Silvereye Season

The day started off poorly as we discovered that all of the paths leading to the mound (our most regular net site) were closed off. So we ran just six nets in the Grove and one duck net over the drain, and then good things happened!

A Little Pied Cormorant was the only bird caught in the duck net and it was a retrap from 7 months ago when it was age 1. The bird had appeared to have an unusual style of primary moult (although perhaps not unusual in cormorants) starting from approximately P4/5 and continuing in both directions from that point. Our bird was near the end of moult with P1 and P9 growing.

Little Pied Cormorant

Despite having relatively few nets up, we had the largest catch of the year so far; 94 birds.
The first bird of the morning was a female Variegated Fairy-wren, banded in winter 2012.

The vast majority of these were Silvereyes and we were pleased to control two birds from nearby Bold Park in the mix (identified by red colour bands which are used at Bold Park). These were both first-year birds so quite likely joining in the mass movement of young Silvereyes through Perth. The other 71 Silvereyes were mainly young birds and only two were retraps.

One of the Silvereyes from Bold Park

A young White-browed Scrubwren was caught later in the morning, which is a very unusual bird for Herdsman Lake. I remember catching one a year or two ago and it stayed in the area for a few weeks (we retrapped it a couple of times) before moving elsewhere.

White-browed Scrubwren

Species - New (retrap) [control]
Brown Honeyeater - 2
Grey Fantail - 1
Little Pied Cormorant - (1)
Silvereye - 69 (2) [2]
Striated Pardalote - 3
Variegated Fairy-wren - (1)
White-browed Scrubwren - 1
Willie Wagtail - 11 (1)
Total - 87 (5) [2] = 94

More Than Just a Hobby

16th of January: Another hot day with an early finish, however this didn't seem to deter the birds. Tree Martins were flying low in large flocks and we managed to get 20 of these gorgeous birds in the mound nets, as well as an Australian Hobby later in the morning! Other than the martins, numbers were fairly low compared to recent weeks however it all averaged out to a good catch of 48 as we had a staggering 16 species.
Other highlights were Shining Bronze-cuckoo, Rainbow Bee-eater juveniles, Grey Teal and Laughing Kookaburra. Surprisingly we only caught 4 Silvereyes.

Australian Hobby

Species - New (retrap)
Australian Hobby - 1
Brown Honeyeater - 1
Grey Teal - 2
Laughing Kookaburra - 1
Pacific Black Duck - 1
Rainbow Bee-eater - 3
Red Wattlebird - 1
Rufous Whistler - 3
Sacred Kingfisher - 2
Shining Bronze-cuckoo - 1
Silvereye - 2 (2)
Striated Pardalote - 2 (1)
Tree Martin - 20
Western Gerygone - (1)
Willie Wagtail - 3
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - (1)
 Total - 43 (5) = 48

First banding of 2016

Despite high temperatures, the first couple of banding sessions of 2016 (6 and 9 January) were excellent. Silvereyes are starting to move through again and most of these are first-year birds. We are getting very few recaptures of the Silvereyes that were resident during Oct-Nov last year.

On Wednesday the 6th we caught 25 birds including Grey Teal, Sacred Kingfisher and Tree Martin. A young Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo (the first since 2013) was the highlight.

Juvenile Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo showing the dark ear-stripe and rufous tail.

Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo

Species - New (retrap)
Brown Honeyeater - (1)
Grey Teal - 2
Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo - 1
Laughing Dove - 1 (1)
Pacific Black Duck - 1 (1)
Rufous Whistler - (1)
Sacred Kingfisher - (1)
Silvereye - 5 (1)
Singing Honeyeater - 4
Tree Martin - 1
Willie Wagtail - 3
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - 1
Total - 19 (6) = 25


On Saturday the 9th we had more banders available and were able to put up more nets, resulting in a catch of 54 birds! Of particular significance was the Herdsman Lake project's first ever Australasian Darter, which flew into a large-mesh net across the drain. White-winged Triller, Laughing Kookaburra, Grey Teal and Rainbow Bee-eater were also among the 13 species caught on Saturday.
The Silvereye movement was obvious here with only one retrap among 35 new birds. The retrap was from the previous banding session.

White-winged Triller

Australasian Darter. A gentle but firm hold on the birds head is necessary to keep that stunningly sharp bill away from the bander.

Australasian Darter

Close-up of the wing. Interesting to see the corrugated shape of the very long scapular feathers.

Species - New (retrap)
Australasian Darter - 1
Brown Honeyeater - 3
Grey Teal - (1)
Laughing Kookaburra - 1
New Holland Honeyeater - 1
Pacific Black Duck - 1 (1)
Rainbow Bee-eater - 1
Silvereye - 35 (1)
Tree Martin - 1
Weebill - 1
Western Gerygone - 1 (1)
White-winged Triller - 1
Willie Wagtail - 2 (1)
Total - 49 (5) = 54