Weaver news

Ringing in KZN, 15 May - 6 June 2013

2013-06-15 (377)

A three week holiday in KwaZulu-Natal gave the opportunity for ringing as well as talks at bird clubs.

Ringing
Members of BirdLife Zululand attended and helped with ringing at Lake Teza and Thulasihleka Pan in Richards Bay. An article about the ringing appeared in the local newspaper Eyethu Bay Watch, see news item. White Helmet-shrike was a ringing lifer. A ringed Lesser Masked Weaver was recaptured, and the elapsed time was 9y 0m 12d, a new longevity record for the species, see details here.

Ringing was also conducted at the Pietermaritzburg Botanic Gardens and in Hattingspruit. Overall, the top three ringed species were Southern Masked Weaver, Yellow Weaver, and Lesser Masked Weaver. A summary of species caught per site appears below.

Bird club talks

BirdLife Zululand - Bird migration - 20 May, Richards Bay

BirdLife Northern Natal - Weaver ecology - 3 June, Newcastle

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the bird club members for help at the ringing, especially to Alan van Zyl, Tina Lickford, and Daniel Oschadleus. Thanks to the Pietermaritzburg Botanic Gardens for permission to ring there at short notice.

Species English Teza Thulazihleka Kwa-
Mbonambi 		Botanic
Gardens 		Hatting-
spruit 		Total
319 Tambourine Dove 5         5
321 Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove 1         1
390 Speckled Mousebird   1       1
419 Redbilled Woodhoopoe         1 1
438 Golden-rumped Tinker Barbet 1 2       3
442 Lesser Honeyguide 2 1       3
545 Dark-capped Bulbul 2 2       4
551 Sombre Bulbul 1     1   2
552 Kurrichane Thrush 2         2
576 Stonechat   1       1
579 Red-capped Robin-Chat 5 3       8
588 White-browed Robin 1 1       2
604 Lesser Swamp Warbler 2       10 12
606 African Reed Warbler 3 2     2 7
621 Long-billed Crombec 1         1
625 Yellow-breasted Apalis 1         1
627 Bleating Warbler 2         2
637 Neddicky       1   1
642 Rattling Cisticola 1 4       5
646 Levaillant's Cisticola         2 2
648 Lazy Cisticola       2   2
649 Tawny-flanked Prinia 6 3       9
655 Dusky Flycatcher 1         1
664 Black Flycatcher 1         1
665 Fiscal Flycatcher 1 1       2
666 Yellow Warbler 6 3       9
712 Black-backed Puffback 1         1
717 Olive Bush Shrike 1         1
719 Orange-breasted Bush Shrike 1         1
727 White Helmet-shrike 2         2
734 Indian Myna         1 1
766 Olive Sunbird 1   2     3
784 House Sparrow     1     1
791 Spectacled Weaver 2         2
792 Lesser Masked Weaver 4 45       49
797 Village Weaver   1     18 19
799 Cape Weaver         12 12
800 Yellow Weaver 21 35       56
802 Southern Brown-throated Weaver   1       1
803 Southern Masked Weaver         91 91
804 Thick-billed Weaver 1 1       2
805 Red-billed Quelea         2 2
808 Southern Red Bishop         2 2
816 Fan-tailed Widow 4       1 5
823 Bronze Mannikin   2       2
837 Red-billed Firefinch 2         2
843 Common Waxbill 1 1       2
859 Yellow-eyed Canary 12         12
863 Bully Canary 1         1
1172 Cape White-eye 2     8   10
  Totals 101 110 3 12 142 368


Ringing at Lake Eteza