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

Ringmærkningen: Based on the number of birds yesterday, we expected a similar morning today. However, we quickly realised during the first round that it would be a little calmer today. Nevertheless, the last net of the first round gave us a little surprise: the first Willow warbler (Løvsanger) of the season! This net has been very productive this week, giving us the Bluethroat (Blåhals), the Wryneck (Vendehals) and the Willow warbler. Will we catch the Lesser whitethroat (Gærdesanger) in it tomorrow ?

The long-awaited first Willow warbler of the season ! Foto : Théophile Fontaine

Among all the beautiful birds we had in the nets, two Reed buntings (Rørspurv) were trapped at the same time, which gave Mathilde and Alba the chance to practise the ageing criteria for this species, which can sometimes be a bit difficult. See below for an explanation.

In the top left picture, we can see that the primary coverts (PC) have a looser structure and that the centre is a paler shade of brown. The shape also tends to be narrower and more pointed (not very obvious in this picture). In the top right picture, the rectrices (RR) are worn, narrow and pointed. These two pictures show the main criteria that lead to a second calendar bird. In the bottom left picture, the PC are denser and more contrasting, with a dark centre, a brown edge and greyish tips, and they look well rounded. Regarding the tail, even though the feathers are slightly worn, they are broad and rounded, which is perfect for an adult bird. Foto : Théophile Fontaine

The adult Reed bunting, note the shape of the PC ! Foto : Théophile Fontaine

We ended up with 79 rings and 27 recaptures, which is not bad at all. Two Tree pipits (Skovepiber) and the first Yellow wagtail (Gul vipstjert) of the season were flitting around the garden, maybe they'll end up in the nets tomorrow ?

Trækket på Odden: As Mathilde stayed at the station to help for the few first rounds of the ringing, I headed alone to the tip. It was cold and cloudy, but the first hours flew by in a flash even though there were not so many birds. I had to keep thinking about turning back to the field to look after some raptors or other birds sneaking behind me, like those sudden 150 Woodpigeon (Ringdue) coming out of nowhere low over my head for example.

The arrival of Mathilde at the tip didn’t motivate the birds to come in bigger numbers, but this morning was actually full of surprises, and only good ones ! I was first surprised by the arrival of a Collared Dove (Tyrkerdue) from the sea, seemingly really pleased to finally reach land and being able to rest on the closest tree it found. Mathilde then arrived at the same time as a nice flock of Curlews (Storspurve), soon followed by two Black-throated divers (Sortstrubet lom) flying really close to the shore, allowing us to admire every detail of their beautiful breeding plumage. Honestly, I don’t think I will ever get tired of this sight. Later in the morning, a weird goose appeared in front of us from behind the bushes. A reddish/creamy belly, a little brown tail and a highly contrasted pattern on the wing: that was everything we could see, as it was flying really fast in the direction of Gedser, but that was all we needed to tell it was an Egyptian Goose (Nilgås). An unusual observation, but one that does happen sometimes!

Big flock of Curlew flying over the tip. Foto : Théophile Fontaine

As the count was getting to its end, I was looking out at the sea when I heard Mathilde’s voice talking about a bird behind me : “Is that a kite? Not it is not a Kite… Wait, it is a Kite!!”. When I turned to have a look on this unusual kite, I had the surprise to lay my eyes on my first Black Kite (Sort glente) of the year ! Also first of this season for Gedser ! It was flying really low, really close, and slowly headed south before disappearing over the sea. So in the end, if I had to summarize today’s migration and the observations we made, I would say it was indeed slow, but highly pedagogical!

Afternoon Side quest:  This afternoon, Mads suggested that we go to Bøtø, which is a good place to find the first Garganeys (Atlingand) of the season and some migrating waders. An Hoopoe (Hærfugl) had also been seen there that morning, which is quite rare here. The car was full with Cyann, Mads, Mathilde, Alba and me (Théophile). There was a good duck diversity, but we needed a bit of time to find one male Garganey, a beautiful bird ! There was also a flock of 18 Ruffs (Brushane) foraging, with some males with their striking summer plumage. After spending 30 minutes on the tower, Mads suggested that we try to find the hoopoe, which had been seen not so far that morning. When we arrived at the car park, Mathilde immediately started looking for it. When we suggested moving to the beach, she turned away and the hoopoe flew over the car park... Hopefully, we saw it much better 15 minutes later ! We saw many other nice species through our binoculars, including the three mentioned above, as well as two Ring ouzels (Ringdrossel), one Yellow wagtail (much better than this morning's observation), and possibly the last Redpolls (Gråsisken) of spring.

Looking out for the Garganey from the observation tower. Picture by Mads Elley

 The bird of the day ! Foto : Théophile Fontaine

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

Ringmærkningen: This morning started out rather slow, and it did not get much better throughout the day. With only 13 new birds but 28 recaptures, this suggests that most of the birds currently in the garden have been stationary here during the last few days, with very few new arrivals to spice things up (at least of the species that regularly fly into our nets). Among the recaptures were a few species that I have not seen in the hand many times, such as the Redwing (Vindrossel), and the Black redstart (Husrødstjert) from yesterday, which were nice to see. We also caught a female Blackcap (Munk), which had been ringed in Gedser in the summer of last year, as well as two blue tits, one new and one recapture. 

As we neared the last rounds, we were beginning to worry that we would not have much more interesting to write about in the blog (compared to the last, rather eventful, days), but the birds must have sensed our plight, as on the second-to-last round, Anne found a Wryneck (Vendehals) in one of her nets. Since Anne and Théo both had already ringed that species, I got the pleasure of putting a ring on my first one. As soon as I took it out of the bag, it began to wring its head around from side to side, imitating a snake in a futile attempt to scare me off. Instead, all it managed to do was impress the onlookers who had arrived soon after we invited them to come see it, some of whom had never seen a Wryneck before.

Wryneck (Vendehals), the bird that saved the day ! Foto : Théophile Fontaine

After closing and typing in the ringing-data for today, we looked up previous instances of Wrynecks being caught at Gedser Bird Station in spring, and found that this one beat the previous record for earliest catch by four days (the previous record being the 18. of April). So, all in all, it turned out to be an eventful morning after all.

After ringing and typing data, Théo started looking through old nets in order to find candidates to be put up around the pond just outside the Station garden, and I helped with fixing some of the holes in one of them, which was great practice, since I don't have that much experience in this vital part of taking care of ringing equipment. Then, we put up said nets, and now we hope to use them to maybe catch a wagtail or two in the coming days. We will be sure to write on the blog if we suceed! 

Below is an overview of the birds caught today:

Trækket på Odden: We went off to the tip in a cloudy weather, with a few raindrops which would soon intensify, forcing us to seek shelter under the building. It rained for a while, and unfortunately from this point of view we barely saw any migrating birds, except for the Sandwich Terns (Splitterne) coming in big number over the water, and for the Eiders (Ederfugl) which seemed to go the wrong way for most of them.

When the rain stopped, we decided to change location so we could have a better overview of the migration close to the shore. The location was not the only reason why we saw so few birds, and the numbers stayed low all morning long. We started the day by betting how many birds we would see, and how many of them would be Eiders. With ours bets of 120 Eiders and 750 birds in total, we underestimated a bit the Eider migration, and clearly overestimated the overall migration…

All morning long, we could see the wagtails (Hvid vipstjert) partying in the field next to us, in a group of up to 15 individuals. Suddenly, their calls got more intense. When we turned our head to see what was going on, we first saw a Sparrowhawk (Spurvehøg), soon followed by some wagtails bullying it. This unusual sighting let us laughing at the poor Sparrowhawk’s face, which took the decision to carefully avoid the field on its way back inland.

As the ringing was also very quiet, Theophile joined us at the tip for a small amount of time. He spotted a Common Sandpiper (Mudderklire), so we took some time to look into the clues of the different sandpipers and other relatives. The Danish names are pretty confusing for this group of species, but I am happy to learn new Danish names every day, and to actually remember them ! Even though I am still unsure of some pronunciations…

5 Gadwalls (Knarand) came just after the Common sandpiper (Mudderklire) Foto : Théophile Fontaine

Less than an hour before the end of the standard time, we got a call from Theophile (who was back in the garden). We obviously had to have a break on the migration count and rush back to the station to get to see the Wryneck !! When we came back to the tip, it was raining again… We stayed a little longer to make up for the time we spent on the Wryneck observation, but sadly the last 15 minutes didn’t help us to reach our 750 birds goal...

Despite the low numbers, the rain and the cold, we stay in good spirits and keep on going out there with an open mind. Hopefully tomorrow will be better !

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

Ringmærkningen: Despite the strong easterly wind, which is really bad for us, there was some activity in the garden. We managed to ring 34 birds and recapture 17, bringing the total number of 51 birds and 11 species . Not to bad for Anne's first morning, that as arrived yesterday. It was a double redstart day, with the second Black redstart (Husrødstjert) of the season (a different one to the friendly one at the tip !) and the first Common redstart (Rødstjert) of the season. It was a beautiful young male and could be the same one we saw in the garden two days ago. I really love seeing the long-distance migrants on their way back from Sub-Saharan Africa. It gives me a sense of humility and immense admiration to handle these second calendar birds that have already travelled thousands of kilometres.

Common redstart (Rødstjert) Foto : Théophile Fontaine

This morning was also marked by a good movement of finches over the garden, mostly Chaffinches (Bogfinke) and Bramblings (Kvaekerfinke), and in a mixed flock were my two first Wood larks (Hedelærke) of the year! Due to the low number of birds, I (Théo) even had time to go to the tip between two rounds to see how things were going at the tip, and it seems that they were doing well !

It was also a good day for increasing the Alba ringing list: she added three species this morning, the Redwing (Vindrossel), the Firecrest (Rødtoppet fuglekonge) and the Black redstart (Rødstjert). I hope it will continue this way for her !

Redwing (Vindrossel) Foto : Théophile Fontaine

It seems that it could rain a bit tomorrow, so we'll see if the first Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) or the first Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) will be caught or if we have to wait a bit more...

Trækket på Odden: It was time for another morning at the tip. Mads rolled up on his bike, just as Cyann put down our little cart at the designated spot for the day. The clouds kept it a rather dark morning, with low visibility, but we were entertained by a large group of Common Scoter (Sortand) males courting a single female, and a Mute Swan (Knopsvane) sleeping peacefully right in front of us, and later going through its morning cleaning routine.

Sleeping Mute Swan (Knopsvane) through scope. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

As it finally became light enough to have a clear view, began the several rounds of especially ducks, as well as some terns and gulls too. As it's only my second day migration counting ever, Mads and Cyann got to teach me how to recognise the 37 species of birds that came through, since I'm mainly used to identifying them swimming or sitting around. 

Spot of the day. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

The ducks definitely became today's main characters:
There were a lot of Scaup (Bjergand), half black, half white. 
Then came the Teal (Krikand), which even though they gave name to the colour teal, just look grey in flight.
This still sounds like a Pokémon to me, but the Wigeon (Pibeand) came plentiful as well, with their big white wingpatch.
The elegant Pintail (Spidsand), with the dark head, the white neck, and the white line on the wings.
The Gadwall (Knarand) with just a white square in the back corner of the wing.
The Shovelers (Skeand) looking like distant releatives of the Eiders. 
The characteristically colorblocked Shelduck (Gravand).
And of course the Mallard (Gråand), the classic, but I hadn't noticed how striking the two wing stripes are before.

It was colder today, with no sun, but luckily only a slight drizzle in the last half hour. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

We were also accompanied for a long time by a very friendly and curious young female Black Redstart (Husrødstjert) examining our stuff, looking at us from all angles, setting an example for how we wish more birds acted.

Female Black Redstart (Husrødstjert). Fotos: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Ringmærkningen: Louis had offered to handle the migration today, so Theo and Alba invited me (Mathilde) to join them for a potentially wet morning of ringing. We postponed the opening a little bit, to get a feeling of the weather in the early hours, but as we've experienced before, the ominous forecast didn't actualize itself in anything else than drizzles, so with some shorter rounds now and then, we were able to carry out a full standard ringing.

And oh boy! We we're so happy we did, because after only a few rounds we caught a young female Bluethroat (Blåhals)! While Alba starting handling the other birds caught that round, we let our close Gedser contacts know, that they were welcome to come by and see it. Hans was the first on sight, arriving the exact moment Alba put a ring on it, and after the measurements, a little flock had gathered to see. There hasn't been caught many Bluethroats here, and this was even the earliest one of them all!

A young female Bluethroat (Blåhals), without the male's characteristic blue throat. Foto: Théophile Fontaine / GFU

Theo has already been super productive in his few days here, both fixing and changing several of the nets, cutting away obnoxious branches, and even cleaning the lab. Maybe that was some of the inspiration for Cyann and I, to finally check and sort all the common food in the fridge and cupboards, left by who knows who, and we have no idea, how long has been there for. With all the expired stuff out of the way, we among other things, had ingredients left to make an apple crumble today. Looking forward to eating it later!

Just after coming back from the migration count yesterday, Mathilde and Cyann got a big cleaning fever and sorted out everything in the common shelves. Picture by Cyann Ménard/GFU

In other news Gus Brendan (read yesterday's blog) hasn't been seen all day, so maybe he read the blog yesterday, and decided it was time to leave? Keep an eye out for him: The cutest limping Brent Goose (Knortegås) you'll ever see. 

Lastly Anne also arrived this afternoon, to the sweet smell of apple crumble, and is staying for a few days - I doubt there's ever been six young people running this station before ;-)

Our lovely team of young, motivated, and really happy to be here people! Picture by Sjoerd van Baal (but it was a collective effort, we all put a lot of energy in this selfie, while the crumble was heating up)

Trækket på Odden: As promised, today's text will be short. Louis did the counting this morning, so we must thank him, especially as it was a really slow morning. The number of eiders was very low! But you always have to go outside with an open mind, and sometimes you're surprised. This morning, for example, he saw an adult Mediterranean gull (Sorthovedet måge), which is not so common here. Also, while I (Théo) was doing a round, I heard two characteristic calls of the pied avocet (Klyde), so I ran to an open area to try and find them and see how many there were. Two birds flew right to Louis, but unfortunately he only heard them. It was my first for the season! Tomorrow, Cyann and Mathilde will be back at the tip. Hopefully they will see lots of species!

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Today's dessert, an apple crumble, which was absolutely delicious (and it is not because I (Cyann), with Mathilde's help, made it, that I say that). Picture by Cyann Ménard

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Alba Maria Holmberg, Anne Ramskov Hermanns, Louis A. Hansen

Ringmærkningen: Today marks the first out of nine days I (Alba) will be staying at Gedser Bird Station to help with the ringing, and the birds greeted me very nicely by showing up in large numbers in the nets. 

The only other time I've ringed at Gedser Bird Station was two weeks in August 2025, where there was an overall smaller number of birds caught during standard time, as well as a completely different variety of species. At that time, we mostly had long-distance migrants, such as Blackcaps (Munk) and some different warblers, that usually begin migrating rather early, and we rarely caught much more than 40 birds during standard time. Now, the garden is overrun with Robins (Rødhals) and Chiffchaffs (Gransanger), and we were kept quite busy through most of the morning with a total of 88 birds in the nets, distributed over 77 new birds and 11 recaptures. We are, however, beginning to see some of the long-distance migrants returning, with today giving us the first captured Blackcap (Munk) of the season, as well as a sighting of a Common redstart (Rødstjert) in the garden.

Chiffchaff (Gransanger) Foto : Théophile Fontaine

As mentioned, ringing at different times of year gives different species, and just today I've already added two new species to my ringing list, those being the Reed bunting (Rørspurv) and the Greenfinch (Grønirisk), as well as gained some more experience with ageing birds of the other species we caught today. There are still a lot of species that are common at this time pf year that I don't have much experience with yet, so I'm especially hoping to catch more of those over the following week. 

We also recaptured the Black redstart (Husrødstjert) from yesterday, so it will be interesting to see how long she sticks around, and how many more times we can recapture her during that time. 

Following is an overview of the different captured birds of the day:

Trækket på Odden: Today was my (Mathilde's) first day migration counting, so I was very happy Cyann and Louis were there to share their knowledge. We were blessed with no wind, but still some frost and low mist. With almost no clouds higher in the sky, the sun luckily offered some nice one-sided heating the rest of the morning, as it rose further and further in the horizon.

The sunrise this morning. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

It was a great day for a beginner counter like me, both weatherwise and with a decent amount of Eiders (Ederfugle) to count, even though their migration seems to have peaked and slowed down by now. We counted 1420 Eiders in a total of 1833 birds this morning.

Cyann and I (Mathilde) dressed according to the weather - cold and sunny. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

The highlights of the day was the Fieldfare (Sjagger) in the early morning, a good flock of Curlews (Storspove), the Wheatear (Stenpikker) dodging the farmer's truck, and lastly the two Barn Swallows (Landsvaler), that showed up just before we left.

The Wheatear (Stenpikker) when it was first spotted in a branch on the edge of the cliff. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

On our way back we ran into our local Brent Goose (Knortegås), that we named Gus Brendan, who's been recovering from an injury in his left leg, for over a week now, but is using his time here limping around eating and shitting all over the field. He still flies when we get too close, so we're still hoping he'll get well enough to reunite with his comrades on day. 

Gus Brendan - our local Brent Goose (Knortegås), who's been living in our field since last week. Fotos: Théophile Fontaine / GFU

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Louis A. Hansen, Alba Maria Holmberg

Ringmærkningen: It was a windy morning around the tip, with a strong south-easterly breeze, so we decided to open only the most sheltered nets, which gave us 153 metres. In addition, the radar showed a large rainy cloud approaching us. We checked before each round to see when the cloud would arrive, but it was always delayed by around 15 minutes. In the end, we only got a few small snowflakes — lucky us!

Most of the birds we caught had been caughth the past few days, but we also caught a Robin (Rødhals) that had been ringed by Henrik on 6 February. We only ringed four birds, including the first Black redstart (Husrødstjert) of the season: a 2CY female. Now we're waiting for the common one as well ! The number of birds was good to give Mathilde time to ring every all of them and practise all the ageing criteria.

Black redstart (Husrødstjert), Foto : Théophile Fontaine

It was such a pleasure to be back here, four months after I left. Doing the rounds again, even though the garden looks terrible with all the recently cut trees. Nevertheless, it's almost like coming back home, or at least to a place I've missed ! 

Tomorrow it will be sunny and almost windless, so hopefully we will see the first Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) in the Chiffchaff (Gransanger) flocks. Alba has just arrived and will be here for a week — we're ready to ring all the spring diversity!

We have a lot of comings and goings this week at the station, with soon a brand new team of ringers !

Trækket på Odden: This morning was a really cold and windy one. Believe it or not, we even had some snowflakes ! Fortunately, we were able to admire the sunrise colours before the sun disappeared behind the dark clouds.

A dark but colorful sunrise. Picture by Cyann Ménard/GFU.

It seems that, just like us, the birds weren’t so keen to spend some time out at the tip today. We counted a total of only 378 birds, with once again a great species diversity. I hope they didn’t take the past days’ dynamic, being quieter each passing day, as a challenge to overcome or else we won't see a single migrating bird tomorrow !

Among the few spotted birds, the highlight of the day must be the Red-throated Divers (Rødstrubet Lom) flying southwards in good number, as well as a female-type Marsh Harrier (Rørhøg) braving the wind and the waves. We also had a long discussion about a single Grebe, hesitating between a Slavonian Grebe (Nordisk Lappedykker) and a Red-necked one (Gråstrubet Lappedykker). We eventually decided to keep up with the first impression, but the discussion process definitely made us learn some new species clues to look for next time.

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Théophile Fontaine, Mads Elley, Alba Maria Holmberg

Ringmærkningen: Fuglene sang blidt i haven fra morgenstunden, men første runde med ret få fugle, tydede på en noget roligere dag i nettene. Vi fik skrabet 21 nye ringe sammen, og blandt genfangsterne var vores stamgæst - en sød gammel Jernspurv (Dunnock) med sit 66. check-in siden den blev ringmærket her af Henrik i 2021.

Blandt de nye fik vi en rigtig fin voksen Grønirisk (European Greenfinch), som kun er sæsonens tredje af arten i nettet. De giver også mere og mere lyd fra sig i haven, og har en markant sang, man hurtigt kan komme til at genkende, hvis man er ny til fuglestemmer. Den beskrives meget forskelligt, men jeg synes den lyder lidt som en fugl der skiftevis imiterer et automatvåben og en arrig kat.

Dagens Grønirisk (European Greenfinch) - en fin voksen herre, med mere spræl i farverne end hunnen. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

Derudover bød dagen på sæsonens anden Store Flagspætte (Great Spotted Woodpecker), som kræver en ring lavet af stål frem for aluminium, hvilket kræver lidt mere erfaring at montere, hvorfor den stadig ikke er kommet på min ringmærkerliste.

Dagens Store Flagspætte (Great Spotted Woodpecker) - en ung dame, uden rødt på hovedet som hannen, og med et lag brune dækfjer (de små øverst på vingen), der på de voksne alle udskiftes med sorte. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

Endelig er der også blevet taget ordentlig hul (bogstaveligt talt) på kadaveret på engen, så selv småfuglene kan komme til (et større dyr må bryde det tykke lag hud først).

Et dødt rådyr, nu med hul i, og resterne af en død ræv, der har ligget på engen de sidste mange uger. Foto: Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

Trækket på Odden: The wind has shifted direction this morning and is now coming from the East. That was the only notable difference in the weather, as it was still sunny, still a bit cold, and as quiet as yesterday. The first hour was the only (almost) busy one, with a lot of different groups flying by quite fast. As I was the only one at the tip, I didn't know which way to turn. Thankfully, it didn’t last too long so it was not too overwhelming. Almost as soon as the count started, a group of around 20 curlews appeared so fast that I wasn’t able to distinguish them between Curlew (Storspove) and Whimbrel (Småspove). Luckily, I was able to see properly the next flocks, with more time to count and get the clues I needed to tell the two species apart.

I am not the only one enjoying the sunrise, the hares are keeping me company in the first long hours of the morning. Picture by Cyann Ménard/GFU.

I was once again pleased by the diversity of species, with a lot of ducks, and a few pleasant surprises among the passerines such as a Grey Wagtail (Bjergvipstjert) greeting me with its delicate call, a local Great Spotted Woodpecker (Stor flagspætte) as well as a Nuthatch (Spætmejse) flying towards the last bit of bushes. The icing on the cake might have been the sighting of my first Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet lom) in full breeding plumage, a sight that left me in awe for most of the morning.

Only 10 minutes before the end of the standard time, a dense fog started moving forward on the sea, pushed by the wind. In a few minutes the tip was completely surrounded by the bright white, just in time to prompt us to head back to the station.

The fog is on its way. Picture by Cyann Ménard/GFU.

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Henrik Jørgensen, Théophile Fontaine

Ringmærkningen:

Det var så godt som vindstille, men kun 1 grads varme, så der var lidt rim i et par net.

Allerede på første runde var det tydeligt at der var en del fugle i haven, men da der var klart vejr viste vi at solen hurtigt ville gøre at langt de fleste net ville blive synlige.

Det blev dog en ganske god dag med 49 fugle hvoraf de 48 var nye.

Dagens titel var pga vores lokale stær. Den var oppe og stjæle materiale i kragens rede til sin egen, så er livet lidt lettere.

På billedet herunder er en af dagens gærdesmutter.

I morgen loves der samme vejr, men denne gang med vind fra øst.

Dagens ringmærkning og kontrol/Todays ringing and recapture:

Gærdesmutte/Wren 3(0)

Jernspurv/Dunnock 13(1)

Rødhals/Robin 12(0)

Sangdrossel/Song thrush 2(0)

Gransanger/Chiffchaff 16(0)

Fuglekonge/Goldcrest 1(0)

Rødtoppet fuglekonge/Firecrest 1(0)

Total 48(1)

Trækket på Odden: Did I call yesterday a quiet morning? Well, today was even quieter ! A shining sun, no clouds, a bit of cold wind, and only 1 200 birds in total. Despite this small number, I was absolutely pleased by the number of species spotted this morning. However, I must admit that one species in particular really delighted me...

This morning's ambiance, with the daily early flight of Cormorants (Skarv) on their way for breakfast. Picture by Cyann Ménard/GFU

Coming from the south, just at the horizon level, I spotted a small bird flying in my direction. I recognised that chaotic but direct flight long before the species’ name popped into my head. It felt just like seeing an old friend after a long time apart. I managed to spot it through the scope to confirm the feeling I had, and this slow morning was definitely enlightened by the sight of the distinctive red throat, slim silhouette and long tail of the first Barn Swallow (Landsvale) of 2026.

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Henrik Jørgensen.