February

The first two banding sessions for February were not as dazzling as January when we were processing 100 birds a morning, however over 30 birds on both mornings was not a disappointing catch.

Nets in the reed bed produced Australian Reed-warblers and most of the other birds came from nets in the grove. The large flocks of Silvereyes seem to have passed through and now Striated Pardalote and Willie Wagtail numbers match the Silvereyes.

One first-year Willie Wagtail had unusual primary moult where it had replaced primaries 5 and 7, and was in the process of replacing P3, but the rest were old feathers. Very different to the usual inside-to-outside, sequential pattern you usually see in passerines.

Willie Wagtail primary moult.

 A flock of 50+ Rainbow Bee-eaters was hanging around but hesitant to come low enough for our nets. Finally there was a surprise reappearance by the White-browed Scrubwren we banded a few weeks ago.

First-year Yellow-rumped Thornbill.

6 Feb 2016
Species - New (retrap)
Australian Reed-warbler - 3
New Holland Honeyeater - 1
Silvereye - 11 (1)
Striated Pardalote - 6
Western Gerygone - 1
Willie Wagtail - 5 (3)
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - (1)
Total - 27 (5) = 32

13 Feb 2016
Species - New (retrap)
Australian Reed-warbler - 4
Grey Fantail - 2
Rainbow Bee-eater - 1
Rufous Whistler - 1 (1)
Silvereye - 5 (2)
Striated Pardalote - 6
Western Gerygone - 2 (1)
White-browed Scrubwren - (1)
Willie Wagtail - 8 (3)
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - (1)
Total - 29 (9) = 38

January Wrap-up

Saturday the 30th was the last banding day for January this year, and an excellent month it was. The total catch for the month was 363 birds, only 16 short of the January record.

On the 30th we managed to just crack the 100 bird mark with 103 birds processed, comprised mostly of Silvereyes and Striated Pardalotes. Once again the vast majority of Silvereyes were in their first year and the pardalotes were the same. These birds all came out of six nets, as Settler's Cottage was being used during the morning and we were exiled to the Grove. Two Australian Reed-warblers were also caught, a nice surprise outside of the reed-bed, as well as two juvenile Rainbow Bee-eaters.

We caught a single male Variegated Fairy-wren which was a retrap. Interestingly it was first banded on the same day as last week's female Variegated Fairy-wren retrap, 7th July 2012.

Male Variegated Fairy-wren

Species - New (retrap) [control]
Australian Reed-warbler - 2
Grey Fantail - 1
New Holland Honeyeater - 1
Rainbow Bee-eater - 2
Silvereye - 60 (2) [1]
Striated Pardalote - 25
Variegated Fairy-wren - (1)
Western Gerygone - 1
Willie Wagtail - 1 (4)
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - 1 (1)
Total - 94 (8) [1] = 103