An Australian Bird Bander

Banding in a vineyard

2010-02-23T13:19:00.012+11:00

Yet another banding project I'm involved in!

A project has just been started by Peter Milburn and Mark Clayton, studying the birds at the Lerida Estate vineyard. Lerida Estate is beside the Federal Highway, 50km north-east of Canberra, and is set on the lower slopes of the range overlooking Lake George.

The main study species is the Silvereye, a species that has an impact on grapes and other fruit crops, however all species caught are banded.

It is an interesting site, with some mist nets being set under bird netting over ripening grapes and others in the open between rows of vines.

Last weekend we banded for a couple of hours on Saturday evening and about five hours on Sunday morning. We caught:

Superb Fairy-wren 3
Yellow-rumped Thornbill 3
Red-browed Finch 3
European Goldfinch 3
Silvereye 11 (5 retraps)

We record all retraps even if they are from that day as part of the study is to determine what birds are resident and what are just moving through the vineyard, and if birds are caught in the netted areas and released outside the nets, do they get back in again. So far nothing has actually been caught under the bird netting but there are birds inside the netting. Interestingly, three of the Silvereyes were the Tasmanian race, lateralis; these birds migrate to the mainland for winter.

Lerida Estate winery

The view across the top of Lake George, with the Cullerin Range wind farm in the background

Mist nets under exclusion netting

Mist nets in the open between vine rows

A mist net covers the end of a couple of vine rows, with the exclusion netting open, aiming to catch birds escaping from under the netting.

The main study beast, the Silvereye

This Silvereye is the Tasmanian race lateralis, with the chestnut flanks. Note the bit of purple staining on the vent and the partially digested grape skin on Mark's finger.

Female Superb Fairy-wren

European Goldfinch

European Goldfinch, showing the wing about halfway through moult of the primaries.

Juvenile European Goldfinch

A trip to Monga NP

2010-01-20T11:14:00.011+11:00

On 9-10 January four of us went to Monga NP for a weekend of banding. We spent a day at River Forest Rd, beside the Mongarlowe River, and a day at Tombarra, a private property about 18km downstream on the same river.

We had quite a busy morning on River Forest Rd, catching 53 birds of 16 species out of ten nets. Species list and numbers banded and (retrapped) below. The treecreeper was a surprise (we did not see or hear one all day), and the Olive Whistlers were silent. Black-faced Monarchs called all day but we didn't catch any.

Laughing Kookaburra 2
Red-browed Treecreeper 1
White-browed Scrubwren 6 (5)
Large-billed Scrubwren 7
Brown Thornbill 6 (3)
Striated Thornbill 3
Yellow-faced Honeyeater 2
Lewin's Honeyeater 1
Eastern Spinebill 2
Eastern Yellow Robin 1 (1)
Golden Whistler 3 (1)
Rufous Fantail 2
Grey Fantail 1
Red-browed Finch 1
Silvereye 3
Bassian Thrush 1

At Tombarra, we threw up six nets for about five hours and caught 34 birds of 15 species:

Crimson Rosella 2
Superb Fairy-wren 4
White-browed Scrubwren 2
Brown Thornbill 2
Striated Thornbill 5
Yellow-faced Honeyeater 2
New Holland Honeyeater 1
Eastern Spinebill 3
Eastern Yellow Robin 2
Golden Whistler 2
Rufous Whistler 2
Rufous Fantail 2
Grey Fantail 2
Red-browed Finch 1
Silvereye 2

Now for some photos...

A juvenile Eastern Spinebill. Juveniles are unmistakeable, with an almost honey-coloured plumage below, a pale lower mandible and grey eye. Check this post for a shot of an adult male for comparison.

A lovely Red-browed Treecreeper. This is a female, with a rufous breast.

An immature Golden Whistler. Juveniles are a rufous ball of fluff and quickly moult into their second pluamge inside the first month or so. This wonderful photo by my friend Julian Robinson, shows a brand new juvenile. My photos below show a bird that is probably four to six weeks old, with plenty of rufous feathers. The rufous-edged primaries are kept for the year.

A couple of banding-in-action shots. First, a tiny Striated Thornbill about to be banded. Second, a Rufous Fantail gets its band applied.

Lastly, the striking New Holland Honeyeater.

Banding seabirds

2009-12-17T15:28:00.016+11:00

Over the last 12 months or so I have become very involved in banding research conducted by the Southern Oceans Seabird Study Association (SOSSA), based on the NSW south coast. SOSSA has a permit to trap and band birds on the open ocean during pelagic trips run from Wollongong and Ulladulla.

I have been learning how to handle seabirds through the tuition of Lindsay Smith and Peter Milburn. Theyhave a combined 50+ years of experience working with seabirds.

Below is a series of photos of seabirds being captured, banded and measured.

A Yellow-nosed Albatross is, rather unceremoniously, captured on the water using a long handled net. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

The Yellow-nosed Albatross is quickly removed from the net, ensuring to secure the dangerous bit (the bill) first! (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

The Yellow-nosed Albatross has a chance to relax before being processed. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

Being held during processing, ready to have the bill measured. (Photo by Tobias Hayashi)

Measuring the bird's wing length. (Photo by Tobias Hayashi)

One of the key species for study is the Wandering Albatross. We have retrapped birds from many places around the southern hemisphere. This wanderer patiently waits to be processed on board and enjoys a scratch on the back of the head. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

An important step in the processing of wanderers. We measure four different parts of the bill, which helps us determine which type of wanderer it is. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

A reasonably patient and placid bird in the hand(s), despite its enormous size. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

I sit on the banding step holding a wanderer, waiting for a colleague to start processing. (Photo by Tobias Hayashi)

Handling a Northern Giant-Petrel. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)
A close-up of the giant-petrel's bill. The tube is 3/5 the length of the bill. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

The giant-petrel gets a shiny new band. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

Measuring the mid-toe length. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

Measuring the depth of the unguis or bill tip. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

The most important bit; scribing the data correctly! (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

A Brown Skua gets banded. Darryl is very careful in holding this bird as it is quite dangerous at both ends; a very sharp bill and some dagger-like claws. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

A bit more detail on the Brown Skua. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

I measure the bill of a Shy Albatross. (Photo by Tobias Hayashi)

Lindsay holds a Northern Royal Albatross, ready for banding. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

Lindsay hauls aboard a Buller's Albatross. (Photo by Daniel Mantle)

And finally, a couple of photos showing how we catch shearwaters! (Photos by Daniel Mantle)

Yet another banding project

2009-12-17T13:08:00.009+11:00

Here is a brief blurb on a project I've been working on for the last couple of years.

Well known Australian ornithologist, Stephen Marchant, conducted a study on a block of forest near Moruya in NSW. Stephen examined nesting of all species on his property called Ballara between 1975 and 1984 inclusive. He published many papers and notes on his work, including a substantial volume summarising the work which was published by the Eurobodalla Natural History Society.

Stephen's daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Michael Guppy, are now repeating the study on the block. They have been finding and monitoring nests for the last three breeding seasons. I have been managing the banding aspect of the project, and training Michael as a bander. We have authority to colour band 19 species. Through the effort of the banding team, we have just about every bird colour banded!

Colour banding allows observers to identify individual birds in the field without the need to recapture the birds. You may have seen some pics in my previous post about colour banding Olive Whistlers at Monga NP. Here, Michael opens a split ring colour band using a small aluminium "spoon", so that the band can be placed on the fairy-wren's leg.

Our collection of colour bands of various sizes.

Below are a few of the birds that we banded on a recent trip.

Adult male Superb Fairy-wren.

Adult male Variegated Fairy-wren.

Bit more detail on the Variegated Fairy-wren.

Adult Eastern Yellow Robin.

Juvenile Eastern Yellow Robin. This bird had probably been out of the nest about two weeks. A couple of yellow feathers already poking through the speckled plumage.

Adult male Rufous Whistler.

Adult Black-faced Monarch.

Adult male Leaden Flycatcher.

Immature Olive-backed Oriole.

Immature Olive-backed Oriole. Not much olive on the back yet!

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike.

More Monga banding

2009-11-22T20:52:00.010+11:00

Five banders and another five hangers-on, including a Canadian visitor, ventured to Monga NP for the day on Saturday.

We had a pretty good day considering the very hot weather the previous few days (up to 38 degrees C). We ended up with 41 birds of 16 species, which is pretty good diversity! We re-caught a number of birds banded that day too.

The site we banded at is on McCarthy's Rd, another closed track in the park. The site is about one kilometre west of our River Forest Rd site.

Banding totals:

Brown Thornbill 2
Striated Thornbill 4
White-browed Scrubwren 6
Large-billed Scrubwren 3
Pilotbird 1
Lewin's Honeyeater 1
Crescent Honeyeater 1
Eastern Spinebill 2
Rose Robin 1
Eastern Yellow Robin 2
Golden Whistler 3
Olive Whistler 2
Black-faced Monarch 1
Eastern Whipbird 2
Rufous Fantail 6
Grey Fantail 4

We caught two Olive Whistlers. We are colour banding these birds so that people may report sightings of individuals in winter habitats. Hopefully we can get an idea of where the whistlers go when they move down to the lowlands outside the breeding season.

Ok, on to some photos!

First up, a beautiful forest bird, the Black-faced Monarch. This one is a juvenile, with barely any black face! (photo by Suzi Bond)

An Olive Whistler, including a shot with colour bands.

Golden Whistler. Some of you may have seen this photo of mine a while back. Such beautiful birds, couldn't resist putting up another couple of shots.

The Pilotbird, a very special bird. A handsome little guy, not often seen well due to its liking for dense forest understorey. One of the most amazing calls in the forest. Added a shot of the undertail coverts just for the colour!

Lastly, another Rose Robin shot. This time a female, and I've included a shot of her brood patch. That's the bit of belly skin that incubates the eggs; the skin becomes highly vascularised and looks like a watery blister.

Monga banding trip

2009-10-08T10:45:00.018+11:00

The long weekend in October saw seven of us head out to Reidsdale for the second trip for the Monga project (still in need of a name!), and our first banding trip into Monga NP itself.

This update will contain a few plugs and bits of information for everyone, as well as the usual banding data and photos from our weekend's work.

First a note on our accommodation. We stayed at a property called Fairview, a cottage owned by George Sherriff. This is the cottage that Richard and Judyth Gregory-Smith rented from George, and where Richard banded birds up until his passing in 2001. Fairview is ideally situated just outside Monga NP. The cottage is just perfect for what we want as a base for our banding project. I think we'll call it Fairview Field Station (FFS)! It is also looking good as a base for a trip next year where we invite members of the Canberra Ornithologists Group to come out to see what we do. The photo below was taken on George's property Baringa, looking south-west into the Araluen valley. The Fairview cottage is hidden in the trees in the middle of the shot, near the old shed.

Now, a couple of plugs. We had some fabulous wood-fired pizzas at Eureka Pizzeria in Braidwood. Next time you're heading for the coast on a Friday night, drop in for some dinner. You won't be disappointed. We ate there on Saturday night and had planned to cook for ourselves at FFS on Sunday night. Well that idea went out the window, as we had dinner again on Sunday night back at Eureka!

The second plug I have is for the Old Cheese Factory at Reidsdale (see http://www.braidwoodmade.com.au/). The factory is a base for locals to produce and promote local foods. The factory is right next to Fairview.

Right, on to the birds. We spent all of Sunday in Monga NP, banding along River Forest Rd. The weather in the region was miserable, however the rain stayed off us while we were in the forest. Our site is in wet forest and cool temperate rainforest. We set up our nets along a closed track through the forest, looking like this:

Below is a shot of a net site, with a young-ish Pinkwood (Eucryphia moorei) centre-left and above the net. Monga is renowned for its large stands of Pinkwood.

And here is our banding station on the track:

We caught 34 birds of nine species in nine hours out of 11 nets. There were no retraps (however we did re-trap a few birds that were banded on the day). Data summary:

Brown Thornbill 10
White-browed Scrubwren 9
Large-billed Scrubwren 1
Rose Robin 4
Eastern Yellow Robin 2
Golden Whistler 4
Eastern Whipbird 1
Bassian Thrush 2
Grey Fantail 1

We did catch an Olive Whistler, but it got out of the net before I could put a hand on it! I was impressed with the number of birds calling around us during the day, including plenty of Golden Whistlers, Olive Whistlers, Eastern Whipbirds, Pilotbirds, Superb Lyrebirds and a single Cicadabird.

We caught three male Rose Robins. I've included here some comparison shots, showing adult and immature males. The mature male has a brighter forehead patch and a uniformly darker wing. The younger bird has a duller forehead patch and browner wings, with pale tips to the flight feathers and coverts.

We also caught a female Rose Robin:

An Eastern Whipbird:

A Large-billed Scrubwren. The second shot is a close-up of the head where a tick is burrowing in for a feed!

And last, but not least, a Bassian Thrush (photo by Kim Sebo)

First trip for the Monga project

2009-06-09T11:46:00.005+10:00

After receiving approval from the ABBBS and getting permits from NSW DECC, we finally began the Monga bird banding project on the June long weekend.

The main aim of the Monga project is to examine movements of birds between two tablelands sites (Monga NP and Reidsdale, both around 700m asl) and two escarpment sites (Araluen North and Monga NP, both around 250m asl).

I'm after a short, catchy and all-encompassing name for the project. I can't keep calling it Monga because that is only half the story. Please get your lateral thinking going and suggest a name to me!

On Friday evening Carole Elliott and I ventured to the Glencoe property at Araluen North. This property is owned by Judyth Gregory-Smith. Judyth's husband, Richard (unfortunately, he passed away a few years ago) banded birds at this site (and at Reidsdale) for many years. It is most fortunate that we have been given permission by Judyth to essentially re-open Richard's project and include it in our broader work. Judyth has also kindly allowed us to use the facilities on the property. And many thanks to Susie Edmonds who lives next door for looking after us too!

On Saturday morning Carole and I spent a couple of hours selecting net sites and generally setting the place up. We then operated for the rest of the day and Sunday morning.

We caught 27 birds out of eight nets. Not a huge number, but we caught 13 species which was impressive. There were no retraps. I was sort of hoping to get an old bird of Richard's but I think it's been too long. Maybe we might get an old bowerbird or currawong one day (here's hoping!). The usual bush junk was banded until the very last bird on Sunday which was a beautiful male Rose Robin.

Some pics from the weekend:

Brown Thornbill. The first bird to be banded for the project!

Eastern Spinebill.

Buff-rumped Thornbill.

White-browed Scrubwren.

Grey Butcherbird.

Grey Shrike-thrush. We also caught a Grey Fantail. All we needed was the Grey Currawong heard calling nearby and we'd have had the full set of local 'grey' species.

Rose Robin. A beautiful male.

Another shot of the Rose Robin. An amazing colour. The yellow on the soles of his feet was bright too.

A banding trip to Iluka Nature Reserve

2009-05-20T14:31:00.022+10:00

A couple of weeks back, Suzi Bond and I drove to the north coast of NSW for a few days of bird banding at Iluka Nature Reserve. There is a cooperative site at the reserve that is run by Greg Clancy. Many thanks must go to Greg for hosting us up there, including arranging some rather palatial accommodation at the National Parks training centre at Woody Head.

Iluka NR covers 136 hectares and protects the largest remnant of littoral rainforest in NSW. The rainforest grows next to the beach and is a rich and diverse ecosystem adapted to a harsh environment of salt-laden winds and poor soils. Google it if you want to know more!

The two full days of banding we had both started out a bit damp, but the showers held off for most of the time. The forest is unusual in that the sandy soils (well, sand mostly!) drain quickly, so it's not as wet there as you might think. Still wet enough for leeches, but not quite wet enough for a few of the wet forest bird species such as Yellow-throated Scrubwren and Green Catbird. Where the forest meets the dune vegetation, particularly the coastal banksias, there are plenty of heath birds like Little Wattlebird and Variegated Fairy-wren.

Between us, we caught 76 birds (70 new, 6 retraps) of 13 species out of eight or nine nets in the two days. The Lewin's Honeyeater is the dominant species at the site, we caught 28 of them! Eastern Yellow Robins were close behind at 23 birds. The most interesting retrap was a 14+ Golden Whistler, a female that was developing male characteristics such as a yellow breast and white throat (Greg discussed this on Birding-Aus).

Banding highlights for me were Russet-tailed Thrush, Spangled Drongo and Regent Bowerbird. Suzi added four new species to her banding list and went over the 100 birds banded and 100 birds extracted points in her training.

Some highlights below...

First up, some differences in birds compared to those we see on the south coast. the northern race of the Eastern Yellow Robin has a very yellow rump. (Photo by Suzi Bond)

The Golden Whistler varies considerably. Our local birds have the tiniest bit of yellow on the vent. The northern birds have heaps more yellow.

This Golden Whistler is the 14+ female, developing male characteristics (yellow breast and white throat), possibly due to the breakdown of the gonads.

Brown Gerygone

Lewin's Honeyeater (photo by Suzi Bond)

Large-billed Scrubwren

Little Shrike-thrush (also known as the Rufous Nasty!)

Suzi does the head-bill measurement on the Rufous Nasty

Spangled Drongo (photo by Suzi Bond)

The 'fish tail' on the Spangled Drongo

Despite having all the characteristics of an adult, the Spangled Drongo still had white spots on the underwing coverts that are typical of a young bird (photo by Suzi Bond)

Russet-tailed Thrush
After only catching seventeen of these birds in forty years at the nature reserve, and only two since 1987, we caught two birds in two days!

The diagnostic tail feathers of the Russet-tailed Thrush. The white bit on the outer tail feathers is much longer than that of the Bassian Thrush.

Regent Bowerbird
This is a first year male bird. We had to measure the width and depth of the bill at the nares to determine the sex.

We also managed to catch a few bats late one evening while trying to catch a Noisy Pitta (we failed...) Here is the Northern Long-eared Bat Nyctophilus bifax, a rainforest species. (Photos by Suzi Bond)

The weekend's trip to Charcoal Tank

2009-04-20T14:09:00.001+10:00

The last trip was to Charcoal Tank Nature Reserve in February was very quiet. We only caught 30-something birds and it was very dry. We didn't expect a lot of birds on the weekend, and we got what we expected!

We ended up catching only 11 birds, out of 15 nets, in a day and a bit. Not great going. The seemingly never-ending drought has had a big impact on the local birds. However, nine of the birds we caught were retraps, which was quite impressive. We caught Brown-headed Honeyeater, Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, Peaceful Dove and Common Bronzewing.

Our new trainees ended up getting a fair bit of experience in setting up and packing up nets which was good for them. Not so much extracting and banding birds though. Never mind, things will pick up.

I brought along my new elevated mist net apparatus for a test run. It turned out to be quite a success. It takes a bit of getting used to, particularly in the setup, but it appears it will be an excellent addition to our mist netting gear. I have included some pics of the rig, now dubbed 'Lofty' (thanks Stuart!).

Lofty consists of two guyed out poles with a mist net strung between them that can be raised and lowered on a pulley system. The rig reaches nine metres in height.

Suzi and I lower the mist net on Lofty (photo by Stuart Rae).

I extract a Peaceful Dove from the Lofty net (photo by Stuart Rae)

We opened the Lofty net at night to see if we could catch the local Australian Owlet-nightjars. We ended up with a couple of mammals!

I'm about to extract a Sugar Glider as Mark watches (photo by Stuart Rae)

Me holding the bitey (hence the glove) Sugar Glider (Petaurus breviceps) (photo by Suzi Bond).

We also caught a Lesser Long-eared Bat (Nyctophilus geoffroyi) (photos by Suzi Bond)

New banding blog

2009-04-20T13:50:00.000+10:00

This blog will provide updates on the bird banding projects I am involved in.

Currently, I am managing a bird community banding project at Moruya on the south coast of NSW.

I am also involved in a long-term bird community project operating at Charcoal Tank Nature Reserve near West Wyalong, NSW. I also occasionally get to a similar project site at the Weddin Mountains near Grenfell, NSW.

I have just received approval to begin a project on the bird community at Monga National Park and surrounding areas, on the coast range between Braidwood and Bateman's Bay in NSW.

I will also post about other projects that I may visit and contribute to from time to time.

Please feel free to contact me on anthony.overs@gmail.com regarding my projects or bird banding in Australia.