Ringmærkningen : The weather has improved from yesterday to today and we have noticed that in the nets. 54 new ringed birds, mainly lesser whitethroats (gærdesanger) and black caps (munk). One of the lesser whitethroats was very special since it looked different from its conspecifics, it showed a yellowish pattern on the chest, as you can see on the picture.

Hvordan denne Gærdesanger er lykkedes med at få den gule farve på brystet er os en gåde. Det så ikke ud til at være noget der kunne smitte af, men tanken om en spændende ny art for landet skød vi nu hurtigt til hjørne. Det VAR en Curruca curruca, men med en fejl i printerpatronens farver. Foto: Vagn Lind / GFU

Other colorful birds we had today was a recaptured blue tit (blåmejse) - it had been a while since I (Olga) last saw one in the nets, I almost forget how much they like to bite your fingers, when you work with them. Also two goldfinches (stillits), a reed bunting (rørspurv), three common redstarts (rødstjert) and one robin (rødhals).

In one of the first rounds, I was checking the nets, and I saw a dark bird trapped in one of them. I instantly thought it was a blackbird, but when I came closer, I realized that I was wrong, it was a starling (stær)! It is the second one we ring this season, and it is again a female, as the one we caught some days ago.

When we finished with the standard protocol and closed the nets, we decided to open the pond nets, hoping to find something interesting. On the first rounds, the nets were empty and no birds could be seen around. It did not look like a nice day for those nets. Sometimes even when we don´t catch anything on them, we can see birds flying around the pond, mainly wagtails and swallows flying up and down the nets without getting caught, or sitting on the poles, as if they are laughing at us.

Barn Swallows (Landsvaler) laughing at us from on top of the nets instead of in them. Picture by Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

However today the place was too calm, so I wasn´t expecting to find anything when I went to check them at 12:30, but there was a beautiful surprise waiting for me in one of the lower pockets of one of the nets. A barn swallow (landsvale) was laying there, waiting to be released. We couldn´t help but smile - our perseverance had a prize.

Olga's Barn Swallow (Landsvale) from today - first of the season! Picture by Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

In the afternoon Hans brought us with him for something special. We drove to a very nice house in Lolland with a nest box high on one wall - used by Tawny Owls (Natugler)! Together we managed to put up (and later down) a tall ladder without harming any windows, before Hans, with great courage, climbed up and brought down two young owls!

Two half-asleep juvenile Tawny Owls - one for Olga and one for me! Picture by Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

They had just woken up, and were very sleepy for the most part, but started softly clicking their beaks, before we put them back in their nest box. They looked so adorable, it was very special to hold them with your own hands. 

This is the biggest ring I (Mathilde) have put yet, because of those cute chubby owl legs. Picture by Cyann Ménard / GFU

Today has ended up being a very special day of ringing - full of surprises!

 Today's number:

Trækket på Odden : For those who love to see many many birds, today was definitely not the day to come at the point. I genuinely couldn’t help but laugh out loud when I saw that the total number of birds I recorded after the two first hours was still under a hundred. Good thing I was once again by myself then ! Not completely alone, as I am still in good company with the Common Whitethroats (Tornsanger) singing in the bushes; and the Swallows (Svale) having fun over the building. I kept an eye on them all morning, and I am really happy I did as one bird among them suddenly caught my eyes : my first Common Swift (Mursejler) of the season !

 My best friend at the point for the past few days, the Common Whitethroat ! I can't have enough of them, and you can't deny they are really good models. Picture by Cyann Ménard/GFU.

In addition to these beautiful birds, I got really puzzled early in the morning by a big bird flying far over the sea. Because I wasn’t really able to evaluate the distance, I first thought it could be a Gannet (Sule). However, as soon as I got it through my scope, I had to admit that it definitely looked more like "the biggest tern I had ever seen" than anything else. After collecting all the clues I needed, and texting a few people to make sure I wouldn’t go in a unlikely direction, I was absolutely sure that this was my very first sighting of a Caspian Tern (Rovterne) ! The bird actually came back closer a few hours later, which definitively dispelled my last doubts (if I had any left).

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Olga Fernandez Enriquez, Hans Lind, Vagn Lind. Desuden Mads og Tina Elley med gæster fra København samt besøg af Agnes.