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

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

Magpie-lark makes a rare appearance

October continues to delight! The weather was wonderful this weekend; overcast with mild temperatures and barely any wind. The good conditions were reflected in the 48 birds of 15 different species that were caught during the morning.

Red Wattlebirds were once again plentiful, along with Brown and New Holland Honeyeaters around the bottlebrush trees. Sadly the bottlebrushes look like they will finish flowering very soon. Two of the day's highlights were caught here; a Galah and a Magpie-lark! Magpie-lark hasn't been caught at Herdsman in the last three years.

An exciting recapture came in the form of an adult Red Wattlebird, originally banded in April 2009 - an elapsed time of six years and six months.

We caught four Rainbow Bee-eaters, which are starting to build their nest burrows in sandy patches around the area. The one female that we caught had only the beginning of a brood patch, hinting that the nest building was quite recent.

The Grove nets were set up as it was finally dry in there after months of being a knee-deep swamp. Two of the Bee-eaters were caught there, as well as Shining Bronze-cuckoo and a brilliant Splendid Fairy-wren. The wren is another species we rarely catch at Herdsman, the last time being over three years ago.

Singing Honeyeater juvenile

Red Wattlebird

Willie Wagtail juvenile

The star of the day - adult male Magpie-lark

Species - new (retrap)
Brown Honeyeater - 4
Galah - 1
Laughing Dove - 1
Magpie-lark - 1
New Holland Honeyeater - 3 (2)
Rainbow Bee-eater - 4
Red Wattlebird - 5 (1)
Rufous Whistler - (1)
Shining Bronze-cuckoo - 1
Silvereye - 3 (9)
Singing Honeyeater - 1
Splendid Fairy-wren - 1
Striated Pardalote - 6 (1)
Willie Wagtail - 2
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - 1
Total - 34 (14) = 48