This last post from Bowra concerns itself with the banding exercise I participated in as a scribe. You need to have a licence to handle the birds but I was more than happy to just be part of setting up and taking down the nets and doing whatever was needed during the banding. It also meant that I was able to see [very] close up some birds I normally only get a glimpse of.
The banding routine was to set up the mist
nets [perhaps 12-15 at each site x 2 or 3 sites each session] the previous
afternoon, catch birds until dusk, furl the nets overnight, arise at 5.15am, be on-site at 6.15 at the latest, unfurl nets, catch and process until the
capture rate became nil [anywhere between 9 and 10.30]. The welfare of the birds is top priority thus each set of nets was
checked every 20 to 30 minutes, caught birds taken out, bagged individually
then brought to a common table at each site for processing [lots of metrics
taken: leg, wing, beak, head lengths, weight, moult] then photographed if not a
White-plumed HE and released. The majority of birds of the 600 or so birds
caught this year were White-plumed Honeyeaters. Last year they caught 2,000
Zebra and Double-barred finches plus a thousand others. This year? Zero
Zebs and 4 DBs. Just goes to show the boom or bust cycle of life in the
outback.
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| Bags with birds for processing |
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| Three banders in full swing processing birds. |
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| A typical scene. An interrupted breakfast. |
First bird on the first morning was an Australian Owlet-nightjar!! Other notables I saw were Willie
Wagtails, Brown and White-browed Treecreepers, Spotted Nightjar, Mulga and
Bourkes Parrot, Halls Babbler, Spiny-cheeked and Brown-headed Honeyeaters, Grey
Butcherbird, Peaceful Dove, Crested Bellbird, Red-capped and Hooded Robins and
a Weebill. Did you know that a Weebill weighs only 6g? It was a special birding
moment to be involved.
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| Australian Owlet-nightjar |
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| Pied Butcherbird |
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| Mulga Parrot |
The Mulga Parrot has the reputation of being the feistiest bird in-hand and, indeed, drew blood several times from his handler.
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| Peaceful Dove |
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| Inland Thornbill |
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| Brown-headed Honeyeater |
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| Crested Bellbird |
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| Striped Honeyeater |
