Ringmærkningen: Morgenen startede med en del blæst, men heldigvis ikke værre end at vi kunne holde nettene åbne. Blæsten betød dog at vi kun fik syv fugle i nettene.
Det var min første morgen på fuglestationen, så med få fugle var der god tid til både introduktion og fordybelse til ringmærkningsarbejdet. Netop af denne grund fik jeg lov til at ringmærke min første fugl, en fin havesanger (Sylvia borin) på 16,7 g. :)

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Jens Friis-Walsted, Joakim Dybbroe, Kate Dybbroe, Olivia L. og Sjoerd van Baal

 Ringmærkning:

Dejligt vejr og moderat med fugle i dag. Men dagen bragte en Blåhals(Bluethroat). Dog ikke en han, men en fin hun.

 Blåhals(Bluethroat) hun uden blåt, men med flot øjenbryns- stribe

Trækket på Odden : Despite living in Gedser, you need to be at the point at least 30 minutes before sunrise – so when alarm clock wakes you at 03:05 AM it is brutal. But with great company and quality birds around, it was 100% worth it. Even better, the sun stayed out all morning, slowly pushing the cold out of the air.

Together with Orla Jakobsen and Ben Lisse, we enjoyed the season’s first Common Rosefinch (Karmindompap), two Eurasian Golden Oriole (Pirol), and a nice flock of White Stork (Hvid Stork) — although the storks only appeared after the five-hour standard count had finished. The raptors not many but showcasing Honey Buzzards (Hvepsevåge) also turned up outside the standard five hours.

No photos of outstanding birds within the five hours – but here is two from outside the 5 hours of standard count : one of White stork, and one of Honey Buzzard. Pictures by Louis A Hansen.

The real showstopper, though, was a Short-eared Owl (Mosehornugle) coming in high from due south. It never stopped, powering straight north at impressive speed — a spectacular bird.

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Sjoerd van Baal, Joakim Dybbroe, Kate Dybbroe, Louis A Hansen, Olivia

Ringmærkningen : En dag uden regn, men med nye fugle. Efter at have åbnet nettene, hørte jeg en ny lyd i krattet. Selvom solen endnu ikke var stået op, kunne Gulbugen(Icterine Warbler) ikke vente med at annoncere sin ankomst. Der sad en glad gul fugl og sang lige op af et af nettene. Årets 3 første Gulbug(Icterine Warbler) blev ringmærket i dag. Men også årets første Grå fluesnapper(Grey Flycatcher) og årets første Rødrygget Tornskade(Red-backed Shrike).

Trækket på Odden : Despite the forecast being quite pessimistic about today's weather, the sky was clear and bright this morning. Seeing the sun always enlighten my mood, which is good when there is almost no birds to see.

I finished the count in good company, as Anne-Marie joined me at the tip. We were talking about the 100 Honey Buzzards (Hvepsevåge) seen yesterday at Bøtø, when she pointed out a bird over our heads. A quick look, and just like that : the first Honey Buzzard of the season !

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Sjoerd van Baal, Joakim Dybbroe, Kate Dybbroe, Anne-Marie Reith

Ringmærkningen : Dagens ringmærkning var stærkt influeret af regn og blæst. Det var kun muligt at åbne ca. halvdelen af nettene i de første 2 timer. Fra 6.45 kunne alle nettene være åbne. Ikke mange fugle: ialt 9 mærkede og 1 genfanget.

Trækket på Odden : At first protected from the wind and the sparse rain, I ended up completely wet due to unpredictable changes in the wind direction. Monitoring bird migration really teaches you to never take anything for granted : each individual can be of a different species than the others, flocks can appear at any moment, and a day teeming with birds can always be followed by an extremely quiet one...

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Sjoerd van Baal, Joakim Dybbroe, Kate Dybbroe

Ringmærkningen : Dagen startede med regn, så nettene blev først åbnet 35 minutter senere end normalt. På trods af det blæsende og fugtige vejr var der en del fugle i nettene. Gærdesanger(Lesser whitetroat) var den langt talrigste, med en trediedel af dagens fugle. Mange af fuglene i dag var også genfangster fra de senneste dage, der raster i krattet.

Trækket på Odden : The migration dynamic was really good this morning, which was ideal to to keep me awake ! Indeed, the Barnacle geese (Bramgås) came in hundreds all morning long, sometimes in mixed flocks with other geese (Grå gås sp.). The Eiders (Ederfugl) also did their comeback, with a total of 118 individuals, which really surprised me considering the fact I've barely seen any migrating lately.

I first thought those two Whimbrels (Lillespove) on the beach would migrate, but they ended up keeping me company almost all morning long. Picture by Cyann Ménard/GFU

In the stormy ambiance, I was once again completely surrounded by Swallows and Martins (Svale) hunting the mosquitos over the building. One Hobby (Lærkefalk) also kept coming quite close, surely aware that it could hunt some of the passerines hanging out at the tip. For its first appearance, suddenly rising from the cliff, it honestly looked kind of surprised to see me there !

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Sjoerd van Baal, Joakim Dybbroe, Kate Dybbroe

Ringmærkningen : Det truede med regn hele morgenen lige fra nettene blev åbnet en halv time før solopgang. Jeg kunne se at det ville starte ved 7 tiden, så jeg håbede at få noget ud af de 2 timer det var muligt at ringmærke. Og jeg blev ikke skuffet. Der sad en fin Natravn(European Nightjar) i nettet denne morgen. En art jeg aldrig tidligere har haft i nettet på Gedser fuglestation eller nogen andre steder. Absolut en god start på dagen.

Selv om det blev en kort dag, nådede vi op på 18 fugle. Ganske pænt.

Natravn(European Nightjar)

Trækket på Odden : After two days of resting as much as I can, and therefore missing all of the great sightings of birds at the point this weekend, I woke up this morning (still tired) to a cloudy and soon rainy morning. The weather surely didn't put the birds into a migration mindset today, so it was once again a really quiet moment.

The Shelducks (Gravand) gathered on the field this morning, both males and females, spending their time chasing each others, showing off or napping under the rain. Picture by Cyann Ménard/GFU.

Luckily enough, I got at least one nice surprise : two Black-throated Divers (Sortstrubet Lom) decided to have a little stop-over near the point. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to admire their behaviour not only in flight but also on the water.

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Sjoerd van Baal, Joakim Dybbroe

Ringmærkningen : Vi fik vejrskiftet: overskyet og teperatur hele døgnet, med ca 10 grader. Der kom lidt gang i trækket. Specielt Gærdesanager(lesser Whitetroat) og TornsangerCommen Whithetroat).

Trækket på Odden : Due to some informatical issues, we were missing some information from the tip for yesterday. Here they are :

It will probably not be a day we remember forever, but it was still good to get out after a week of work. The Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger), made famous by previous blog posts here, had a friend visiting today — and that individual carried a brand-new shiny leg ring. Another visitor at the tip today was also ringed, although this was a rather old — or perhaps just dirty — ring. The bird carrying it was a male Yellow Wagtail (Gul vipstjert) of the subspecies flava. We only managed to read part of the ring number: ...84... Tomorrow will be better in every way.

And now, about today :

Another very quiet day at the tip. A day we had anticipated to be a more enjoyable in terms of numbers. But a single bird at 05:36AM lifted the spirit for the rest of the count – a European Bee-eater (Biæder) decided that its visit in Denmark was over and headed southwards.

The Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) kept the observer at his toes the rest of the days with incorporating the call from the Bee-eater thought out the count period. Never a dull day at the tip.

The Common Whitethroat caught red-handed imitating the Bee-eater. Picture by Louis A. Hansen.

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Sjoerd van Baal, Joakim Dybbroe, Louis A Hansen

Ringmærkningen : Dagens ringmærkning kan bedst beskrives som meget beskeden. Tallene og arterne ligner gårsdagens og der er ikke meget bevægelse i krattet....... Vi venter stadig på at der sker noget.

Trækket på Odden : As I got more and more tired lately, Louis kindly offered to take over the count once again this weekend (and I am really grateful for that). To the question "Was it quiet or super quiet today?" he answered without a doubt "Super quiet". You can see that by looking at today's number, which are only slightly higher than the past few days. But despite today's migration's slow rythm, I can't help but notice that it is also the first record of Black Terns (Sortterne) for this year ! As usual, as some friends of mine like to say "When there isn't much to see, there's always something to look at!". Am I excited because I've never seen this species yet? Maybe. Or maybe it just my optimism trying its best to keep this slow period as interesting as possible, who knows...

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Sjoerd van Baal, Joakim Dybbroe, Louis A. Hansen 

Ringmærkningen : Vi havde  en klar morgen og formiddag med skyfri himmel og næsten ingen vind. Men desværre ikke mange fugle. Vi har brug for et vejr skifte for at få gang i det sidste småfugletræk. Så kun 14 fugle mærket og aflæst denne morgen, denne morgen. 

Trækket på Odden : The migration past Gedser Odde was roughly the same today as yesterday, with around 300 birds, and surprisingly a third of it was Eiders (Ederfugl) ! I am now surprised whenever I see a group of Eiders as they become quite rare. Mathilde went to join the migration count one last time before leaving, but we ended up spending more time admiring the local female kestrel (Tårnfalk) and two Roe deers (Rådyr) than seeing migrating birds.

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Joakim Dybbroe

Ringmærkningen: Another beautiful sky this morning, just with a less beautiful number of birds. However I started the ringing with a nice Song Thrush (Sangdrossel), and ended it with a very shiny Starling (Stær) - our first male Starling of the season, with a blue bill base instead of pink! I forgot to take a picture, but here's one of a lovely male Blackcap (Munk) from today:

In spring, all the male Blackcaps have a black cap, and the females reddish-brown. Picture by Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

Today's numbers:

Trækket på Odden : Same amount of birds as yesterday (so really quiet), but with more sunshine and some nice company !

Se alle dagens observationer ved Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Other stuff and appreciation: Bo came by today for his last human vs AI sound detection of the spring, Mads is still working hard, testing out where the new lawnmower will go, aaaand where it will get stuck, while Sjoerd is stumbling upon Grey Seals (Gråsæler) on the beach. 

Also a lot of people are coming and going these days. Sjoerd came back Tuesday, Vagn left yesterday, Joachim arrived yesterday, Olga left today, Hans also had his last day for now today, and I (Mathilde) am leaving tomorrow - so this is sadly my last blog :( 

I've learned so much in my almost two months here, and I'll definitely be back. I've had the chance to learn from 6 very different head-ringers, and ring with other awesome trainees too. I even got a week at migration-counting, that offered me a different and super useful perspective, and I thouroughly enjoyed (or maybe it was the company)! So a huge thank you to all the people I've met here, and hope to see you again somewhere - even just on a blog :)

Grey Seal and Dutch ship. Picture by Mathilde Sif Eiby / GFU

Folk på stationen: Cyann Ménard, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Sjoerd van Baal, Olga Fernandez Enriquez, Hans Lind, Joachim Dybbroe. Praktikanten Agnes, Mads Elley, Bo Kayser