It is a pity, just too much wind and therefore no bird catching. Not good for the nets, they will blow into the vegetation. Tomorrow probably the same and the weather forecast for friday is also not very promising.

Used the day for some maintenance, cutting "brombær" bushes and clearing the garden from all the branches of the big cleaning this year. Still a lot to do so tomorrow everybody is welcome to help.

De gladeste hilsner

Robert

Early morning there was less wind, but later there was a bit too much (13 m/s from the east). It felt like autumn and it looked like autumn. 

Several nets had leaves in them, not so nice when you want to close the nets at the end of the session. In total 63 birds 28 Jernspurv (Dunnock) and 23 Rødhals (Robin). Most birds that arrived yesterday were gone again. Only Rødhals decided to stay the night which resulted in a large number of recaptures (particular of birds ringed yesterday). No new Rødtoppet fuglekonge (firecrest), only one recapture of a bird that is already for several days in the garden.

Today pictures of the two top species of today:

Robin/Rødhals

Dunnock/Jernspurv

Bird caught today:

De gladeste hilsner

Robert

First, I have to start with saying “undskyld”. I have made a mistake yesterday. Some people pointed out that the treecreeper was a short-toed treecreeper, and they were completely right. It is a simple mistake, what we call in the Netherlands a Treecreeper is the one that you call the Korttået træløber. And the Danish Træløber is for me the Kortsnavelboomkruiper. Languages are so surprising.

Now about today. Maybe I should have named this day “robin, robin, robin” because that was the species that we caught the most. But we have a new day record for firecrests and that was the reason that I named this day after this beautiful species. In total 18 new birds ringed.

Hans Lind has helped me today because the first round started with 35 birds and normally the second round would have more birds, often about twice as much, and that would have been too much for one person. This was not the case but nevertheless we had in total 116 new birds and 10 recaptures.

I have made a figure of the firecrests caught at the Gedser Fuglestation since 2000 till today. You can see that in the first years of this century the numbers were really low. In 2001 not one Firecrest was caught. But the last four years it is 50 or more. It is evident that the population of firecrests is increasing in Denmark. Gedser Fuglestation is already ringing birds for many years with a highly standardized method and this method is particularly good for finding trends in populations over time. It has to be noted that in the first years of the century it was not so standardised as it is nowadays.

When I was looking on the internet what the birds were doing in Europe I noticed that in the Netherlands the Blackcaps have arrived and I was hoping that they had reached Gedser too. But that is not really the case. We had two Blackcaps (Munk) and also one of the other summer birds (the Gransanger/Chiffchaff) is only slowly starting to arrive. Today in total 4.

The photogallery consist today of three species, a Blackcap (Munk), a Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge) and a beautiful male Brambling (Kvækerfinke).

 Male Blackcap (Munk)

 Male Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge)

Male Brambling (Kvækerfinke)

 Todays results (newly caught and recaptures):

Today it certainly was a very nice day. Out of the wind it was this afternoon even hot. Almost a summer day, but the temperature goes down again. What a pity. Why do I like to do this work, ringing birds and being two weeks from home? There are a number of reasons. First, I like birds very much (in principle nature), I do not mind to get up early every morning and it is always a surprise what will happen, not one day is the same. 

Take this day, I had not expected that many new birds would arrive in the night, but yes there were certainly new birds today in the garden. And I caught a number of special birds too, a Treecreeper/Traelober (the second one of this year) and Black redstart/Husrødstjert (also the second one), a Hawfinch/Kernebider (which was the first one of the year). In addition, 5 new Firecrests/Rødtoppet Fuglekonge which brings the total of the year at 32. I total 92 new birds were ringed (mainly Rødhals and Jernspurv).

Korttået trælober (Short-toed treecreeper)

Husrødstjert (Black Redstart) female

Kernebider (Hawfich)

Mu daugthers are always saying what are they looking strict (austerly) and I think I have to agree. Out of my archive a picture that shows this even better.

 Results of today:

De gladeste hilsner

Robert

The weather forecast for the day was good: no rain, sunny and wind approximately 7 m/s, Therefore, I decided to open all nets this morning (there was backup available in case of many birds). But help was not necessary. Almost no new birds did arrive overnight. So, it was an easy day. In total 37 new birds ringed. No special things have happened except that in the second round I found all of sudden three Coal tits (Sortmejse) very close together in the net. I like this species, it is such a nice tiny little bird. Less aggressive than some of the other tits, like for instance the Blue tit (Blåmejse).

There was some migration today: I saw a group of cranes going north and after closing the nets I saw a Long-tailed tit (Halemejse).

Only two pictures today:

A 2k Coal tit / Sortmejse

A female Goldcrest / Fuglekonge

Todays catches and recaptures:

De gladeste hilsner

Robert

Hello I am Robert Luttik and am a Dutchman and my Danish is not good enough to write the blog in Danish, but I also will not do it Dutch.

The morning started with a bit wind (15m/s) but it went down to about 7 m/s. It was the whole day a blue sky. So, spring is finally there. But a nice sunny day also makes the nets more visible and together with the wind this resulted in less birds than the days before. In total there were 48 new birds ringed. There were two new species for the year, a White Wagtail (Hvid Vipstjert) and a House Sparrow (Gråspurv). This species could be considered as a rare species for the station (last year only one).

2K male Hvid Vipstjert

and adult female Gråspurv

Again today two new Firecrests (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge) and a new very colourful Nordic Bullfinch (Stor Dompap).

male Firecrest/ Rødtoppet Fuglekonge

finally Bullfinch/Stor Dompap

Since a number of days the results of the Gedser Fuglestation can also be found at the site www.trektellen.nl. This is a Dutch site but you can choose your own language. When you open the site, you will see something like this:

At the place where you see “Nederlands” there is a dropdown menu for languages. The Danish ringing locations can be found under “Andre Lande”.

Todays catches and recaptures:

De gladeste hilsner

Robert

Vejret var ikke så flot som i går - det var skyet det meste af tiden, og vinden var lidt friskere fra en sydvestlig retning, lidt fugt i luften var der osse på nogle få minutter: Faktisk perfekt vejr til ringmærkning, hvor nettene ikke bliver belyst af solen.

Jeg var ude og hjælpe til i et par timer. Der var virkelig gang i jernspurvene, som prægede billedet i dag sammen med rødhals, musvit og bogfinke. Et dejligt gensyn med rødstjert, der har været på vinterophold i Afrika. En anden ny ringmærkningsart for året var en munk.

Rødstjert adult han

Her en munk han.

De rødtoppede fuglekonger nåede helt op på 10 i dag, så et par rigtig gode dage for dem.

Dagens ringmærkning/Ringing today:

Gærdesmutte/Wren 10

Jernspurv/Dunnock 42

Rødhals/Robin 23

Rødstjert/Common Redstart 1

Solsort/Blackbird 2

Sangdrossel/Song Thrush 3

Vindrossel/Redwing 1

Munk/Blackcap 1

Gransanger/Chiffchaf 3

Fuglekonge/Goldcrest 3

Rødtoppet fuglekonge/Firecrest 10

Blåmejse(Blue Tit 3

Musvit/Great Tit 22

Bogfinke/Chaffinch 18

Grønirisk/Greenfinch 2

Total: 144

Hvorfor nu denne overskrift? Jo, regnvej i to omgange i går, især næsten skybrud i aftes, hvor der på et par timer kom 18 mm. Sammen med de 25 cm. sne, der er smeltet nu, er der nu vand overalt: På marker, i lavninger og på de stier, der forbinder nettene, så røjserne var gode at have på i dag!

De nordlige net måtte opgives i dag, jeg har aldrig før set så meget vand her!

Her ved Poststien var der store søer på marken. Det hvide i baggrunden er damp fra marken, som kommer, når lun luft blæser hen over den våde, kolde jord.

Selvom der kun var 4-6 grader ind til midt på eftermiddagen, føltes det pragtfuldt i solskinnet. Ved 16-tiden nåede temperaturen helt op på 12 grader, så vi ventede at se sommerfugle sværme sammen med bier og humlebier, men desværre nej!

Kl. 07.15 fik jeg en sms fra Robert: "First round 29 and 3 firecrest" (rødtoppet fuglekonge), så jeg var godt klar over, at det ville blive en god dag. Et par timer senere udbad han sig lidt hjælp, så jeg kørte straks derud, hvor han og Bo var i fuld gang med fuglene. Allerede nu var de oppe på 8 rødtoppede fuglekonger, og da mærkningen sluttede kl. 14, var han oppe på hele 11 af de små smukke væsener - - - vi var sikre på, at det var vores højeste antal mærkede af den art på én dag. Det var dog "kun" en tangering, idet vi også mærkede 11 stk. 23. marts 2017.

En fin rødtoppet fuglekonge/Firecrest

Vi havde rigtig travlt i formiddags med masser af fugle i garnene, og som jeg forudså i går, fik vi den første gransanger i år, også dompap var ny for 2018. Kvækerfinke/Brambling, en flot adult han af husrødstjert/Black Redstart og nogle mejser blev også registreret med ringnummer.

Husrødstjert, udfarvet han/adult Black Redstart

Vi havde stort set ikke tid til at kigge opefter, men fik alligevel obs'et en flok på 20 traner, som gjorde trækforsøg, men vendte om igen. En rød glente blev det også til, og edderbasserne havde travlt med at komme østpå.

Dagens ringmærkning/ringing today:

Gærdesmutte/Wren7

Jernspurv/Dunnock 12

Rødhals/Robin 27

Husrødstjert/Black Redstart 1

Solsort/Blackbird  5

Sangdrossel/Song Thrush 3

Vindrossel/Redwing 2

Gransanger/Chiffchaff 1

Fuglekonge/Goldcrest 8

Rødtoppet fuglekonge/Firecrest 11

BlåmejseBlue Tit 1

Musvit/Great Tit 23

Skovspurv/Tree Sparrow 1

Bogfinke/Chaffinch 26

Kvækerfinke/Brambling 1

Nordlig gråsisken/Common Redpoll 1

Stor Dompap/Bullfinch 1

Total 131 - 17 arter/species

Nattens regn stilnede først af ved 7.30-tiden, og vinden var ret svag fra sydlige retninger, og derfor kunne Robert åbne nogle af nettene. Ikke noget frost, så trampestierne mellem nettene blev mere og mere mudrede. Temperaturen steg langsomt til 4-5 plusgrader om eftermiddagen, og aftenens kraftige regnvejr fik

Det blev nogenlunde den samme artsfordeling som de forrige dage, hvor netfangst var muligt at gennemføre, nemlig solsort, gærdesmutte, jernspurv og rødhals, men der var en del finker i haven, og hele 9 bogfinker kunne mærkes. Dagens fugl blev en gråsisken med HELGOLAND-ring.

Stor gråsisken/Redpoll med Helgoland-ring. Det bliver spændende at modtage ringmærkningsdata!

Dagens ringmærkning/ringing today:

Gærdesmutte/wren 4

Jernspurv/dunnock 1

Rødhals/robin 1

Solsort/blackbird 3

Bogfinke/chaffinch 9

Total: 18

HLI

Jeg vikarierede for Michael og Alex, som jo tog hjem i forgårs. Jeg kom lidt sent i seng i aftes, så dynen var lidt svær at forlade - men da man først var kommet op og kørt de tre km ud til stationen, så var det jo rigtig dejligt, prøv bare at se denne udsigt kl. 05.40!

Håndholdt med 6400 ISO på 1/6 sekund: lidt grynet, men alligevel stemningsfuldt!

Vejret var klart, svag vind fra nordvest (normalt ideelt i Gedser), en anelse frost, så det burde være ideelle forhold for en ringmærker i arbejde, men nej, nej og atter nej: De 10-15 cm sne havde en frossen skorpe øverst, som man brød igennem for hvert skridt man tog, så det var tungt og anstrengende at gå netrunder. Der var bare med at få trampet et dobbeltspor, og efter nogle runder var det noget nemmere. Ikke nok med det: der røg af og til en snelavine ned ad taget. Da jeg skulle hjem hen ad kl. 14 og gik ud af hoveddøren, var jeg 20 cm fra at blive ramt af en lavine! Mængde som en trillebørfuld! Hvad gør man ikke frivilligt!

Travespor og lavinespor!

Rent fuglemæssigt gik det da ok i dag, jeg kunne gennemføre standardmærkningen, og dem har vi ikke haft ret mange af i år. Der var lidt fugle på hver runde, men kontroller af fugle mærket i marts oversteg nymærkninger. Stadig ret mange solsorte og jernspurve, men det var fint med en sjagger, den anden i år.

I det flotte solskin kom der adskillige flokke af ederfugle piskende mod øst, de er forsinkede i år som alt andet. Også bramgæs var på vej mod ynglepladserne, og i haven sang bogfinker og jernspurve.

Sjagger/fieldfare

Anders Zuschlag kom for at tage backup, og imens hentede jeg lige Robert Luttik, der skal tage ringmærkningen de næste par uger. Vi fodrede mågerne ude i fårefolden med brød og basser, men de lod sig desværre ikke fange i dag.

Også den tyske ringmærker Dr. Jürgen Kaatz med fruen Iris var på besøg og med på en netrunde.

Gad vide, hvad dagen i morgen vil bringe? Der skulle være set brundrossel ved Rostock, så hvem ved? Eller den første gransanger?

Dagens ringmærkning/ Ringing today:

Solsort/Blackbird 4

Sjagger/Fieldfare 1

Jernspurv/Dunnock 4

Total: 9

Hans