely in the nearest tree. 

The little fella in its new temp home on a bed of dry woodchips.

Being held by Jan after being banded.

Yesterday Ruud and I with the assistance of 2 of his Grandsons banded a brood of five Kingfisher Puli. The nest was in the usual old bank/wall at the Quarry that has been used for at least the last five years. One of Ruud's Grandsons with his small hand did the extractions, but only just.

The last and smallest KF to be banded.

We also took the opportunity to check the Owl Box where we had banded four chicks a couple of weeks ago. There was only one left and it looked ready to fledge and join its siblings in the big wide world.

As it was 35 days ago

Now ready to fledge at about 36 days from hatching

I recently had a report from The Banding Office of an old Tui that I banded when I was living and banding in Wellington. It had been banded on13 March 2014 and was found dead near its banding site on 29 Nov 2023. At 3558 days between banding and recovery it was a pretty old bird.

Wish you all the best for the festive season and for 2024.

Some "Little" Little Owls and a few others

 Over the last few days we have banded seven Little Owlets in two of our specially designed nesting boxes. This is our highest number banded in a year. The first 3 to be banded were in a box on the outskirts of Rangiora. This box was erected about 18 months ago and appeared to have been used last spring but unfortunately access problems prevented us from checking it out properly. We were more successful this year. On Monday we were able to gain access and got a bit of a surprise as the three chicks were of a bandable size. I had expected them to be much smaller with their mother still in attendance, and hoping to band her also. With the aid of a borrowed ladder and a workshop bench we were able to band the three youngsters.

Collecting the victims

Yesterday, Tuesday, Jan and I checked the occupied box at our Cashmere Rd site and found that the four chicks there, although slightly smaller than the Rangiora birds, were still bandable so they duly received their bling.

One of the chicks had what appeared to be a half-swallowed wing protruding from its beak.

A week or so ago we had a banding session at the Halswell Quarry using the same net sites as the previous session. As is usually the case numbers were down, but we still managed to process 15 birds.  Except for 2 recaps all were new but these 2 were interesting. A Chaffinch that was banded on 12 Sept 2019 is now at 1533 days our oldest recapture of this species. The other was a House Sparrow that had been banded 25 May 2018 and at 2008 days a reasonable old bird but it is not our oldest.

Yesterday I received a message from the Banding Office about the death of a Tui that I had banded when I was banding near Queenstown on 20 Sept. 2019. It was found about 3km from its banding site but other details a bit sketchy because of the way it was reported.

No Banding sessions but some youngsters banded including a new species for the group.

 We haven't had any sessions for a couple of weeks but there have been a number of young birds receive their bling.

Starling, - we have banded 17 puli, all were in nest boxes. Phil banded 10 in his boxes at his place in Motukarara  and I have banded 7. 3 in a neighbour's box and 4 in one of my boxes. We are likely to band some more when we recheck the Little Owl boxes, as many have been taken over by Starlings.

One of the newly banded Starlings.

Song Thrush - 9 banded, 5 in a nest at the Quarry. The nest was found during our last session, but the chicks were too small to band. Ruud and I went back a week or so later to give them their bling. Ruud also banded 4 in a nest at his property.

Welcome Swallow - Ruud banded 4 in a nest at a friend's property near the Quarry.

Spur-winged Plover - There was a successful nest on one of the playing fields at the Halswell Domain and Ruud suggested that it might be possible to catch a couple of the youngsters. He proved to be correct and 2 were duly banded. They take the same size bands as the Little Owls do and this gave us a chance to try out a new band designated as EP, which is from a different manufacturer from the old E bands.

Yours truly banding his first Spur-winged Plover.

The chick with it's bling.

Even at this age the "Mask" is developing.

Little Owls - We currently have 2 birds incubating eggs, 1 at Kenny's place in North Canterbury and 1 at our Cashmere Rd site. Both birds had been banded a year ago. The one at Kennys was unsuccessful in raising chicks but the Cashmere Rd bird raised 4 chicks to fledging. Interestingly both birds have changed boxes. We also have another active nest box but have been unable to gain access to it. Hopefully we will get to check it in the next week or so.

We got a bit of a surprise to find a band already on the leg.

 

Halswell Quarry Friday 20 Oct. An enjoyable morning and a couple of old birds.

 We had a banding session near the middle car park of the Quarry yesterday. With very comfortable conditions, perhaps a bit much bright sun but I didn't hear anyone complaining about that. With several of the nets in the shade the lack of wind was a big advantage. With Della, Vanessa, Ruud and Chris we had a small but very experienced team of banders and Jan was our chief helper out.

It wasn't a big catch with 23 birds processed, 16 being new and 7 recaptures. The recapture rate was, I think, very good and included a couple of reasonable old birds. Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)

Chaffinch - 1 (1)

The new bird was a young female.

Silvereye - 2 (1)

House Sparrow - 7 (3) one of the recaps was banded 10 May 2018 and at 1989 days our 2nd oldest House Sparrow recaptured at about a month short of beating the oldest bird which is the oldest of any species.

Blackbird - 4 (3) another old bird amongst the recaps. It was banded 25 May 2018 and it is now our oldest Blackbird recap.

Surprising all the Blackbirds were older birds with no juveniles caught.

An attempt to catch Yellowhammers.

A couple of weeks ago a large flock of Yellowhammers was found feeding on the Rugby League field at the Halswell Domain. A few days later Ruud and I had a not very successful attempt to catch some. Our timing was poor as the field had been mown the afternoon before, cutting off all the seeding weeds. As well there were two vehicles roaring around re-marking the field and spraying around all the edges.

We ended up catching only 7 birds, 5 yellowhammers 1 House Sparrow and a Starling.

One of the Yellowhammers, aged as a young bird.

The Starling was a female, probably breeding in the area.