Late November

After last week's 28 birds we went banding with a spring in our step (or we would have, if it wasn't 4am at the time) and managed to catch another 28 birds this weekend on the 28th of November. We had a load of interesting things to keep us busy throughout the morning.

The morning started strong with a Red Wattlebird and only our second Australian Reed-warbler of the season. 

The Reed-warbler was aged as a 2 (in its second year of life) due to the condition of the feathers especially the tail, and the colour of the bird.
The plumage overall was fairly heavily worn, especially the central tail feathers (rectrices). These central rectrices are the last vestiges of the bird's juvenile plumage which was attained when it left the nest during the breeding season last year. At the end of that breeding season the bird underwent a partial post-juvenile moult, excluding the central rectrices. It has gone for most of a year in this plumage so looks well worn, however it has had the central rectrices for over a year and they are noticeably more worn.
Because is still has the juvenile feathers we can say it was born last year so is over 12 months old (age 2).

Australian Reed-warbler age 2.

The central pair of tail feathers are heavily worn - retained from juvenile plumage most of which was replaced during the post-juvenile moult (as seen in the rest of the tail feathers).

The duck net was productive as usual and it caught Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal and a very uncommon bird for the Herdsman Lake project - Australian Ringneck.
Parrots are always a delight to extract from waterbird mist nets nets as the mesh is large enough for the bird's head to go through and you have to somehow hold onto its head to avoid getting bitten and simultaneously get the net off the angry parrot's head. It was worth the hassle; I don't have access to the data right now but we've only banded a handful of Ringnecks at Herdsman over the years.

Parrots usually don't present well for photos as you need a constant grip on the head, but this wing was too beautiful to miss. Here it shows an unusual primary moult pattern, Staffelmauser or stepwise moult, with two sections of primaries being moulted simultaneously.

A Purple Swamphen managed to find its way into a small-mesh mist net and we were lucky enough to reach it before it escaped. Other birds through the day included a smattering of passerines and five retrapped Yellow-rumped Thornbills which made for some good comparisons of older and younger birds.

Yellow-rumped Thornbills adult age 2+ (left) and juvenile (right). The adult bird was in moult and showed new and old adult-style feathers. The juvenile had a well-marked crown for its age, but the feather shape and tail pattern indicated a juvenile.

Tails of Yellow-rumped Thornbills adult age 2+ (left) and juvenile (right). Note the strong demarcation between white and black on the outer tail feather of the adult compared to the weak demarcation on the juvenile's outer tail feather.

On a final happy note the Willie Wagtail pulli that we banded last week are growing fast and looking very big! They were very active, standing up in the very crowded nest and begging for food from the parents.
The next morning they had fledged!

Willie Wagtail fledglings. Photo by Jennie Stock

Fledgling being fed by one of its parents. Both parents are also banded! Photo by Jennie Stock

Species - New (retrap)
Australian Reed-warbler - 1
Australian Ringneck - 1
Brown Honeyeater - 2
Grey Teal - 1
Pacific Black Duck - 2
Purple Swamphen - (1)
Red Wattlebird - 1
Rufous Whistler - (1)
Silvereye - 5 (5)
Singing Honeyeater - 1
Willie Wagtail - 2
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - (5)
Total - 16 (12) = 28

Wagtail Nestlings and Whistlers

 At last a morning that broke the 20 birds mark! That doesn't sound like much of an achievement but the last half-dozen sessions yielded less than that.

The duck net caught three of a family of five Australian Wood Ducks, including both parents. A Grey Teal was caught late in the morning.

Despite the wind the rest of the nets kept up a steady trickle of birds including Grey Fantail, Yellow-rumped Thornbill and two Rufous Whistlers.

Adult female Rufous Whistler. Note the all black bill and the red eye. The streaking on the throat is not well shown in this picture, but is not as dark and thick as juvenile birds.

The back of the female whistler. Tail shape is an important character in ageing these birds - this one had broad, round-tipped feathers typical of adults.

We had a rare opportunity to band some Willie Wagtail pulli (nestlings). Willie Wagtails have a tendency to nest in strange places and this was no exception - in a tree right next to the public footpath and within arm's reach from the ground.
Looking at the nestlings we could see that they were at the perfect age to be banded. That is, when the feathers have just started emerging from their sheaths. Before this the birds are too small, and much later than this the birds are big enough to try and leave the nest. The three pulli were quickly banded and the parents were happily attending to them the next time I walked past.
This was also a good learning experience for our trainee banders as we don't get to band nestlings often at Herdsman.

The growing feathers have just broken tips of the feather sheaths - the perfect age for pullus banding.

Willie Wagtail pulli, ready to be banded.

Species - New (retrap)
Australian Wood Duck - 3
Brown Honeyeater - 1 (1)
Grey Fantail - (1)
Grey Teal - 1
New Holland Honeyeater - (2)
Rufous Whistler - (2)
Silvereye - 4 (5)
Willie Wagtail - 3
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - (4)
Total - 12 (15) = 28

Quiet November Banding

Another quiet November Saturday. The temperature quickly rose past 30 degrees, heading for a maximum of 38, so banding was finished by 9am.

Two of the Silvereye retraps were first encountered in 2009 and in 2010. The Grey Fantail, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, New Holland Honeyeater and some Silvereyes were all first-year birds.

Juvenile Grey Fantail

Yellow-rumped Thornbill in first year.
Note the grey eye, dull spots on the forehead and contrast in colour between the old and new (growing) tail feathers.

 Some of us (mainly me) were kept entertained by a caterpillar doing a rather convincing imitation of a leaf petiole. The trick worked well when it was sitting on a stick, rather than the end of my finger!

Species - new (retrap)
Grey Fantail - 1
New Holland Honeyeater - 1
Pacific Black Duck - 1 (1)
Silvereye - 4 (4)
Willy Wagtail - (1)
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - 1
Total - 8 (6) = 14

Early November

November started with little fanfare or excitement on the banding front. Two banding trips were both very quiet, with the exception of two Laughing Kookaburras caught in the reed bed which loudly expressed their distaste of the situation.

Only one bird on Wednesday was a new bird - the rest were all recaptures, even the duck and the kookaburras.

Laughing Kookaburra

Wed 4/11
Species - new (retrap)
Laughing Kookaburra - (2)
Pacific Black Duck - (1)
Silvereye - 1 (3)
Total - 1 (6) = 7

Sat 7/11
Species - new (retrap)
Brown Honeyeater - 1
Pacific Black Duck - 1
Silvereye - 2 (2)
Striated Pardalote - 1
Western Gerygone - 1 (1)
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - (2)
Total - 6 (5) = 11

Reed Bed Ringing

On the last day of October we attempted to best our record October catch at Herdsman. We needed just over 50 birds to do so and hopes were high after catching so many during the last few weeks. Alas, it was not to be and we only caught a handful of birds despite our best efforts.

The usual nets on the mound were not put up due to nesting bee-eaters and the bottlebrush trees in the car park were finished flowering, so produced few birds. No Red Wattlebirds were caught; surprising after catching so many less than a week ago.

We used the quiet morning to reinstate the reed bed nets after a lengthy break where the water level was too high. The reed bed was much drier than anticipated and few birds were caught there, but we did catch our first Australian Reed-warbler for the year.

Australian Reed-warbler adult (age 2+)

Of particular interest this week was a Silvereye retrapped during the banding demonstration on Wednesday. Checking the records showed that the bird was originally banded in November 2006, almost 10 years ago! An exceptional bird falling slightly short of the time-elapsed record for a Silvereye at Herdsman Lake.

Species - new (retrap)
Australian Reed-warbler - 1
Brown Honeyeater - 1
Laughing Dove - 1
Shining Bronze-cuckoo - (1)
Silvereye - 3 (3)
Striated Pardalote - 1
Western Gerygone - 1
Total - 8 (4) = 12

Churchlands Primary School Banding Demonstration

We had a great day on Wednesday giving a banding demonstration to the Pre-Primary and Kindy kids of Churchlands Primary School. As the school is right across the road from Herdsman Lake this was a fantastic opportunity for the kids to learn about the birds in their local environment and the importance of Herdsman Lake in the Perth area, as well as see some of the smaller bush birds up close. We managed to catch a Silvereye, Yellow-rumped Thornbill and New Holland Honeyeater to show which the kids loved. A large focus of the talk was on working scientifically. The classes learned about the aims of the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme and we showed how we conduct our research at the lake by applying a band to the bird's leg and demonstrating how we take all the measurements and record data. Some lucky kids even got the chance to help release a bird back into the bush. The day was a success all round, and hopefully we inspired some budding ornithologists to grab some binoculars and get out there!

Showing the wing and moult
of a New Holland Honeyeater

Too big for a Honeyeater - showing the
different sizes of bands

Releasing a Silvereye

Photos: Calan Rance

"Dear Lizzie, Thankyou for showing
nearly all the birds, and we saw a
 Bee-eater hole and for teaching
...how to measure its fat."

"Dear Lizzie, Thankyou for showing us the birds
they are so cute and looked so cuddly.
I like the Silvereye bird the most. I also
 loved when you measured its head."

Earlier in the morning before the classes arrived we still conducted a normal banding session and had a slow but steady October catch. The highlight of the morning was another Bee-eater (with interesting tail moult leading us to age it as a 2-), which was unfortunately just that bit too early for the kids to see.

Tail of a 2- Rainbow Bee-eater

Breakdown  28/10/2015:

Silvereye: 4 new, 7 retraps
Singing Honeyeater: 1 new
New Holland Honeyeater: 1 new
Yellow-rumped Thornbill: 2 new, 1 retraps
Rainbow Bee-eater: 1 new
Laughing Dove: 1 retrap
TOTAL: 9 new + 9 retrap = 18