UPDATE BELOW

Thursday brought us another rainy and windy day. As long as a bit of rain works well for all the plants in the garden (it is getting greener every day), it does not for the birds, especially when wind blows so strong. Therefore we did not catch any birds again. Weather forecast looks quite optimistic for tomorrow however, so we are determined to open at least 60 meters - even one recaptured Robin will make us very happy after two days without any birds caught. Today was also the day when we had to say goodbye to Henrik, because he was going home. And as we are very grateful for everything that he taught us, for his positivity and sense of humour and for all our conversations, we hope to meet him again in the future! But of course we are not left alone - today we were jointed by Susanne, who will help us with ringing in next days. She also brought delicious cake with her. After eating this yummy dessert, Ole prepared wonderful dinner. Our bellies begin to become quite bigger already, but it's definitely worth it. It was so nice to spend some time together by the table and have the opportunity to talk with such nice people. With every day we feel more at home here in Gedser. 

Short weather window. Photo: Maciej Wozniak

UPDATE

In the evening we went to the shore with a flashlight and a ´´ketcher´´ (small net on a long stick) to catch some birds again. It was raining a bit and the wind was blowing even harder than during the day, so it seemed like a perfect weather to try. After a long walk we thought that we will not meet any birds this time, but suddenly we stumbled upon a little wader. It was Agata's turn to try catching a bird this way, so she sneaked up to it and with one confident movement covered it with a net. It was the Sanderling and it already had a ring on it's leg. It turned out that it was the same individual we caught and ringed with Henrik the other day (and was already recaptured by Henrik and Hans). It seems then that this bird decided to stay in that place on the beach for some time. Such recoveries are really rewarding - thanks to them we know that the bird we caught feels well and does not have any troubles because of our ringing actions.
But it was not the only bird that we caught! When we read the number of the Sanderling and released it immediately after, we felt new wave of enthusiasm and power, so we decided to go further along the shore, in hope that we meet more birds. And indeed we did! We spotted another wader on our way, and Agata caught it the same way as she did with the Sanderling - it seems so easy for her although it was only her second bird caught that way! To make things even better it was a Ringed Plover - first individual of this species ringed this year!

It was not easy to identify it as we do not have much experience with this species, but clearly black breast ring and yellow eye-ring allowed us to tell it is surely a male. Photo: Agata Balicka

People at the station: Agata Balicka, Maciej Wozniak, Susanne Primdahl, Ole Friis Larsen

Complete list of birds caught today (ringed/recaptured):
Stor Præstekrave / Ringed Plover: 1/0
Sandløber / Sanderling: 0/1

Total: 1/1