The Ringing: This morning, Susanne, Lise and I decided to open the nets one hour later due to the strong winds still present in the early morning. We also decided not to open all the nets, but to use only the sheltered one, which gave us 141 metres.

Redwing (Vindrossel): Foto Théophile Fontaine

We only ringed 82 different birds, with 25 recaptures. These conditions allowed us to take the time to carefully examine all the birds and discuss the criteria for age and sex. This was especially useful for the Reed bunting (Rørspurv), the Redwing (Vindrossel) and the Brambling (Kvækerfinke). Lise also learnt how to use the iris colour to determine the age of Dunnocks (Jernspurv).

There were lots of passerines in the sky over the garden this morning, including mixed flocks of Mistle Thrushes (Misteldrossel), Redwings (Vindrossel) and Song Thrushes (Sangdrossel), as well as Chaffinches (Bogfinke), Redpolls (Lille Gråsisken) and Blue Tits (Blåmejse). In the late morning, I had the pleasure of seeing a White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) and a Marsh harrier (Rørhøg), probably the same ones that Grace and Ole saw at the tip.

Marsh Harrier (Rørhøg): Foto Théophile Fontaine

Hopefully the better weather tomorrow will bring us some nice birds!

Migration at Odden: It was rather quiet out on the point today with wind from the northeast likely pushing migrating individuals further from shore and making them more difficult to see. Despite this, we observed a total of 1128 individuals of 24 species. Eiders (Ederfugl) are still migrating in large numbers and made up most of these observations – 884 individuals.

Other species migrating today were similar to those of the past few days, including several species of geese, Red-Breasted Merganser (Toppet Skallesluger), Sandwich Tern (Splitterne), and several raptor species. It was nice to see a few Red Kites (Rød Glente) pass quite close overhead – we had seven individuals migrate in total. There were also quite a few Sparrowhawks (Spurvehøg) and Common Buzzards (Musvåge) heading out to sea today, keeping us on our toes looking out to see while also taking the time to look behind us for birds coming from over the land. There was a first calendar year White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) hanging around, heading out to sea then returning about half an hour later. It came quite low and close to our observation point, so it was very nice to get a good look at this majestic bird!

Ung Havørn (Haliaetus albicilla) over Gedser Odde mandag morgen. Det mørke næb og de savtakkede vingebagkanter afslører alderen til under et år. Foto: Ole Friis Larsen

There were also large numbers of passerine birds flooding the bushes at the tip. There were Blue Tits (Blåmejse), Goldfinch (Stillits), Reed Bunting (Rørspurv), White Wagtails (Hvid Vipstjert), Dunnocks (Jernspurv), Brambling (Kvækerfinke), and Great Spotted Woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte)… to name a few. However, it seemed that most decided not to migrate, instead heading back to land, perhaps to the garden to rest, feed, and wait for a less windy day. Only the Barn Swallows (Landsvale) seemed to migrate today, brave swallows!

Folk på stationen: Lise Mastrup, Grace Marsh, Susanne Primdahl, Théophile Fontaine, Ole Friis Larsen, Liva Gerd Bonnesen