Ringmærkningen: After a day with closed nets, we were very excited to ring again this morning. The morning wind still took our expectations down a notch, and during breakfast we each guessed 56 and 66 birds (me more optimistic than Théo, as usual). We finished with 61 birds, so we're happy with the team average. 

We had hoped to catch the Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) and the Wood Warbler (Skovsanger), that have been in the garden since Sunday afternoon, but we sadly haven't seen them today.
The good news is that we caught the first Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) of the season! Since Théo swore we'd have plenty in the future, I didn't get to ring it yet though. To make it up to me, he kept quiet about a Goldfinch (Stillits), until I pulled it out of the bag, and could add that to my ringing species list instead!

Lesser Whitethroat. Foto: Théophile Fontaine

In other specifics, Chiffchaffs (Gransanger) were the most abundant species, closely followed by 10 Blackcaps (Munk), that the sharp reader might have noticed, Théo spelled wrong on the blog the other day, so we're now calling them BACKcaps. Most of them were even caught in our favourite net, that we call the Apple Garden, which hasn't been opened this year before April.

Today's numbers:

Trækket på Odden: What a lovely day to be outside, enjoying the sun, and looking out for the few migrating birds of the day ! In total, we saw only 599 birds of 38 different species, most of them represented by less than 10 individuals. The weather was particularly nice for raptors migration, and it seems that it would get even better tomorrow for both raptors and passerines ! We were really pleased to spot the first Tree Sparrow (Skovspurv) of the year, calling and chilling out in the bushes.

The Tree sparrow on its branch. The characteristic black spot in the middle of the white cheek is easily noticeable. Picture by Cyann Ménard/GFU

On a completely different note, I heard that today is the World Curlew Day, so let’s talk about Curlews (Storspove). We saw a few of them today, one of them even greeted us with their melodious call. Nothing unusual so far, but I got some other news that I wanted to share here. A friend of mine sent me a Facebook post from the National Marine Park of the Arcachon Bay, which is an important stopover site for long-distance migratory birds. This post is about the Common Redshanks (Rødben) and the Curlews fitted by the National Marine Park with GPS tags, allowing to track their migratory paths. Looking at the paths on the map, we can see that some of the Curlews who left France in the beginning of April have passed really close to Gedser Odde a few days later… Curious, my friend asked about the migration date of those birds along the Danish coasts (yes, she is an invested friend), and got a quick answer : two birds indeed flew past Gedser on April 5 and 10 ! We actually counted one single curlew on the 5th, and many others on the 9th, so we might have counted those birds among the groups. The routes, the distances, and the speed at which migratory birds travel will never fail to impress me.

The red lines represent the Redshank migratory paths, while the yellow ones are of the Curlews. You can clearly see that 2 of the yellow lines get quite close to Gedser Odde, before spreading out from one side to another of the Baltic Sea. Map from the Facebook post of the Parc National Marin du Bassin d'Arcachon.

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

The rest of the day: In the afternoon we all had our lunches outside in the sun, while listening to the birds, with some of us (including me, Mathilde) still guessing, more than knowing all the songs and calls.

The weather stayed amazing all day, and we had some sweet Danish visitors, that came by to enjoy the sun and a drink on our benches. I had the joy of telling them about the station and showing them our taxidermy bird collection, and they were very surprised at how many Danish bird names Théo knew.

In the evening we were still soaking in the last sunshine, when Olga suggested we ate the delicious dinner she had prepared outside as well - so now it really feels like spring!

 Dinner outside today! Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Olga Fernandez Enriquez

Ringmærkningen: No possibilty to ring with this strong wind this morning... But the nice species we saw yesterday afternoon are still in the garden today, so there is hope for tomorrow. In addition, we heard the first Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) of the year, soon in the nets !

Trækket på Odden: After some nice days off (thanks again Louis), I headed to the tip with Olga, who will participate to the migration counting for a few days. As the forecast had predicted, the wind was blowing very strongly, so we sought shelter near the building’s walls. I took advantage of the quiet first hour to tell Olga everything relevant information about migration I could think of, and we were able to look at the most common species here together to start getting to know them. After an hour and only a few birds, we were joined by Theophile and Mathilde, both craving a bit of action and a chance to burn off their excess energy due to the slow ringing of the past few days.

Big team for the windy, but sunny migration count today. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

With all this energy, and the sun sometimes shining through the clouds, we were in a joyful and a bit silly mood. As the biggest flock seen today was of the 500 local Golden plovers (Hjejle), we eventually didn’t see many migrating birds... but still got lucky with some of this morning sighting. First of all, it seems that the Long-tailed ducks (Havlit) were not so bothered by the strong front-facing wind and the high waves, as they kept coming all morning long to eventually add up to 45 individuals, this spring’s highest number so far.

Théophile kept going back and forth, braving the wind to observe the birds flying closest to the shore, before returning to tell us which species he’d spotted from his vantage point. That’s how, at one point, he suddenly jumped to his feet and shouted “Sternes naines !!” (which is the French name for Little terns in English, Dværgterne in Danish). Funnily enough, a French visitor arrived at the exact same moment, delighted to bump into some fellow frenchies and to get to see the terns coming closer. The Little Terns were not the only unusual small water bird we saw today, as we also spotted three Little gulls (Dværgmåge) flying southwards, nor the only bird whose name has been shouted in French, as I had to get everybody attention to the Gannet (Sule, Fou de Bassan in French, in case you were wondering) coming really close to the shore.

One of the two first Little terns of the season ! Foto : Théophile Fontaine

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Olga Fernandez Enriquez

Ringmærkningen: The day started with a Wren (Gærdesmutte) on the first round. In the next rounds, we also got a Chaffinch (Bogfinke), a Dunnock (Jernspurv) and, of course, Robins (Rødhals). Both Chiffchaffs (Gransanger) and Willow warblers (Løvsanger) were caught on the nets, so we could appreciate the differences between both species. Chiffchafs have an emargination on the sixth primary, which Willow warblers lack. Moreover, Willow warblers have longer wings and yellow legs in general comparing to Chiffchaffs.

We also caught two thrush species: Song thrushes (Sangdrossel) and one Mistle thrush (Misteldrossel) ! The difference in size between them was clear when having them on hand.

Mistle trush (Misteldrossel) Foto : Théophile Fontaine

Trækket på Odden: Please not the play of words 'Blue and Cyann':

Two amazing moments unfolded today at Gedser Tip — but first, a real fight for survival.

Five wrens appeared out of the grey, flying low… really low. Just inches above the icy waves. A fine drizzle hung in the air, visibility was poor, and the wind wasn’t exactly helping. They were clearly pushing hard, heading straight for the safety of the hedge at the tip. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t easy — but they made it. Pure determination.

Then came something you don’t forget.

Out of the dull, grey sky, a single call cut through the drizzle — a Red-rumped Swallow. Just once. It passed overhead, heading west, unseen against the clouds. Gone as quickly as it came. One of those moments where you question your senses… but you know what you heard. The message went out immediately to the ringers and birders in town: something special just passed Gedser.

And then… something even more unexpected.

Out of nowhere — literally out of the blue — Cyann showed up with a plate of freshly made banana pancakes.

No rare bird could compete with that moment.

Stunned, grateful, and almost speechless, thanks were delivered about a million times. Because sometimes, the best surprises aren’t in the sky — they’re the ones shared on the ground among us.

Feeling of spring this afternoon : The days could have ended after the ringing, which was full of surprises. First, the Mistle thrush was caught in the nets and then, this unexpected bird, the Red-rumped swallow (Rødrygget Svale) heard by Louis a few minuts ago flying over the garden with four Barn swallows (Landsvale) ! But it seems that the weather was good for passerine migration. In the garden this afternoon, there was one Common redstart (Rødstjert), a few Chiffchaffs and Willow warblers (unringed !), five Blackcaps and two new species for the year: two male Pied flycatchers (Broget fluesnapper) and one Wood warbler (Skovsanger) ! Good signs for the coming week ?

Wood warbler (Skovsanger) Foto : Théophile Fontaine

Today it was my first day in Gedser. I am Olga, from Spain, and I have been previously in Agigea Bird Observatory (Romania) and Ottenby Fågelstation (Sweden). This is my first time in Denmark and I will travel the country from side to side because after Gedser I will go to Skagen Fuglestation. I am looking forward to keep on learning about birds through ringing and migration counting.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Alba Maria Holmberg, Olga Fernandez Enriquez, Louis.a. Hansen

Ringmærkningen: Only a single robin (Rødhals) was heard during the opening round this morning, which is never a good sign for ringing. As expected, the first round was really calm, as were the next ones... However, we had roughly the same number of species as in previous days, with proportionally more Chiffchaffs (Gransanger) and Backcaps (Munk) than Robins (Rødhals). Hopefully it will continue this way, not because I’m tired of Robins (never !), but because it could signal the arrival of new species.

The small number of birds gave me the opportunity to teach Alba and Mathilde how to take other important biometrics: the tarsus and tail lengths. Measuring the tail is rather easy, but measuring the tarsus needs a bit more practice, especially with the smaller ones, so mornings like this one are perfect for that !

All in all, we had 41 different birds from 10 species, with one little blue devil: a nice Blue tit (Blåmejse).

Little blue devil. Foto : Théophile Fontaine

Trækket på Odden: Louis offered Cyann two days off, he was counting out at the tip, it was a slow morning but nevertheless, it’s not all about huge numbers and rarities, those morning are very important for the database !

A varied afternoon : This afternoon, Alba did some quantum physics, Mathilde was at a hip-hop workshop in Copenhagen, Sjoerd was working and Cyann was enjoying her day off. I took a nap (that was way too long) and then did some data check (it was necessary...).

Olga has just arrived from Ottenby and will be here until the 9th of May. Welcome !

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Alba Maria Holmberg, Olga Fernandez Enriquez, Louis.a. Hansen

Ringmærkningen: With the wearther being much like it was yesterday, we expected to catch a similar amount of birds, and this morning mostly delivered. Although we caught a few less birds than yesterday, we were still mostly kept busy, with the Robins (Rødhals), Wrens (Gærdesmutte) and Chiffchaff (Gransanger) still taking the lead numbers-wise. 

The highlight of the morning was no doubt the beautiful Yellowhammer (Gulspurv), a young male, that came as a bright yellow surprise when I pulled it out of a bag that Théo gave me. Compared to the younger individuals that I've previously seen in the hand, this one had much more striking colours, marking it as one of the most colourful birds I've had the pleasure of handling thus far.

The nice male Yellow hammer. Foto Théophile Fontaine

Besides the yellow, we also got some nice green and red colours within the laboratory, in the form of two Greenfinches (Grønirisk) and a Goldfinch (Stillits), who, together with a couple of Firecrests (Rødtoppet fuglekonge), marked a nice goodbye-for-now to Anne, who left the station again this afternoon after a brief, but eventful, 5-day stay here. It was a pleasure ringing with her! 

In total, today's numbers reached 89 birds distributed over 71 new birds and 18 recaptures, with 11 species being represented, which continues the downward trend of the last couple of days. This, however, is to be expected for long stretches of uninterrupted good weather, and is just a sign that the migratory birds would rather get on their way than stay in the garden.

Overview of the ringed birds:

Trækket på Odden: The forecast promised another great day at the tip, although the clear skies were accompanied by a very thick mist across the whole horizon this morning, especially towards the south, above the ocean, where we're usually observing. Because there was no wind, we were able to stand at our favourite spot on the tip, but it also meant there were no prospect of the fog clearing away. The sun took some time passing above this, and displayed a beautiful red color, where it shone through.

Red sun through binoculars. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

At last it rose above, and gave us another mild morning, with no coats needed for the second half. Orla joined us early on, adding to the company, and made fun of Cyann and me trying to imitate birds, as well as me trying to pronounce the french birdnames. 

The sunlight beaming above the misty horizon. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

After all, we weren't able to see that far, and maybe the birds didn't really feel like flying in it either, because it turned out to be a pretty calm day. As always, we had some highlights though:
We finally had the first Yellow Wagtail (Gul Vipstjert) at the tip, since only yesterday the first one flew by the garden, and one sat in a treetop in Bøtø.
We also saw three Snipes (Dobbeltbekkasiner) migrating with a flock of Oystercatchers (Strandskader): smaller, longer beaks, white bellies, and brown, in spite of the horrible backlight.
And I was even lucky enough to spot my second Black Kite (Sort Glente), that I once again was looking at for a while thinking and announcing the same, as when I spotted my first one yesterday: "it moves like a Kite, but it looks like a Crow?"

Yellow Wagtail through scope. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

The weather continued being amazing this afternoon, so Cyann and I had a lengthy lunch in the sun, while Theo and Alba resorted to some gardening, and we bad Anne farewell. We also saw so many White Tailed Eagles (Havørn) above, we were barely even excited anymore, when someone pointed out another. Bo even spotted another Black Kite from the station accompanied be three White Tailed Eagles.

Sunny day. Foto: Mathilde Sif EIby / GFU

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Alba Maria Holmberg, Anne Ramskov Hermanns, Orla Jakobsen, Bo Kayser

Ringmærkningen: Based on the number of birds yesterday, we expected a similar morning today. However, we quickly realised during the first round that it would be a little calmer today. Nevertheless, the last net of the first round gave us a little surprise: the first Willow warbler (Løvsanger) of the season! This net has been very productive this week, giving us the Bluethroat (Blåhals), the Wryneck (Vendehals) and the Willow warbler. Will we catch the Lesser whitethroat (Gærdesanger) in it tomorrow ?

The long-awaited first Willow warbler of the season ! Foto : Théophile Fontaine

Among all the beautiful birds we had in the nets, two Reed buntings (Rørspurv) were trapped at the same time, which gave Mathilde and Alba the chance to practise the ageing criteria for this species, which can sometimes be a bit difficult. See below for an explanation.

In the top left picture, we can see that the primary coverts (PC) have a looser structure and that the centre is a paler shade of brown. The shape also tends to be narrower and more pointed (not very obvious in this picture). In the top right picture, the rectrices (RR) are worn, narrow and pointed. These two pictures show the main criteria that lead to a second calendar bird. In the bottom left picture, the PC are denser and more contrasting, with a dark centre, a brown edge and greyish tips, and they look well rounded. Regarding the tail, even though the feathers are slightly worn, they are broad and rounded, which is perfect for an adult bird. Foto : Théophile Fontaine

The adult Reed bunting, note the shape of the PC ! Foto : Théophile Fontaine

We ended up with 79 rings and 27 recaptures, which is not bad at all. Two Tree pipits (Skovepiber) and the first Yellow wagtail (Gul vipstjert) of the season were flitting around the garden, maybe they'll end up in the nets tomorrow ?

Trækket på Odden: As Mathilde stayed at the station to help for the few first rounds of the ringing, I headed alone to the tip. It was cold and cloudy, but the first hours flew by in a flash even though there were not so many birds. I had to keep thinking about turning back to the field to look after some raptors or other birds sneaking behind me, like those sudden 150 Woodpigeon (Ringdue) coming out of nowhere low over my head for example.

The arrival of Mathilde at the tip didn’t motivate the birds to come in bigger numbers, but this morning was actually full of surprises, and only good ones ! I was first surprised by the arrival of a Collared Dove (Tyrkerdue) from the sea, seemingly really pleased to finally reach land and being able to rest on the closest tree it found. Mathilde then arrived at the same time as a nice flock of Curlews (Storspurve), soon followed by two Black-throated divers (Sortstrubet lom) flying really close to the shore, allowing us to admire every detail of their beautiful breeding plumage. Honestly, I don’t think I will ever get tired of this sight. Later in the morning, a weird goose appeared in front of us from behind the bushes. A reddish/creamy belly, a little brown tail and a highly contrasted pattern on the wing: that was everything we could see, as it was flying really fast in the direction of Gedser, but that was all we needed to tell it was an Egyptian Goose (Nilgås). An unusual observation, but one that does happen sometimes!

Big flock of Curlew flying over the tip. Foto : Théophile Fontaine

As the count was getting to its end, I was looking out at the sea when I heard Mathilde’s voice talking about a bird behind me : “Is that a kite? Not it is not a Kite… Wait, it is a Kite!!”. When I turned to have a look on this unusual kite, I had the surprise to lay my eyes on my first Black Kite (Sort glente) of the year ! Also first of this season for Gedser ! It was flying really low, really close, and slowly headed south before disappearing over the sea. So in the end, if I had to summarize today’s migration and the observations we made, I would say it was indeed slow, but highly pedagogical!

Afternoon Side quest:  This afternoon, Mads suggested that we go to Bøtø, which is a good place to find the first Garganeys (Atlingand) of the season and some migrating waders. An Hoopoe (Hærfugl) had also been seen there that morning, which is quite rare here. The car was full with Cyann, Mads, Mathilde, Alba and me (Théophile). There was a good duck diversity, but we needed a bit of time to find one male Garganey, a beautiful bird ! There was also a flock of 18 Ruffs (Brushane) foraging, with some males with their striking summer plumage. After spending 30 minutes on the tower, Mads suggested that we try to find the hoopoe, which had been seen not so far that morning. When we arrived at the car park, Mathilde immediately started looking for it. When we suggested moving to the beach, she turned away and the hoopoe flew over the car park... Hopefully, we saw it much better 15 minutes later ! We saw many other nice species through our binoculars, including the three mentioned above, as well as two Ring ouzels (Ringdrossel), one Yellow wagtail (much better than this morning's observation), and possibly the last Redpolls (Gråsisken) of spring.

Looking out for the Garganey from the observation tower. Picture by Mads Elley

 The bird of the day ! Foto : Théophile Fontaine

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Alba Maria Holmberg, Anne Ramskov Hermanns

Ringmærkningen: This morning started out rather slow, and it did not get much better throughout the day. With only 13 new birds but 28 recaptures, this suggests that most of the birds currently in the garden have been stationary here during the last few days, with very few new arrivals to spice things up (at least of the species that regularly fly into our nets). Among the recaptures were a few species that I have not seen in the hand many times, such as the Redwing (Vindrossel), and the Black redstart (Husrødstjert) from yesterday, which were nice to see. We also caught a female Blackcap (Munk), which had been ringed in Gedser in the summer of last year, as well as two blue tits, one new and one recapture. 

As we neared the last rounds, we were beginning to worry that we would not have much more interesting to write about in the blog (compared to the last, rather eventful, days), but the birds must have sensed our plight, as on the second-to-last round, Anne found a Wryneck (Vendehals) in one of her nets. Since Anne and Théo both had already ringed that species, I got the pleasure of putting a ring on my first one. As soon as I took it out of the bag, it began to wring its head around from side to side, imitating a snake in a futile attempt to scare me off. Instead, all it managed to do was impress the onlookers who had arrived soon after we invited them to come see it, some of whom had never seen a Wryneck before.

Wryneck (Vendehals), the bird that saved the day ! Foto : Théophile Fontaine

After closing and typing in the ringing-data for today, we looked up previous instances of Wrynecks being caught at Gedser Bird Station in spring, and found that this one beat the previous record for earliest catch by four days (the previous record being the 18. of April). So, all in all, it turned out to be an eventful morning after all.

After ringing and typing data, Théo started looking through old nets in order to find candidates to be put up around the pond just outside the Station garden, and I helped with fixing some of the holes in one of them, which was great practice, since I don't have that much experience in this vital part of taking care of ringing equipment. Then, we put up said nets, and now we hope to use them to maybe catch a wagtail or two in the coming days. We will be sure to write on the blog if we suceed! 

Below is an overview of the birds caught today:

Trækket på Odden: We went off to the tip in a cloudy weather, with a few raindrops which would soon intensify, forcing us to seek shelter under the building. It rained for a while, and unfortunately from this point of view we barely saw any migrating birds, except for the Sandwich Terns (Splitterne) coming in big number over the water, and for the Eiders (Ederfugl) which seemed to go the wrong way for most of them.

When the rain stopped, we decided to change location so we could have a better overview of the migration close to the shore. The location was not the only reason why we saw so few birds, and the numbers stayed low all morning long. We started the day by betting how many birds we would see, and how many of them would be Eiders. With ours bets of 120 Eiders and 750 birds in total, we underestimated a bit the Eider migration, and clearly overestimated the overall migration…

All morning long, we could see the wagtails (Hvid vipstjert) partying in the field next to us, in a group of up to 15 individuals. Suddenly, their calls got more intense. When we turned our head to see what was going on, we first saw a Sparrowhawk (Spurvehøg), soon followed by some wagtails bullying it. This unusual sighting let us laughing at the poor Sparrowhawk’s face, which took the decision to carefully avoid the field on its way back inland.

As the ringing was also very quiet, Theophile joined us at the tip for a small amount of time. He spotted a Common Sandpiper (Mudderklire), so we took some time to look into the clues of the different sandpipers and other relatives. The Danish names are pretty confusing for this group of species, but I am happy to learn new Danish names every day, and to actually remember them ! Even though I am still unsure of some pronunciations…

5 Gadwalls (Knarand) came just after the Common sandpiper (Mudderklire) Foto : Théophile Fontaine

Less than an hour before the end of the standard time, we got a call from Theophile (who was back in the garden). We obviously had to have a break on the migration count and rush back to the station to get to see the Wryneck !! When we came back to the tip, it was raining again… We stayed a little longer to make up for the time we spent on the Wryneck observation, but sadly the last 15 minutes didn’t help us to reach our 750 birds goal...

Despite the low numbers, the rain and the cold, we stay in good spirits and keep on going out there with an open mind. Hopefully tomorrow will be better !

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

 Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Alba Maria Holmberg, Anne Ramskov Hermanns

Ringmærkningen: Despite the strong easterly wind, which is really bad for us, there was some activity in the garden. We managed to ring 34 birds and recapture 17, bringing the total number of 51 birds and 11 species . Not to bad for Anne's first morning, that as arrived yesterday. It was a double redstart day, with the second Black redstart (Husrødstjert) of the season (a different one to the friendly one at the tip !) and the first Common redstart (Rødstjert) of the season. It was a beautiful young male and could be the same one we saw in the garden two days ago. I really love seeing the long-distance migrants on their way back from Sub-Saharan Africa. It gives me a sense of humility and immense admiration to handle these second calendar birds that have already travelled thousands of kilometres.

Common redstart (Rødstjert) Foto : Théophile Fontaine

This morning was also marked by a good movement of finches over the garden, mostly Chaffinches (Bogfinke) and Bramblings (Kvaekerfinke), and in a mixed flock were my two first Wood larks (Hedelærke) of the year! Due to the low number of birds, I (Théo) even had time to go to the tip between two rounds to see how things were going at the tip, and it seems that they were doing well !

It was also a good day for increasing the Alba ringing list: she added three species this morning, the Redwing (Vindrossel), the Firecrest (Rødtoppet fuglekonge) and the Black redstart (Rødstjert). I hope it will continue this way for her !

Redwing (Vindrossel) Foto : Théophile Fontaine

It seems that it could rain a bit tomorrow, so we'll see if the first Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) or the first Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) will be caught or if we have to wait a bit more...

Trækket på Odden: It was time for another morning at the tip. Mads rolled up on his bike, just as Cyann put down our little cart at the designated spot for the day. The clouds kept it a rather dark morning, with low visibility, but we were entertained by a large group of Common Scoter (Sortand) males courting a single female, and a Mute Swan (Knopsvane) sleeping peacefully right in front of us, and later going through its morning cleaning routine.

Sleeping Mute Swan (Knopsvane) through scope. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

As it finally became light enough to have a clear view, began the several rounds of especially ducks, as well as some terns and gulls too. As it's only my second day migration counting ever, Mads and Cyann got to teach me how to recognise the 37 species of birds that came through, since I'm mainly used to identifying them swimming or sitting around. 

Spot of the day. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

The ducks definitely became today's main characters:
There were a lot of Scaup (Bjergand), half black, half white. 
Then came the Teal (Krikand), which even though they gave name to the colour teal, just look grey in flight.
This still sounds like a Pokémon to me, but the Wigeon (Pibeand) came plentiful as well, with their big white wingpatch.
The elegant Pintail (Spidsand), with the dark head, the white neck, and the white line on the wings.
The Gadwall (Knarand) with just a white square in the back corner of the wing.
The Shovelers (Skeand) looking like distant releatives of the Eiders. 
The characteristically colorblocked Shelduck (Gravand).
And of course the Mallard (Gråand), the classic, but I hadn't noticed how striking the two wing stripes are before.

It was colder today, with no sun, but luckily only a slight drizzle in the last half hour. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

We were also accompanied for a long time by a very friendly and curious young female Black Redstart (Husrødstjert) examining our stuff, looking at us from all angles, setting an example for how we wish more birds acted.

Female Black Redstart (Husrødstjert). Fotos: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Ringmærkningen: Louis had offered to handle the migration today, so Theo and Alba invited me (Mathilde) to join them for a potentially wet morning of ringing. We postponed the opening a little bit, to get a feeling of the weather in the early hours, but as we've experienced before, the ominous forecast didn't actualize itself in anything else than drizzles, so with some shorter rounds now and then, we were able to carry out a full standard ringing.

And oh boy! We we're so happy we did, because after only a few rounds we caught a young female Bluethroat (Blåhals)! While Alba starting handling the other birds caught that round, we let our close Gedser contacts know, that they were welcome to come by and see it. Hans was the first on sight, arriving the exact moment Alba put a ring on it, and after the measurements, a little flock had gathered to see. There hasn't been caught many Bluethroats here, and this was even the earliest one of them all!

A young female Bluethroat (Blåhals), without the male's characteristic blue throat. Foto: Théophile Fontaine / GFU

Theo has already been super productive in his few days here, both fixing and changing several of the nets, cutting away obnoxious branches, and even cleaning the lab. Maybe that was some of the inspiration for Cyann and I, to finally check and sort all the common food in the fridge and cupboards, left by who knows who, and we have no idea, how long has been there for. With all the expired stuff out of the way, we among other things, had ingredients left to make an apple crumble today. Looking forward to eating it later!

Just after coming back from the migration count yesterday, Mathilde and Cyann got a big cleaning fever and sorted out everything in the common shelves. Picture by Cyann Ménard/GFU

In other news Gus Brendan (read yesterday's blog) hasn't been seen all day, so maybe he read the blog yesterday, and decided it was time to leave? Keep an eye out for him: The cutest limping Brent Goose (Knortegås) you'll ever see. 

Lastly Anne also arrived this afternoon, to the sweet smell of apple crumble, and is staying for a few days - I doubt there's ever been six young people running this station before ;-)

Our lovely team of young, motivated, and really happy to be here people! Picture by Sjoerd van Baal (but it was a collective effort, we all put a lot of energy in this selfie, while the crumble was heating up)

Trækket på Odden: As promised, today's text will be short. Louis did the counting this morning, so we must thank him, especially as it was a really slow morning. The number of eiders was very low! But you always have to go outside with an open mind, and sometimes you're surprised. This morning, for example, he saw an adult Mediterranean gull (Sorthovedet måge), which is not so common here. Also, while I (Théo) was doing a round, I heard two characteristic calls of the pied avocet (Klyde), so I ran to an open area to try and find them and see how many there were. Two birds flew right to Louis, but unfortunately he only heard them. It was my first for the season! Tomorrow, Cyann and Mathilde will be back at the tip. Hopefully they will see lots of species!

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Today's dessert, an apple crumble, which was absolutely delicious (and it is not because I (Cyann), with Mathilde's help, made it, that I say that). Picture by Cyann Ménard

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Alba Maria Holmberg, Anne Ramskov Hermanns, Louis A. Hansen