Gedser Fuglestation 2018 September 24.

Ok! What just happen? Today, at 0700 hours and throughout the day we were buffeted by the infamous nor’westerly winds.  The same winds we desperately wanted to break the boredom we experienced during the past week arrived last night as a harbringer. These winds were the slingshot for the thousands of migrating birds from the northern hinterlands. Simply put, we got wacked. On the first round Song Thrushes (48), hung in the nets. These were quickly replaced with Dunnocks on the second round and subsequent rounds. By 1000 hours many nets hung empty but by 1430 hours we managed to squeeze 229 birds through the weigh scale. 

Birds of the day: Song Thrush/sangdrossel and Dunnock/jernspurv

That was our nets. But the many hundreds of passerines and hunting or moving raptors overhead flying into the westerly winds was beyond description. I was simply awe struck and humble.  Don’t you love Gedser?

Today started with less wind and high cloud. Birds calling from the bushes as it got light. We had more variety today with a Reed Warbler, Garden Warbler and 13 Dunnocks. A sign of an increase in migration were the 13 Dunnocks that we caught.

There was a strong movement of raptors throughout the day and we caught 5 Sparrowhawks in the raptor nets. Follow the migration watch at Gedser Odde on the Træk pages from the home page.

Here are todays slightly better results.

Spurvehøg         5

Jernspurv            13

Sangdrossel        1

Rørsanger            1

Havesanger          1

Munk                      2

Gransanger           5

Løvsanger             2

Bogfinke                1

Tomorrow the wind is forecast to move round to the North West. Much better for migration. But the wind speed may be too high to erect all of the nets. I think we will have to consider what to do in the morning.

Hilsen

Today was a very sad day, we had to say a fond goodbye to our resident Dane.

But, the very windy weather kept any birds low in the bushes, we could only manage 102 net metres, with nets in the more secluded rides. Several rain storms passed over after we had finished the standard netting.

Here are todays totals:-

Rødhals/Robin              1/1

Gransanger/Chiffchaff   2/0

Blackbird                         0/1

Great Tit                           0/1

Cups of Coffee                10+ (some of the subspecies med mælk)

Jimmy, our new resident Dane, had an excellent day at the tip with, as well as others:-

1900+ Swallows

220 Kestrels

550 Eiders.

Many thanks to Jimmy and his company over evening meal (and Dr Nielsen's)

Here is today's little joke for you, especially for our departed Dane:-

How many therapists does it take to change a light bulb?

One, but the light bulb must want to change.

Hilsen, Ta-ta etc.

Today we woke with great hopes and the knowledge that it is the first day of the rest of our lives.

But it was like groundhog day.

The wind was stronger than yesterday.

Here are todays totals:-

Spurvehøg               1

Rødhals                    1

Rødstjert                    3

Munk                          1/1

Gransanger               3

Grå Flueshapper      1

Broget Fluesnapper 1

Blåmejse                     0/1

Of the observations at the point were 640 Scoter, 142 Wigeon and 94 Eider. Overhead were 120 Swallows.  The observers do a magnificent job out at the point, they are there in all weathers. Today well over 1000 individual birds have been counted of over 30 species. We ringers are comparative softies, being able to shelter inside and have a fresh cup of coffee whenever we want. I'd like to salute our trækers. 

The weather is forecast to change on Sunday evening to a northerly wind. The winds from the south-west have been stopping the migration. Somewhere there are birds waiting to come to Gedser next week. Or was that a dream I have just had?

The poet is too depressed today for his ditty and the photographer is fast asleep in bed, so there are no images. Our colonial colleague is "discussing" a point with a friend of GFU on the interweb thing. A point I fear will run and run. Knowing both parties I am backing the Danish team.

Here is a poor English joke.

What do you call a deer with no eyes?

No idea.

Hilsen

Another quiet day with sunshine and a westerly wind that made us delay opening the nets for an hour.

Our Five Star accomadation taken a few years ago. The observant of you will have seen that it was taken before the alterations. Especially for those of you who have never visited Gedser.

Here are todays birds:-

Sparrowhawk       1

Robin                      5/1

Redstart                  1

Blackcap                  2

Great Tit                    1

Blue Tit                       0/1

Blackbird                   0/1

Luckily around 14:00 we caught a female Sparrowhawk in the raptor nets.

No pictures of birds today, so an image taken a couple of years ago of Gedser´s main street just after the stage coach has left. 

Here is todays little ditty:-

There were thre men in a fuglestation,                                                                                                           They each came from a different nation,                                                                                                       From Canada, England and Denmark,                                                                                                         Like brothers they made their mark,                                                                                                             Despite being no relation.  

Trækket på Odden var ikke imponerende: de største tal stod Sortand/ Black Scooter (330) for sammen med Landsvale / Swallow (200) og Bogfinke / Chaffinch (300).

Rainer Ebel fra Canada har igen i dag et indlæg om fangsterne her på Gedser Fuglestation - her Kommer det:

Migration Blues

September’s newly ringed birds are compared between last year and this year (See graph).

For the most part, both years reflect each other at least until 14 September. But this year, from the 7^th to the 11^th we almost discovered the abyss of the Marianna Trench The 10^th, 13^th, and 16^th represents an off phase oscillation. What it means is anyone’s guess. With missing data and weather data not at the finger tips for 2017 it is impossible to compare. Thereafter numbers of netted birds increased reaching the ultimate peak of 358 netted birds on the 18^th . What happened?

This year we just managed to bump along, our nets sitting essentially empty, waving to the birds flying overhead. We did everything within our power short of the mystic Canadian rain dance that appears not to work in Denmark. But do blame our lack lust performance on the wind or more generally, on atmospheric conditions of the day.

Vi havde i dag besøg af 3 Nøddekriger, der kredsede over haven en tid og samtidig havde vi også besøg af Lars Peter Bærendsen fra Næstved. Han var kommet for at fotografere Duehaler i vores sommerfuglebusk.

Vi var så heldige at han fik taget et foto af den ene Nøddekrige og heldigvis også fik Duehalen i kassen.

Dagens fangster:

I dag var en almindelig gennemsnitlig dag, hvad angår trækket. På stationen var vi noget skuffede over antallet af fangne fugle. Flere forskellige arter passerede haven højt, der i blandt Bogfinker og Korsnæb.

Vi haved en flot solnedgang over Østersøen til aften:

Rainer Ebel has some comments on Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Spurvehøg)  sex ratios netted at Gedser Birdstation:

 We were curious as to how effective the “raptor nets” were at capturing both sexes of the Eurasian Sparrowhawk at the station. Upon reviewing the capture data from April, August, September, October, and November 2016 to 2018 there were 96 males and 54 females captured. This represents a male to female ratio of 16:9 suggesting that the 55mm on the diagonal favours the capture of the smaller male over the larger female. To compensate for this differential capture the use of a larger mesh with the similar thread size of the existing nets should be used.

Eight nets set in a pattern of four inner and 4 outer 10metre nets would be ideal for the garden site. A more even sex ratio capture would be more representative of the migrating sparrowhawks we witness flying over the station.

Dagens fangster:

Natten var præget af vind fra Nordvest og den bragte fugle til Gedser Fuglestation. Rødhalsen dominerede totalt med næsten halvdelen af fangsterne.

Ude på Spidsen var det Bogfinkerne (Chaffinch) som dominerede småfugletrækket med næsten 1500 fugle.

Rødstjert (Redstart) 1k han bemærk de lyse spidser, som slides af i vinterens læb, så denne han til foråret fremstår med et flot orange bryst.

Dagens fangster: