Wednesday 15 June 2016

Back in Queenstown

We have been back in Queenstown now for several days and I have managed to get a bit of banding in. I have had a couple of sessions here and a couple in the neighbours apple orchard where there are a lot of apples left on the trees. Silvereyes are at the moment in large numbers in this orchard.
There are still heaps of apples to keep birds well fed.

Have caught 106 birds of 9 species with 89 new and 17 recaptures.
Combined totals for all sessions are - (Recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 1
Song Thrush - 1 (1)
Chaffinch - 1 (1)
House Sparrow 12 (3)
Dunnock - 2 (1)
Bellbird - 5 (1) All were males, Have now banded 25 birds here and all but 3 have been males.
Two male Bellbirds
Tui - 5 (2) although not as biased as Bellbirds males also dominate the catch. I have run out of bands for them and am waiting on some more from the Banding Office. When I first started banding here I hadn't expected to catch Tui and didn't bring any YP bands for males. After catching one and releasing it unbanded I got some bands for them expecting to catch half a dozen or so. I have now banded 32 and there are still unbanded birds about.
A male Tui

A Tui caught in a net would make a good candidate for an "Angry Birds" show.
Silvereye - 61 (8) the majority have been caught in the apple orchard next door.
Grey Warbler - 1

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