Saturday 3 May 2014

Karori Cemetery 3 May - Blackbirds & Tui

A group of us gathered at the Karori Cemetery this morning.  The first couple of hours were a bit frustrating as despite a good forecast we had periods of misty drizzle. Consequently the nets were slow in being erected but despite this we still had a reasonable catch of 14 birds.
Katherine banding a Tui with the sharp bits controlled by Dave and Otis keeping an eye on progress.
Most were Blackbirds with 9 new and a recap.  The recap was the same one we caught a couple of weeks ago and it still holds the record for the oldest bird recaptured at this site now extended by 12 days.
One new Silvereye was caught and 3 Tui. The first Tui caught was in heavy moult in all areas - the first one caught moulting this year. By the notch in P8 it was judged to be a bird in its first year.
The Tui wing showing P7 growing and P8 with a small notch
Yesterday I retrieved a dead banded Tui from the road, probably the result of being hit by a car. It had been banded in Nov 2012 as a first year so would now be aged as a 4. The bird was in pristine condition having just completed its moult so I took the opportunity to take a photo of the wing to show the development of the notch of a known aged bird.
The wing of the dead bird showing the bigger notch of an adult.

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