Breaking Records in February

Apologies for the lack of recent posts. Here are the last three weeks of banding at Herdsman!

20 Feb 2016
This weekend was rather slow and we only processed four species during the Saturday morning. Surprise numbers of Striated Pardalotes made up for the low numbers of Silvereyes.

Species - New (retrap)
Pacific Black Duck - 1 (1)
Silvereye - 6
Striated Pardalote - 12
Willie Wagtail - 2 (1)
Total - 21 (2) = 23



27 Feb 2016
This Saturday made for an exciting February banding session. We caught good numbers of Silvereyes including 10 recaptures. Many of the Silvereyes first caught in December/January in juvenile plumage are now moulting or have finished moulting into adult dress and are difficult to distinguish from older birds.
A smattering of Australian Reed-warblers was a welcome addition, as was an Inland Thornbill, only the third ever for the Herdsman project.

On another note, for the first time ever the catch exceeded 1000 birds before March (our 'banding year' starts in July and runs until the end of the following June). The total came to 1028 birds on our last banding session for February.

Species - New (retrap)
Australian Reed-warbler - 6
Brown Honeyeater - 1
Inland Thornbill - 1
Pacific Black Duck - 1
Rufous Whistler - 3
Silvereye - 18 (10)
Singing Honeyeater - (1)
Striated Pardalote - 9
Western Gerygone - (1)
Total - 39 (12) =51



5 Mar 2016
Birds were not particularly numerous this weekend (not unusual for the time of year) however we did have a particularly diverse catch this time. 19 birds of an amazing 12 species were processed, highlights being an Australian Magpie, Australian Raven and Magpie-lark which all came from the same net.
Silvereyes were few and far between but we caught a variety of honeyeaters, which have been notable in their absence recently.

Adult Australian Raven

Adult female Australian Magpie

Species - New (retrap)
Australian Magpie - 1
Australian Raven - 1
Brown Honeyeater - 2
Laughing Dove - 1
Magpie-lark - 1
Red Wattlebird - (1)
Silvereye - (2)
Singing Honeyeater - 1
Striated Pardalote - 1
Western Gerygone - 2
Willie Wagtail - 2 (1)
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - (3)
Total - 12 (7) = 19

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