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