Tuesday 14 October 2014

Hornsey Rd & Houghton Bay Tuesday 14 Oct.

I set the funnel trap here this morning and had a mist netting session this afternoon at the Houghton Bay Stream. There was a big difference between the two sessions.

Hornsey Rd

Twenty one birds of 4 species were caught with 3 new birds and 18 recaptures. Two Blackbirds were recaptured and 1 new Dunnock, 1 new Starling, 1 new Silvereye and 16 recaps. The oldest 2 Silvereye recaps were banded together on 9 Sept 2010 and they were caught together again this morning. In the intervening 4+ years neither bird has been recaptured, perhaps they have something going on or perhaps they are just good friends.

Houghton Bay

A bit more variety was caught this afternoon with 31 birds of  7 species. I had a pretty busy time for the first hour or so until reinforcements arrived in the form of Kate and Mary, but then the flow of birds dropped to a trickle.  New birds caught were - Blackbird 1, Chaffinch 2, Goldfinch 3, Greenfinch 3, House Sparrow 4, Grey Warbler 1 and Silvereye 16. A Blackbird was the only recapture.
Kate banding a Silvereye under Mary's watchful gaze.

This bird is about an average weight but a number of the Silvereye caught especially this morning were on the light side. With many only just over 10 g and the lightest under  10 g

Colour Banded Tui

Yesterday I received a report together with a photo of a colour banded Tui seen at a sugar water feeder in Karori. The bird was banded at the Karori Cemetery on 27 June 2009 as a juvenile. Amazingly, although presumably living in the area for the last 5+ years, this is the first report of it. This site has also had another colour banded Tui there earlier this year except that one came from Island Bay which is in the opposite direction.
The colour banded Tui - image © D Shuker
 

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