For a couple of days in August, the Red Gums around the homestead dam were surrounded by mist nests, in an attempt to capture a few birds to sample.
Despite the ongoing dry conditions and the fact that the homestead dam dried up many months ago, there are still numerous birds using this habitat around the dry homestead dam for shelter, including our target species.
To successfully capture birds with mist nets relies on choosing pathways where birds are likely to fly. Usually nets are setup just before first light when conditions are still. During this trip, conditions were not ideal, with gusts of wind causing a frustrating number of attempts to out manoeuvre our targets. In addition, the typical August morning is fairly crisp, particularly before sunrise.
Initially it was looking like we were going to struggle to even catch one of these birds, as they flew over our nets, stayed high up in the Reg Gums out of harms way or flew off in the entirely wrong direction to where we had predicted.
Our perseverance paid off however, after numerous attempts and moving the nets out into the shadows we managed to capture three Yellow-throated Miners. Hopefully the samples collected can provide some insight into the genetic profile of these two species and help with the conservation of one of Australia’s most endangered birds.