Cooling off

The weather has really started to cool down here at Herdsman Lake and, unusually for this time of year, so has the number of birds. The first two banding sessions of April saw 22 and 44 birds caught, and only eight birds were caught on the 23rd of April. This low number was due mostly to less nets being put up because most researchers with the group were off banding at a couple of our regional projects.

The highlights of these sessions included three Little Grassbirds, which we were very lucky to catch in the reed bed, as it won't be long before we can't access that site anymore when it fills with water coming in to winter.

A new Little Grassbird banded in April     Photo: Nick Hart

A new and retrapped Little Grassbird side-by-side. Only subtle differences in plumage were visible, with interesting differences in throat striations to be studied further.
Photo: Nick Hart

Another treat at this time of year is the flocks of Weebills passing through, and we managed to band two. These guys are Australia's smallest bird, weighing in at around 5 - 6.5 g, and banding studies have shown that despite their size they can travel large distances. There has been one record in the eastern states of a Weebill traveling 184 km. Banding studies have also shown that they can live for over 7 years.

The Weebill - Australia's smallest bird    Photo: Nick Hart

Other than that we're excited about the number of Silvereyes we've been retrapping at the lake - this has been very interesting for our study into how Silvereye morphology changes with age.

Banding summary

9th April 2016 - Species, new, (retrap)

Brown Honeyeater 1 (1)

Red Wattlebird 3 (1)

Sacred Kingfisher (1)

Silvereye 4 (3)

Striated Pardalote 4

Weebill 1

Western Gerygone 1

Willie Wagtail 1 (1)

Total 16 + (6) = 22

16th April 2016

Australian Reed-warbler 1

Little Grassbird 2 (1)

Pacific Black Duck 1               

Red Wattlebird 1

Rufous Whistler (2)

Silvereye 24 (6)

Striated Pardalote 2

Weebill (1)

Western Gerygone 2

Yellow-rumped Thornbill 1

 Total 34 + (10) = 44

23rd April 2016

Brown Honeyeater 1

Silvereye 4 (3)

Total 5 + (3) = 8

Lizzy Joyce

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