Ringmærkningen: We had become used to the sunny and bright weather, but a sky covered by clouds received us, when we woke up this morning. We put up the nets, unsure if we could keep them open the whole morning, as it was likely to rain, but in the end it was not necessary. Despite the change of weather, the temperatures were still quite warm, and the numbers of birds in the nets was as usual. We also opened the sparrowhawk nets and the pond nets to have more chances of catching interesting species. And thanks to this, Mathilde and I were lucky. Yesterday we were saying that we would like to see more wagtails, and then today we caught not one, but three yellow wagtails (gul vipstjert)!

Yellow wagtail (gul vipstjert). You can see the moult limit on the greater coverts, as the outer ones are more brownish, and their fringe is more white and less wide than the inner greater coverts, that are darker, shinier and with yellowish and broad fringes. A moult limit can also be found between the tertials and the secondaries. Picture by Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

We also caught a couple of linnets (tornirisk) and a reed bunting (rørspurv). The most common species for the day are again the lesser whitethroat (gærdesanger), the common whitethroat (tornsanger), the willow warbler (løvsanger) and the black cap (munk). And we had the visit again of an old dunnock (jernspurv) that has been recaptured more than 70 times over the past 5 years! 

Couple of linnets that were caught together in the net, and flew together after they were released. The male is the one on the right, showing its reddish plumage on its chest, while the female (on the left) lacks this pattern. Picture by Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

 Today's numbers:

Trækket på Odden : After so many sunny days and clear skies, I went to the point this morning under a really moody one. The colours of the sunrise on the clouds were absolutely stunning. The frogs of our little pond definitely loved this weather, and were choiring all morning long. Unfortunately, this change in the weather didn’t bring any new birds, and today’s migration was as steady as the sea on a non-windy day (just like today).

The stunning colours of today's moody sunrise. Picture by Cyann Ménard / GFU

In addition to the frogs’ calls, our day (or at least mine!) was enlightened by the really close presence of the Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) singing in the surrounding bushes. It was mimicking a lot of different birds, so we kept on hoping for some Bee-eaters (Biæder), or maybe a small Quail (Vagtel) somewhere in the field, both ending up being the Common Whitethroat pranking us… Early in the morning, we also had an unexpected sighting of a little bat – likely a Common Pipistrellus (Pipistrelflagermus) – hunting over the sea before heading to the building for a well-deserved day of sleep.

The Common Whitethroat was really uncooperative, and refused to show me its face, but at least we can have a glimpse of its beautiful back feathers ! Picture by Cyann Ménard / GFU

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Other news: In the afternoon, Mads and Tina + family came by to set up the new lawnmower, and program the intricate path it has to take through the garden - so hopefully less manual mowing in the future!

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Olga Fernandez Enriquez, Mads Elley, Tina Elley, Hans Lind, Vagn Lind