After a few days of bad weather and strong winds, when we woke up the weather did not look promising at all, a lot of clouds and a bit of drizzle, so after checking the radar several times we opened all the nets (except for the far one in case we had to furl them due to rain) and in the end we had a really good day of ringing. There was a bit of drizzle now and then so we were extremely careful all the day long and did rounds of the garden every 25 or 30 minutes.
All of us were very happy to be ringing again, and we caught many nice species: Kværkerfinke (Fringilla montifringilla), Grønirisk (Carduelis chloris), Grønsisken (Carduelis spinus) and a gorgeous female Spurvehøg (Accipiter nissus) that was ringed a few days ago.

 Male and female Grønirisk, picture by Esben and the birds were holded by Alex.

After 14:00 it started to slow down, between 2 and 5 birds per round, and knowing that rain was coming at 16:00 we started closing at 15:20 so everything was absolutely closed and ready minutes before the rain arrived. Today we felt like we were working very good as a team! Also, everybody is in a better mood when we are active and learning and doing what we like the most in Gedser Fuglestation: ringing and learning about ageing birds.
As I have mentioned before, the last days have been very slow, so I have been studying ID of birds from far away, completely different to how I see the birds normally: in the hand and in very close detail. Lucky for me, Ole Friis Larsen and Jimmy Skat are always at the tip (Gedser Odde), and when the migration gives them a break, they explain to me some of the tricks for IDing far away birds (I have a lot to learn..). Two species targeted were Arctic and Pomarine Skua, find below a little scheme of how to better ID them.

In the afternoon Robert got very excited because he found a Brandmus (Apodemus agrarius), but sadly was on the way to the rodent paradise.

As every day, please find the ringing data below:

På sydspidsen blev det en uventet travl dag. Vi havde set frem til en fin søndag med let vind fra sydøst, men vejrradaren viste regn hele vejen fra fra Holland hen over Gedser og langt ind i Østersøen, og det tegnede ikke godt. Fuglene så imidlertid ud til at være mere optaget af, at vinden havde lagt sig efter mange dage med hård blæst, og få timer inde i formiddagen kom der småfugle i stride strømme. Vi var to, så den ene tog sig af vores primære opgave med at tælle havtrækket, mens Jimmy Skat helt på eget initiativ klikkede, klikkede og klikkede de tusindvis af drosler og finker, der i flokke på op til 1.200 af gangen fløj sydover i flere 'etager' ud over odden.

Stillitser (Goldfinches) fouragererede søndag på Gedser Odde ud til den yderste kant, før de fortsatte i det store træk af finker og drosler ud over havet. Foto: Ole Friis Larsen/Gedser Fuglestation

Det blev til næsten 28.000 drosler og over 35.000 finker, før strømmen over den våde og grå himmel stilnede af ved 15-tiden. Droslerne fløj højt, og vi kunne se, at der var flere størrelser, men ikke høre dem, så vi besluttede, at de fleste måtte flyve som ubestemte drosler (thrushes sp.), for i de få lavere grupper kunne vi identificere såvel Vindrosler (Redwings) som Misteldrosler (Mistle Thrushes), Sjaggere (Fieldfares) og enkelte Ringdrosler (Ring Ouzels). På samme måde med finkerne. De fleste var sikkert Bogfinker (Chaffinches), men vi kunne også høre Kvækerfinker (Bramblings).

På havet var der mere stille, men vi var glade for to adulte/voksne Nordiske Lappedykkere (Slavonian Grebes), som en tid fouragerede tæt på land, før de forsvandt mod vest, og vi var godt tilfredse med to Vandrefalke (Peregrines), en ung/1k og en voksen/adult, som med få minutters mellemrum trak ud mod syd. Fint var det også med 42 Rødstrubede Lommer (Red-throated Divers) og 10 Sortstrubede Lommer (Black-throated Divers).

Se alle dagens træktal fra Gedser Odde i Dofbasen på dette link: https://dofbasen.dk/search/result.php?design=table&soeg=soeg&periode=dato&dato=13-10-2019&omraade=hiddenlok&hiddenlok=395007&obstype=observationer