February

The first two banding sessions for February were not as dazzling as January when we were processing 100 birds a morning, however over 30 birds on both mornings was not a disappointing catch.

Nets in the reed bed produced Australian Reed-warblers and most of the other birds came from nets in the grove. The large flocks of Silvereyes seem to have passed through and now Striated Pardalote and Willie Wagtail numbers match the Silvereyes.

One first-year Willie Wagtail had unusual primary moult where it had replaced primaries 5 and 7, and was in the process of replacing P3, but the rest were old feathers. Very different to the usual inside-to-outside, sequential pattern you usually see in passerines.

Willie Wagtail primary moult.

 A flock of 50+ Rainbow Bee-eaters was hanging around but hesitant to come low enough for our nets. Finally there was a surprise reappearance by the White-browed Scrubwren we banded a few weeks ago.

First-year Yellow-rumped Thornbill.

6 Feb 2016
Species - New (retrap)
Australian Reed-warbler - 3
New Holland Honeyeater - 1
Silvereye - 11 (1)
Striated Pardalote - 6
Western Gerygone - 1
Willie Wagtail - 5 (3)
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - (1)
Total - 27 (5) = 32

13 Feb 2016
Species - New (retrap)
Australian Reed-warbler - 4
Grey Fantail - 2
Rainbow Bee-eater - 1
Rufous Whistler - 1 (1)
Silvereye - 5 (2)
Striated Pardalote - 6
Western Gerygone - 2 (1)
White-browed Scrubwren - (1)
Willie Wagtail - 8 (3)
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - (1)
Total - 29 (9) = 38

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

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

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

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