A bird in the hand is…usually quite angry. Especially the larger ones. So when the first bird of the day is a big angry Tui, what do you do?

You measure him, band him, collect his poop, and send him on his way again. Or that’s what you do if you’re looking at how birds move across urban landscapes using forest fragments, and dispersing seeds – which is what Carolina is doing her PhD on. She has very kindly let me tag along on a few mist-netting missions, which have been great fun (despite the early wake-up calls!). 

Around the Auckland region there are lots of patches of forest, some big, some small, some with more native plant species in them than others. These places are little habitat refuges for birds, which are important in a heavily urbanised landscape. Linking up these little fragments of forest by creating ‘corridors’ for wildlife is the mission of the North-west Wildlink project. The aim is to connect wildlife habitats across the Auckland region, from the Waitakere Ranges all the way to the Hauraki Gulf Islands, some of which are sanctuaries. This would allow native birds and plants to disperse across the whole region, rather than being confined to small patches of remnant forest. It’s important to know how birds move through the landscape, and how, through them (literally), seeds get dispersed from fragment to fragment.

Collecting bird poop lets us know what type of fruits and seeds the birds are eating, and colour-banding them can help us identify where they go. Catching the birds requires setting up mist-nets in patches of forest where birds are likely to fly through. When they get caught, we quickly detangle them and take measurements (and poop), before letting them go again. Kingfishers aren’t really seed-dispersers – they eat invertebrates – but they are very pretty! 

The less time taken handling birds the better – it can stress them out. To make up for it, we can feed some a little sugar solution, like the Tui above. And when there aren’t many birds flying in to the mist nets, we can sit around and tweet. Both literally and technologically.

Silvereyes are delivering wonderful, fruity faeces today! #urban ecology pic.twitter.com/wkfYZtotPI

— Margaret Stanley (@mc_stanley1) March 28, 2016

Here’s a few more photos of birds showing off their bling!

Big thanks to Carolina for letting me help out, and I’m looking forward to another few days in the field in the coming months!

All photos taken with the Fuji X100 – perfect for fieldwork photography!