Zoo Monday 29 June - The other end.

A group of us had a session this morning at the other end of the Zoo from our usual net sites. We caught 59 birds of 5 species with 37 new and 22 recaps. Among the recaps were a couple of interesting birds.

Most of the team, Ros, Brendon, Henk, George and Andrea. Anneke arrived just after the photo was taken

Blackbird -1 (1) The recap proved to be the highlight of the day. It was banded as a nestling on 29 Dec 2005 and is at 3469 days the 3rd oldest Blackbird. The 2 older birds are both dead so this bird still has the chance of taking the record.
Greenfinch - 5 (0)
House Sparrow - 3 (0)
Silvereye - 26 (21) Two of the recaps were over 5 years, one was banded in April 2010 with its only other recapture a month after banding. The other was banded May 2007, and this bird has been recaptured regularly with the last time 9 days ago.
Tui - 2 (0)

Henk banding one of the Tui.

A Recovery

I arrived home to receive a recovery report from the Banding Office of a Tui which had been banded at the Zoo on  1 Aug 2009, so 4 birds over 5 years in one day was pretty good.