Autumn Movements

We have had poor weather conditions for the last couple of weekends, including being completely rained off last week.

But on April 2nd we had excellent banding conditions and the birds did not disappoint. The large movements of Silvereyes typical of this time of year have started, and these made up the majority of our catch (100 birds, 74 of which were Silvereyes). We controlled one Silvereye from nearby Bold Park, the same bird we controlled in January.
This session also marked a significant milestone where we surpassed a total of 7000 Silvereyes banded over the course of the Herdsman Lake Project.

An unusually bright-yellow Silvereye (right) compared to a 'normal' coloured Silvereye (left)

No waterbirds this week, however we still banded a couple of larger birds in the form of an Australian Raven and an Australian Hobby.

Australian Raven. Note the brown eye in this young bird. Adults have a white iris.

Australian Hobby

The highlight of the day was a most unexpected Western Spinebill, only the sixth ever banded at Herdsman Lake. It was a young bird and probably just passing through, as we tend to see in species like White-cheeked Honeyeater at Herdsman.

First-year Western Spinebill

Species - new (retrap) [control]
Australian Hobby - 1
Australian Raven - 1
Australian Reed-warbler - (2)
Brown Honeyeater - 6 (2)
New Holland Honeyeater - 1
Red Wattlebird - 2
Rufous Whistler - 1
Silvereye - 68 (5) [1]
Singing Honeyeater - 1 (1)
Striated Pardalote - 1 (1)
Western Gerygone - 3
Western Spinebill - 1
Willie Wagtail - 1 (1)
Total - 87 (12) [1] = 100

Mid-March Mist-netting

12 March 2016
We had enough people to run a good variety of nets this weekend and this gave us a diverse catch. The highlights were four first-year Black-faced Cuckooshrikes in the same net. This is a rather spectacular figure given that the previous total banded was just 11 over 15 years at Herdsman!

First-year Black-faced Cuckooshrike

A trio of Black-faced Cuckooshrikes

Silvereyes and Striated Pardalotes were both present in good numbers. The pardalotes were all first-year birds and most of the Silvereyes that we were able to age were also first-years.


The Inland Thornbill we caught recently was recaptured this weekend in the same area.

Inland Thornbill

Adult (age 2+) Australian Reed-warbler

 
Species - new (retrap)
Australian Reed-warbler - 2
Black-faced Cuckooshrike - 4
Brown Honeyeater - 1
Grey Teal - 1
Inland Thornbill - (1)
Pacific Black Duck - (2)
Rufous Whistler - 1
Silvereye - 19 (1)
Singing Honeyeater - 1
Striated Pardalote - 15
Western Gerygone - 1 (1)
Willie Wagtail - 3 (1)
Total - 48 (6) = 54

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

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

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

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