This morning, I opened the night under the moonlight! It was good to see a clear sky when the sun came up. It was still quite cold though. The first two rounds were alright, with a nice redwing being caught at sunrise.

But then the wind started blowing again and the nets stayed empty. I had hoped the sun might dry up the land a bit because it is becoming muddy in some place around the nets, but unfortunately, it rained again in the afternoon. It doesn't seem to bother my hairy easter hare friend, though, since it was in the same spans as yesterday. The afternoon in the garden and on the way to gedser was really quiet, the wind continued to blow quite strongly.

In the end, the ringing number was just a bit under average with 20 birds ringed today:

Jernspurv - Dunnock: 8
Solsort - Blackbird: 2
Sangdrossel - Song trush: 1
Vindrossel - Redwing: 1
Blåmesje - Blue tit: 1
Musvit - Great tit : 3
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 4

A quite thick and wet fog welcomed me when I sat foot out of the house this morning, and showers were expected from the weather forecast,  allowing me to open only half of the nets as a precaution. There was no wind and the weather stayed quite unpredictable. In the end, the whole ringing session turned out alright but the garden was really quiet. Yellowhammer and skylarks were singing, tits, trush and chaffinches were calling in the early morning but then it almost went silent. Only blackbirds seemed to be around. I caught only 4 though but I have a plausible explanation for that: I saw a hare walking quietly in the net´s spans and I suspect it to free the birds from the nets and exchange that service against eggs for easter...

In the end, I managed to keep nets open until 12 and ring 16 new birds. Among which, a firecrest whose crest was really bright fire-like orange and I couldn't resist to take picture of this little fellow ( unfortunately the orange doesn't come up as bright!)

Wren - Gærdesmutte: 2
Dunnock - Jernspurv: 2
Solsort - Blackbird: 4
Sangdrossel - SOng Trush: 1
Chiffchaff - Gransanger: 2
Firecrest - Rødtoppet Fuglekon: 1
Tree sparrow - Skovspurv: 1
Chaffinch - Bogfinke: 3

The end of the night was a bit misty this morning but the sunrise was really nice and colourfull! Unfortunately,as soon as the sun came up, so did the clouds and the morning turned up greyish for the weather, but not for the ringing! The session was standard today and I have had 40 birds in the nets which is a bit above average.

What has been good, though, is the diversity. 13 species! Considering the number of birds caught, it was quite good!Nothing really special though... I put you a picture of the nice looking male greenfinch, where you can actually spot juvenile feathers on the wing!

Now the rain is back again, but it should get better during the night.

Birds captured today:
Rødhals - Robin : 10
Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 3
Rødtoppet Fuglekonge - Firecrest: 4
Blåmejse - Blue tit : 2
Træløber - Treecreeper: 1
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 3
Kvækerfinke - Brambling: 2
Solsort - Blackbird: 3
Grønirisk - Greenfinch: 1
Jernspurv - Dunnock : 8
Grønsisken - Siskin: 1
Gærdsmutte - Wren: 1

Today, it was raining and windy the whole morning so the nets could not be open.

Hopefully, the wind dropped in the early afternoon and the sun was shining enough to dry up the land a bit. I decided opening nets in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the sky was still threatening and I ended up juggling between short icy downpours and nice sunny lulls. In the end I got only a few nets open for 3 hours and caught 11 birds. Half of them were retraps. The sky is clear and should still like this in the morning until 10 am, so tomorrow is full of promises.

Birds captured today:

Dunnock : 1
Goldcrest:5
Firecrest:3
Blackbird: 1
Robin:1

Today was my first day in the ringing station and we ringed together with Lars.
The weather was not very settled... bit of sun, some raindrops, but not very cold... We almost closed some nets in the second round, but in the end it turned out alright.
Good for us we didn't have to! Because, as I arrived from Belgium yesterday night, the birds came up to see this new curiosity this morning, so we ended up ringing 51 birds.Among them, a quite worn linnet and a good looking siskin.

As for the race between goldcrests and firecrests, well, the latter definitely lost it from the second round. But we got a fair number of each!

Birds ringed today:

Gærdesmutte - Winter wren: 2
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 1
Rødhals - Robin: 3
Solsort - Blackbird: 3
Sangdrossel - Song trush: 2
Gransanger - Chiffchaff: 2
Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 23
Rødtoppet Fuglekon - Firecrest: 7
Musvit - Great tit : 1
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 3
Kvækerfinke - Brambling: 1
Grønsisken - Siskin: 1
Tornirisk - Linnet: 1
Gulspurv - Yellowhammer: 1

til morgen blæst og skyet men brugbart vejr til fngst. Overtrækkende Finker høres og de tidlige sangere Solsort og Gulspurv er også i gang.

Det blev dog et noget beskedent resultat: 13 fugle.

Der er et spørgsmål jeg dagligt diskuterer med nr 41, min Rødtoppede Fuglekongeven, som hver dag hænger i 3-4 forskellige net. hver gang jeg tager ham ud af nettet, får vi en snak om vejrsituationen og forårets fugleræs, altså det store Fuglekongeræs:

Hvem når først op på 10 fugle??? - De Rødtoppede eller de Gultoppede. I dag fik de rødtoppede udlignet til 5-5 med en skore på hele 3 - flot.

Dagens ringmærkninger:

Jernspurv, Solsort og Rødtoppet Fuglekonge hver 3

Bogfinke 2

Fuglekonge og Gulspurv hver 1

Fra morgenstunden kunne jeg hører og se at der var træk af finker - mest bogfinker hen over haven, men ingen af den ville ned og tage et hvil! En enkelt Musvåge var nede over nettene og der var også træk af Alliker og Ringduer at forlyste sig med.

Ringmærkningstallene blev derfor noget beskedne:

Blåmejse 7

Solsort 3

Jernspurv og Fuglekonge hver 2

Gærdesmutte, Musvit og Gulspurv hver 1.

En overskyet dag med lidt lunt luft. De første 2 Gransangere i nettet sammen med en Træløber.

Endnu en Rødtoppet Fuglekonge fik ring på i morges. Den lille fyr fra i lørdags flyver stadig rundt i haven og lader sig regelmæssigt fange, så nu har den fået en kammerat at lege med.

Ialt blev det til 19 fugle:

Solsort 9

Rødhals, Gransanger og Fuglekonge hver 2.

Gærdesmutte, Sangdrossel, træløber og Rødtoppet Fuglekonge hver 1

I dag blev der ringmærket 27 fugle: Grønsisken 19, Jernspurv 3 og en enkelt af følgende - Solsort, Musvit, Kvækerfinke, Skovspurv og Gærdesmutte. Vores Rødtoppede Fuglekonge holder stadig til på Stationens område og er genfanget adskillige gange i weekenden.

Da Klub 300 holdt møde her i weekenden opdagede disse trænede fuglekiggere at der var noget galt med nogle af vores Skovspurve: de var "mørkbugede" ?

 En lidt spøjs fætter, noget genetisk indavl???? :-)

Fra Ringmærkningscentralen tikkede der i dag en særdeles spændende genmelding ind: Vores første genfund fra Israel!

Det var en gærdesanger, som Anders Odd Nielsen mærkede i Gedser 24. august 2014. Den er sørme blevet fanget og aflæst af en ringmærker i det centrale Israel - midt ude i Negev-Ørkenen - den 10. marts 2017. Sådan nogle fund er der langt imellem.

Vejret i dag var okay med næsten vindstille fra morgenstunden og tørt. ikke så mange fugle - hverken i luften eller i haven. En Hvid Vipstjert fløj rundt og lød nærmest forårskåd!

Dagen bød på 7 ringmærkninger: 3 Solsorte, 2 Gærdesmutter og én enkelt Bogfinke og Rødhals. Desuden en aflæsning af en Solsort ringmærket her på stedet i november 2016.

Den Rødtoppede Fuglekonge fra i går havde overnattet og nåede at blive genfanget 4 gange i formiddag. "Klub 300", som havde afholdt Generalforsamling her på stationen her i weekenden fik den også at se. De kvitterede med lækker Cilli Con Carne og en melding om en Kongeederfugl ad han ude ved Odden.