Trækket på Odden:

Morgenen i dag bød på en vindstyrke af 11 m/s, regn og en sigtbarhed på ca. en kilometer. Men det slog hverken os eller fuglene ud! I dag var det Mads og jeg (Anna Beluga) der udgjorde træktæller-teamet. Dagens første to timer fløj afsted i høj hast, med de flere tusind Ederfugl (Eider), som dominerede morgenen. Modsat i går hvor vi kunne følge to strømme af Ederfugl (Eider), fra hhv. nord langs kysten og nordøst længere til havs, kunne vi i kun tælle den inderste migrerende gruppe, grundet den dårlige sigtbarhed. Det blev til knap 2500 individer i dag.

I løbet af morgenen, faldt antallet af migrerende Ederfugl (Eider), i takt med at vinden lagde sig og sigtbarheden blev forbedret markant. Det betød at vi i sidste halvdel af dagen, kunne tælle de fugle, som trak længere til søs. Herunder kan bl.a. nævnes 31 Rødstrubet Lom (Red-throated Diver), 7 Sortstrubet Lom (Black-throated Diver), 18 Havlit (Long-tailed Duck), 12 Dværgmåge (Little Gull) 203 Skarv (Cormorant) og 2 Fløjlsand (Velvet Scoter). Men vi blev også forkælet med bl.a. Dværgmåge (Little Gull) og Rødstrubet Lom (Red-throated Diver), som trak direkte over hovedet på os, i lav højde.

Men det var ikke de eneste fugle, som kom flyvende tæt om ørene på os. Midt på formiddagen var trækket af småfugle imponerende. Med flokke på hundredvis af kaldende individer, og enkelte flokke på 1000. Især Sjagger (Fieldfare), Kvækerfinke (Brambling) og Bogfinke (Chaffinch) fyldte i luften. Imens fuglene ventede på at vejret blev lidt mildere så de kunne trække ud, samlede de sig på Odden i formationer, der mindede lidt om sort sol. Da vinden lagde sig og havet viste færre tænder, fløj de afsted med højlydte kald, og efterlod os alene tilbage, og dog… For en kort stund, bøjede vi vores nakker og vendte blikket mod jorden. En nysgerrig Brud (Least Weasel), tittede hovedet frem og hoppede ufortrødent mellem benene på os.

Drossler (thrushes) og finnker (finches) i hundrede vis, der utålmodig venter på at vejret bliver mildere så de kan trække ud over åbent hav. Foto: Anna Beluga Gade-Jørgensen

Brud (Least weasel). Foto: Mads Elley 

Ringmærkningen: 
This morning, we were VERY eager to ring, after several days of bad weather without touching a single feather. The weather was a little too wet, with regular showers, but the wind had calmed down, and we opened all but two of the mistnets. There were hundreds of fieldfares in the sky, along with a few Vindrossels (redwings) and Misteldrossels (mistle thrushes). Thousands of finches were flying over the garden, seemingly fleeing an impending disaster. They were most probably just running away from the upcoming winter (migrating birds do that!), but still, it was very impressive. It was also encouraging for the team - Signe Agermose Mathiasen Andersen, Théophile, Noémie and Benoît Fontaine - as we believed some of these birds might be attracted to the garden and end up in one of the nets. After all, several Grønirisks (greenfinches), Grønsiskens (siskins), Bogfinkes (chaffinches) and Kvækerfinkes (bramblings) stopped to sit in the tallest trees. Why wouldn’t they go a little lower?

However, the start of the morning was slow, and even disappointing : one entangled Sjagger (fieldfare) managed to escape from the net just in front of us, and the first two rounds only produced one or two birds each. But by the end of the morning, what a treat! Each round brought a few birds, just
enough to keep us busy, but not too many, so we were never in a rush. There was a great diversity, with several finch species : Kvækerfinke (bramblings), Bogfinke (chaffinches), Dompap (bullfinch) (what a handsome bird !), one Stillits (goldfinch), one Gråsisken (redpoll). What more could you want? A Spurvhøg (sparrowhawk)? We got a first-year male, with sharp claws that punctured my fingers. Some colourful birds? We had an afflux of blue tits at the end of the morning. They are very common, quite aggressive, and we sometime forget to take a closer look at them, but honestly, blue tits are just beautiful, with their shades of navy blue, green, and yellow. We also got a few of the usual bush skulkers: Rødhals (robin), Gærdesmutte (wren), one Jernspurv (dunnock). And as if all this were not enough, we caught a rarity : we recaptured the Hvidbrynet løvsanger (yellow-browed warbler) which we ringed one week ago. Like us, he finds this garden very attractive.

One of the many finches from today, a Stillits (Goldfinch) Foto : Théophile Fontaine

Talking about recaptures, we received news about two birds recently captured in Gedser, which were already equiped with rings from other countries. One was a Fuglekonge (goldcrest) with a Swedish ring : caught in Gedser on 29 September 2025, it had been ringed three days earlier in Falsterbo, Sweden, around 100km north-east of Gedser. Going southwest in autumn, that is what you should expect for a migrating bird in autumn. But what happened to the Munk (blackcap) that was caught in Gedser the 9 of October, with a Czech ring ? It had been ringed in Lidman, in Czech republic the 8 of September, around 500 km south of Gedser. What makes this bird going north in autumn ? A possible answer is that it belongs to the blackcap population which has recently changed its migration route, to spend the winter in the British isles. There, they find a predictable and abundant food supply thanks to widespread backyard bird feeding in British gardens. It is a fascinating phenomenon, where a human leisure activity has changed the behaviour and morphology of a common bird over a few decades. Diversity, beautiful birds, and a glimpse on a much overlooked migration change : Gedser rocks !
To read more about the changes to Munk (blackcap) migration routes, see https://www.biology.ox.ac.uk/article/seasonal-migration-patterns-in-eurasian-blackcaps or https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/some-eurasian-blackcaps-are-flipping-migration-flying-north-for-winter/ for instance.

Folk på stationen: Anna Beluga Gade-Jørgensen, Signe Agermose, Théophile, Benoît og Noémie Fontaine, Mads Elley og Gert Juul Jeppesen