Just the weather we ordered! Foto: Cyann Ménard / GFU

Ringmærkningen: Today the wind had settled down again, so we could open all the nets, and form two teacher/trainee teams consisting of Søren + me (Mathilde) on one side, and Théo + Olga on the other. On one of the first rounds Théo saw another Wryneck (Vendehals) in the garden, but it didn't end up in a net - he saw it again late this afternoon though, so maybe tomorrow! However one of my favourite birds, the Yellowhammer (Gulspurv), was singing in the garden this morning, and I was exstatic, when I found it in the net!

One of my favourites - an adult male Yellowhammer (Gulspurv). Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

With 55 birds in total, Olga and I ringed most, and once the guests for the Open House started coming, we luckily also had some birds to show, that Théo ringed in front of the crowd. Even though it was late in the morning, we were able to show a Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger), a Blackcap (Munk). a Dunnock (Jernspurv), and of course some Robins (Rødhals).

Théo showing and explaining the ringing. Foto: Cyann Ménard / GFU

Today's numbers:

Trækket på Odden: Louis was in charge again today, and as he said: "Barnacles (Bramgæs) stole the picture for a few hours, but the Short-eared Owl (Mosehornugle) stole our hearts."

The Short-eared Owl (Mosehornugle) spotted at the tip today. Picture by Louis A Hansen.

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

The rest of the day: We had a lovely lunch with all the other volunteers on the sunny terrace, before everyone helped packing down the Open House. Just after everyone left, I suddenly spotted a Striped Field Mouse (Brandmus) right were the lunch tables had been, that was probably looking for leftovers.

The Striped Field Mouse (Brandmus) made an adorable appearance today. Foto: Mathilde Sif EIby / GFU

We also had the pleasure of welcoming Vagn, who brought wine for dinner, and a car, that I borrowed to drive Cyann and Olga for their first Baltic Sea swim (before the wine)! 

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Olga Fernandez Enriquez, Louis A Hansen, Søren Mygind, Vagn Lind + all the other amazing volunteers helping out with the Open House

Ringmærkningen: No ringing today... :(

Trækket på Odden: With the strong winds blowing in Gedser all day long, it wasn’t possible to ring. Usually, there are people to talk to at 5 am, but this morning I (Théophile) was alone, eating breakfast in a sleeping house. I joined Louis, who was in charge of the count, just after he saw the first two Caspian terns of the season (nice one!), just before 6 am. It was a calm morning with not many birds, except for a good migration of Barnacle geese, with over 600 birds seen during the five hours. I must say that the company was really nice, with first Anne-Marie and then Oliver.

Tomorrow is the Open house, so we are expecting many people, and hopefully many birds too !

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

The rest of the day: As we suddenly had a morning off, most of us chose to sleep a few extra hours, and made pancakes for breakfast. Later some people came over to prepare for the Open House tomorrow, with a lot of nice things for sale to examine. After a long day of talking, we (Cyann and Mathilde) had hyped eachother up enough for fresh haircuts. While I cooked dinner, Cyann even got to work on Théos hair. We also tried to convince Sjoerd and Olga to join the club, but no to avail. Gedser No Birds Hair Salon made 3/5 stars today.

Burned pancake heart - luckily we're better at ringing and counting birds, than we are at making pancakes. Foto: Cyann Ménard

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Olga Fernandez Enriquez, Mads Elley, Tina Elley, Louis A Hansen, Anne-Marie Reith, Oliver Jensen, Søren Mygind

Ringmærkningen: The Common redstart (Rødstjert) had already started singing when we began opening the nets this morning, and the first bird we caught was a female of this species. Perhaps she was flying to see who was singing like that? The first round was rather calm with seven birds of seven different species, which was pretty good ! Regarding what was singing in the garden, it was full of promise! A Common grasshopper warbler (Græshoppesanger) was singing loudly just close to a net. It's not a rare bird, but it's not that common in the garden here in Gedser. We also heard several Lesser whitethroats (Gærdesanger) and one Wood warbler (Skovsanger). The next rounds were rather calm. At 7:20am, we were waiting for the next one in front of the house, watching what was happening around the high net. Suddenly, Mathilde saw a small bird caught high in the net: white belly, yellow throat and yellow eyebrows, a green back, the first Wood warbler of the season, finally ! What a wonderful bird, my friends ! There was also the third Black redstart (Husrødstjert) of the season in the same net, so Mathilde and Olga learned how to identify the Common and Black redstarts by looking at the primaries.

My favourite Phylloscopus ! Skovsanger. Foto : Théophile Fontaine

We ended up with 42 birds from 15 species, which is a good number and the first time this has been reached this year. This number should increase in the coming weeks — I'm looking forward to finding out when ! Not tomorrow, but maybe on Sunday ?

A view of the nice species we had this morning. Foto : Théophile Fontaine

Trækket på Odden: Another beautiful and sunny morning at the tip today, but once again the birds didn’t really turn up. Our team of four (or five ?) people eventually spotted 586 individuals of 33 different species, so we can say it was a slow morning. But with such weather, even a quiet morning can’t bring the mood down, only the warm layers !

Ont he other hand, the mosquitos were as ready as yesterday to fill up the air, much to the delight of the passerines who now can spend their day moucheronning (our own English translation of the word “moucheronner” which, in French, refers to the behavior of some passerines when they do really short flights to catch some insects before going back to their perching spot). Every day we hear a new species in the bushes, coming to enjoy the feast.

One of today's adventurer, aiming for Germany ! Or almost... Black kite (Sort Glente), Picture by Louis A Hansen.

For the people who left the spot to see the Wood Warbler at the station, the highlight of the day might be the two Black Kites (Sort glente) who came really close to the spot and seemed to aim for Germany, before coming back 15 minutes later… Hopefully they will eventually find their route ! But while almost everybody was at the station, a Hobby (Lærkefalk) tried to sneak out and migrate North without anyone knowing. Little did he know that Louis was ready, and wouldn’t miss that kind of movement, especially on such a quiet day!

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Afternoon : In French, we use to say that when the warm days are coming, we have to do the 'Grand ménage de printemps', which literally means 'big spring cleaning'. That's what happened this afternoon — we cleaned and polished the house in preparation for the open house on Sunday ! Pictures as proof !

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Olga Fernandez Enriquez, Mads Elley, Louis A Hansen

Ringmærkningen: A windier day than we would like for ringing, so not a big surprise when the first round didn't bring a lot. The first bird I extracted was a recapture of a Great Tit (Musvit) though, that Théo later exitedly told us, was one he ringed himself October 13th, first time he was here this past autumn. On top of that I also got my Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger), as promised, and then the most adorable Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) couple, that were ready to make it official and put a ring on it.

Bird (Fugle). Foto: Théophile Fontaine

With the slower day, there was time to practice and optimize my handling, and with Théo continuing to be a great teacher, I've now unlocked a safer and more effective way of the whole process, that I'm actually super excited about.

The singing birds around the house have been dominated by Chiffchaffs (Gransanger), Dunnocks (Jernspurv) and Skylarks (Sanglærke) for a while, but now the Blackcaps (Munk) are really making themselves heard, while also being our most caught species today. However with all the different calls and variations, I'm still nagging Théo the whole day like: "Is this *insert bird name*?" and "Who's making that sound?". I'm definitely improving, even though he still REALLY doesn't like my imitations.

 Today's numbers:

Trækket på Odden: The day started cloudy, but it became brighter and brighter as the time went on. The first hours were pretty actives for migration, as we could see big flocks of Barnacle Geese (Bramgås), as well as Eiders (Ederfugl) and Pigeons (Ringdue). Other species that we could see flying over the sea were some Divers (Lom), Mergansers (Toppet Skallesluger), Terns (Dværgterne & Fjordterne), Shelducks (Gravand), Common Scoter (Sortand), Gadwall (Knarand), Grey Herons (Fiskehejre), Cormorants (Skarv) and Gulls. We could also hear and then see a pair of Curlews (Storspove) flying over the seashore.

On the other hand, today the bushes on the cape were full of activity. Blue tits (Blåmejse), Goldcrest (Fuglekongen), Skylarks (Sanglærke), a Lesser whitethroat (Gærdesanger) and a Black cap (Munk) tried to find some food on the big amount of mosquitoes that woke up at the same time, filling the air and surfaces like a cloud. A Kestrel (Tårnfalk) spent some time over the bushes, searching for an interesting prey. The mosquitoes are not the only insects that are appearing on the grass: beetles from the family Meloidae, bumblebees and a butterfly (Aglais io) were easy to see.

After spending some time in the garden, the Lesser whitethroat finally came to say hi at the tip! Picture by Cyann Ménard/GFU

Despite this activity, the last hours we spent at Gedser Odde were very slow for migration, the birds seemed have chosen other migration ways or were less ready to move under the shining sun.

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

The rest of the day: We've had some surprisingly warm afternoons in our garden these past days, since we're pretty sheltered from the wind. After today's sunny lunches and naps, the french (Cyann and Théo) and I (Mathilde, now sunburned) were hanging out on the terrace, when Mads sent Théo a message about a Black-Winged Kite (Blå Glente) approaching us, and shortly after we spotted it, as it flew close over the station! It was a first for me, and Théo hasn't seen one since he was a little kid back in 2016!

Now it's also the third day in a row we have dinner outside, so let's see how long we can keep that streak going!

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

Ringmærkningen: Overcome with optimism, I guessed 136 birds for this morning. But, even though the first two rounds weren't too bad, with 34 birds in total, I quickly realised that reaching this number would be very difficult, with only three birds in the third round. The following rounds brought a few more birds, but nowhere near enough to reach 100. Nevertheless, we were overwhelmed by success in completing a difficult task: reaching the same number as yesterday, 61! The ratio is slightly different anyway, with seven more birds ringed. The apple garden net remains one of the best, especially for Blackcaps (Munk).

The African migrants are coming, but still in low numbers: two Willow warblers (Løvsanger) and two Common redstarts (Rødstjert) were ringed this morning. We are waiting for bigger numbers The little surprise of the day was the Eurasian treecreeper (Træløber) that Mathilde added to her ringing list. I'm always surprised when people say that this species is common here, when in France we catch many more Short-toed Treecreepers (KorttåetTræløber).

Impossible to get bored by the beauty of this bird ! Foto : Théophile Fontaine

The Lesser whitethroat (Gærdesanger) that we ringed yesterday is still in the garden, foraging in the trees in front of the house and sometimes singing while we were eating lunch.
The weather looks good for tomorrow. The wind will stay the same, just a bit too strong, but the good thing is that it will be a bit cloudier, so the nets will be less visible!

Today's numbers:

Trækket på Odden: The cloudless sky of this morning gave us a really great sunrise, once again. Despite the wind - which, to be honest, was a bit chilly at times - we decided to move to a different spot for today’s count, since we were tired of the building blocking our view from behind. From up there, we counted 1205 individuals of 39 different species, both migrating or just passing by. Among the migrating species, the total number of birds was really boosted by a few large flocks of Eiders (Ederfugl), Barnacle geese (Bramgås), and Cormorants (Skarv). I was also really happy to spot some Sand Martins (Digesvale), which I hadn't seen yet this year.

One of the three Barnacle geese (Bramgås) that also flew over the garden in the early morning. Foto : Théophile Fontaine

As for the non-migratory species, the field was once again occupied by the usuals Skylarks(Sanglærke) and White Wagtails (Hvid vipstjert), joined today by a Wheatear (Stenpikker) as well as a Yellow Wagtail (Gul vipstjert). We also spotted several individuals of both Grey and Common Seals (Gråsæl & Spættet sæl), which we hadn’t seen lately because of the waves caused by the strong wind.

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

A warm afternoon : As the sun shone bright all day long, we could all enjoy a nice outside lunch, followed (for some of us) by a warming nap on the grass or on the benches. Since I (Cyann) absolutely refused to step out of the sun and be stuck inside on such a beautiful day, I decided to make the most of it by taking my laptop outside to work there all afternoon. Fingers crossed, hopefully we all avoided getting sunburned... We obviously ate dinner outside once again, because who knows for how long we can keep on doing that? And we are glad we did, as we got the cutest visit from a curious weasel, really surprised to meet five people looking at it with a lot of awe in the eyes.

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

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