Late November

After last week's 28 birds we went banding with a spring in our step (or we would have, if it wasn't 4am at the time) and managed to catch another 28 birds this weekend on the 28th of November. We had a load of interesting things to keep us busy throughout the morning.

The morning started strong with a Red Wattlebird and only our second Australian Reed-warbler of the season. 

The Reed-warbler was aged as a 2 (in its second year of life) due to the condition of the feathers especially the tail, and the colour of the bird.
The plumage overall was fairly heavily worn, especially the central tail feathers (rectrices). These central rectrices are the last vestiges of the bird's juvenile plumage which was attained when it left the nest during the breeding season last year. At the end of that breeding season the bird underwent a partial post-juvenile moult, excluding the central rectrices. It has gone for most of a year in this plumage so looks well worn, however it has had the central rectrices for over a year and they are noticeably more worn.
Because is still has the juvenile feathers we can say it was born last year so is over 12 months old (age 2).

Australian Reed-warbler age 2.

The central pair of tail feathers are heavily worn - retained from juvenile plumage most of which was replaced during the post-juvenile moult (as seen in the rest of the tail feathers).

The duck net was productive as usual and it caught Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal and a very uncommon bird for the Herdsman Lake project - Australian Ringneck.
Parrots are always a delight to extract from waterbird mist nets nets as the mesh is large enough for the bird's head to go through and you have to somehow hold onto its head to avoid getting bitten and simultaneously get the net off the angry parrot's head. It was worth the hassle; I don't have access to the data right now but we've only banded a handful of Ringnecks at Herdsman over the years.

Parrots usually don't present well for photos as you need a constant grip on the head, but this wing was too beautiful to miss. Here it shows an unusual primary moult pattern, Staffelmauser or stepwise moult, with two sections of primaries being moulted simultaneously.

A Purple Swamphen managed to find its way into a small-mesh mist net and we were lucky enough to reach it before it escaped. Other birds through the day included a smattering of passerines and five retrapped Yellow-rumped Thornbills which made for some good comparisons of older and younger birds.

Yellow-rumped Thornbills adult age 2+ (left) and juvenile (right). The adult bird was in moult and showed new and old adult-style feathers. The juvenile had a well-marked crown for its age, but the feather shape and tail pattern indicated a juvenile.

Tails of Yellow-rumped Thornbills adult age 2+ (left) and juvenile (right). Note the strong demarcation between white and black on the outer tail feather of the adult compared to the weak demarcation on the juvenile's outer tail feather.

On a final happy note the Willie Wagtail pulli that we banded last week are growing fast and looking very big! They were very active, standing up in the very crowded nest and begging for food from the parents.
The next morning they had fledged!

Willie Wagtail fledglings. Photo by Jennie Stock

Fledgling being fed by one of its parents. Both parents are also banded! Photo by Jennie Stock

Species - New (retrap)
Australian Reed-warbler - 1
Australian Ringneck - 1
Brown Honeyeater - 2
Grey Teal - 1
Pacific Black Duck - 2
Purple Swamphen - (1)
Red Wattlebird - 1
Rufous Whistler - (1)
Silvereye - 5 (5)
Singing Honeyeater - 1
Willie Wagtail - 2
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - (5)
Total - 16 (12) = 28

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