Today in the early morning, you really could feel it was not so cold anymore. It was also not windy and a bit quiet. The first round was average with a few robins and dunnocks, but then, as soon as I started the secound round, I had to call Hans for help again! In the end, he helped me as much as he can but as he had to leave, we ended up closing nets and couldn't get a standard time. Indeed, some nets werereally full of siskins from 7am until 9,30 when we started closing.

These pretty birds have been the stars for 3 days in a row, now!
One of them, a male was ringed here last autumn. but the icing on the cake was definitely a beautifull female born last year who had been ringed in Norway!

The total number of birds ringed today was 248, so it is a shame that we had to close nets, otherwise we probably would have set a new spring record!
The first two coal tits of this spring were also trapped in the end of the morning,

Beside ringing, it seemed to be quite busy at sea this morning as well and I heard my first sandwich terns since I'm here.

Birds ringed today:
Gædersmutte - Wren: 6
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 9
Rødhals - robins: 22
Solsort - Blackbirds: 1
Vindrossel - Redwing: 6
Gransanger - Chiffchaff: 3
Fuglekonge - goldcrest: 4
Rødtoppet fuglekonge -firecrest: 1
Sortmesje - coal tits: 2
Bogfinke - chaffinch: 6
Grønsisken - Siskins: 185
Nordlig gråsisken: 1

Today was, once again, misty and on the edge of raining at 6am. I decided not to open all the nets for the bird's safety. The first rounds were very quiet but, although the weather stayed the same,it got better in between 9 and 10. 
In the end, it was not as bad as expected, with 40 birds ringed in total!

I really thought siskins were going to be the birds of the day again, but they got overwhelmed by robins in the end. Groups of siskins were in the garden but flying too high for the nets except for the group that has been ringed.

Birds ringed today:
Gædersmutte - Wren: 3
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 4
Rødhals - robins: 14
Solsort - Blackbirds: 2
Fuglekonge - goldcrest: 1
Bogfinke - chaffinch: 4
Grønsisken - Siskins: 12

That was this morning question.... It was grey and rain was expected from the weather forecast... It has been hard to decide if and how many nets to open! In the end, I opened some nets at 6.15 but had to close them after they trapped only one new chiffchaff!
The rain stopped eventually and the nets were opened again. I didn't open all of them because it was still looking like it could rain any minute. I finally ringed three hours in a row and these were 3 nice hours with a good number of siskins again! I managed to ring 59 of them before the rain came again
In order to have a standard time, I re-opened nets for the third time after half an hour of rain. But at that time, the birds were gone, giving only a few new birds in the nets.
Well, it was as complicated as it sounds!

But the good thing is we have a standard ringing day and many siskins! Another redpoll came among them as well. 

birds ringed today:
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 1
Rødhals - Robin: 3
Gransanger - Chiffchaff: 1
Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 4
Rødtoppet fuglekonge - firecrest: 1
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 2
Grønsisken - Siskins: 59
Nordlig gråsisken : 1

Today, a gentle North West warm wind was blowing in the morning. The fog had disappeared and a few blackbirds and robins were singing quite early. Even if it seemed to be moving in the bushes, I didn't expect such a busy morning! I decided to call Hans to the rescue as soon as I started extracting birds! And it was definitely worth it this time, since the total number of birds ringed today reached 255!
This is most probably one of the busiest (if not the busiest) day of this spring. Not a record though, last spring they have had a few more on a day in april.
Anyway, let's celebrate that with more pictures than usually! But first, make a guess: which are the three most species ringed today?

Let's start with the bottom of the podium!

On the third place, we ringed 38 siskins today! These lovely birds were still around tonight in the garden, I have seen a small group of 15 just before sunset.
It was unusual for me to ring that many in one day!

On the second place, an usual suspect of Gedser ringing station! We ringed 53 new goldcrests today!

And on the first place, robins definitely ruled the station this morning! 114 of them were ringed!

Today also brought the third redpoll of this spring season in the net and there were a good number of blackbirds around.

Birds ringed today:
Gædersmutte - Wren: 8
Jernspurv - dunnock: 9
Rødhals - Robins: 114
Solsort - blackbird: 17
Sangdrossel - Song trush: 5
Vindrossel - redwing: 1
Gransanger - chiffchaff: 1
Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 53
Skovspurv - tree sparrow: 1
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 4
Grønirisk - greenfinch: 2
Grønsiskin - Siskin: 38
tornirisk - linnet: 1
Nordlig gråsisken - Redpoll (flammea flammea) : 1

There was a heavy fog this morning when I opened the nets. It was wet and I even hesitated to open all of the nets. In the end, the fog seemed to get lighter and lighter and it was alright with no wind at all.
There was a group of people visiting us this morning so we really hoped to have some birds to show them. FOrtunately we had just enough with 21 new birds ringed today.
For the first time since I'm here, robins took over dunnocks!

In the same time, Hans and I received the result for the estonian ring today. The long tailed tit was ringed in panurmaa in Estonia in october 2016. As both youngs and adults long tailed tits do a complete post nuptial moult, it is impossible to age them after that. So we cannot know if the bird was born last year. What we know, however, is that this small bird was ring in a ringing station in Parnumaa and traveled to here since last autumn. The direct flying distance from there to Gedser is 861 km but of course, this is not the real route of the bird! Not too bad for a 8,5 gramms bird!

Birds ringed today:
Wren - Gærdesmutte: 1
Dunnock - Jernspurv: 2
Robin - Rødhals: 14
Song trush - sangdrossel: 1
Chiffchaff - gransanger: 1
Chaffinch - Bogfinke: 2

It was again a lovely early morning today, but without any wind! It also feels good even though it's only psychological to open the nets at 6 again instead of 5...!
Because of the lack of wind, a heavy fog appeared in the middle of the morning. The day has been quiet all in all, with 28 new birds.

However, the 8 o'clock round brought the first trapped bullfinch of this spring! A stunning young male!

But it became even better in the 10 o'clock round, with the catch of a male grey wagtail! This bird is really difficult to catch here at gedser, it was only the third one in 10 years! First one in 2010 and second one in 2012!

Of course, I have a picture of this great catch for you, even though I really wanted to show you the bullfinch as well, so here you go, two pictures today!

Birds ringed today:
Grey Wagtail :) - Bjergvipstjært: 1
Dunnock - Jernspurv: 16
SOng Trush - Sangdrossel: 2
Chiffchaff - Gransanger: 3
Goldcrest - Fuglekonge: 3
Chaffinch - Bogfinke: 1
Eurasian siskin - grønsiskin: 1
Bullfinch - Dompap: 1

The weather conditions were still very good this morning and I did the first round under a stunning sunrise. The wind was blowing a bit stronger. But as the conditions have been the same for 3 days in a row now, birds have gone further and today was a quiet ringing day. From 7am, I got only one or two birds in the nets and some were even retraps from today!
Only 20 birds were ringed today. Among them, 2 more firecrests and a reed bunting.

I also heard chiffchaff singing this morning and caught 3 of them,

There has been geese migration this morning though, a few flocks passed by following the coast. I saw also a flock of swans flying over the lighthouse. I went for a walk near Gedser harbour this afternoon but there was not much going on.

Birds ringed today:

Wren - Gædersmutte: 1
Dunnock -Jernspurv: 3
Robin - Rødhals: 2
Blackbird - solsort: 1
Song trush - Sang drossel: 2
Chiffchaff -gransanger: 3
Goldcrest - Fuglekonge: 1
Firecrest - Rødtoppet Fuglekonge: 2
Chaffinch - Bogfinke: 2
Greenfinch - Grønirisk: 2
Reed bunting - Rørspurv: 1

It was cold this morning during the nets opening and some of them were a bit frosted. The sky was clear and there was no wind at all.
The first two rounds were quite good and I asked Hans for some help. But it stopped around 7am and the rounds became really quiet.
Nevertheless, it was a good morning with 68 birds ringed, which is still very good for spring season. The species of the day is definitely dunnocks with 25 newly ringed birds.
4 more new firecrests today! We are aiming at doing a new spring record! For that we have to beat 41 and today we reached 31.
Speaking about firecrest,Lars's pal, a firecrest which has been recapture every single day from over a week is still around! But he is having more and more lie-in since I catch him later and later every morning...
A white wagtail ringed here in spring 2015 was the nice catch of the last round.

Birds ringed today:
Winter wren - Gædersmutte: 4
Dunnock - Jernspurv: 25
European RObin - Rødhals: 4
Common blackbird - Solsort: 1
Song trush - Sangdrossel : 1
Chiffchaff - gransanger: 1
Goldcrest - Fuglekonge: 12
Firecrest - Rødtoppet fuglekonge: 4
Tree sparrow - Skovspurv: 1
Chaffinch - Bogfinke; 7
Brambling - Kvækerfinke: 1
Greenfinch - Grønirisk; 1
Yellowhammer - Gulspurv: 1

There was a big of fog this morning at 5 am and it turned into low clouds with the sunrise. The soil was a bit frosten, but with no wind, it didn't feel as cold as previous days. There was already a bit of movement in the bushes when I finished opening the nets. It was announcing a busy day!
The nets were never very crowded with birds, but each round was bringing a fair amount of them. But 8am I had a bunch of birds waiting in bags to be ringed and I called Gert for help. But the fun was almost over and after two more busy rounds, we started catching mainly retraps of the day. However, there were still some new birds around and I decided to keep nets open until 12.30am.
In the end, 95 birds were ringed today! If I include the retraps we reach 103!
The bird of the day is definitely Goldcrest, with 27 of these birds ringed today. Firecrest are still around as well, with 11 caught today!

Sorry, no picture today, I have been a bit too busy ;)

During the first round, I also spotted 5 cranes flying on the edge of the ringing site and flocks of eiders were at sea early as well.

Birds ringed today:
Gårdesmutte - Wren: 3
Jernspurv - dunnock: 16
Rødhals - Robin: 3
Solsort - Blackbird: 4
Vindrossel - Redwing: 1
Gransanger - Chiffchaff: 6
Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 27
Rødtoppet fuglekon- Firecrest: 11
Blåmesje - Blue tit: 1
Musvit - Great tit: 2
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 10
Grønirisk - Greenfinch: 2
Grønsisken - Siskin: 7
Gulspurv - Yellowhammer: 2

The night was nice again when I open the nets this morning but the wind was still blowing quite strongly. The first two round brought a good amount of birds but then even though the wind was decreasing, the nets were empty again and I thought that I would have the same morning as yesterday. Fortunately, I had a good surprise in the 9 o'clock net round. I had seen a small group of long tailed tits in the morning and there were 6 of them in one of the net. I was already happy with that, but I became even happier when I saw there was one europeaus among them. And then I got really excited when I saw another one of them had a foreign ring! This little cuttie came all the way from Estonia. Well done!

Except for that, there has been kind of a race for first species of the day between dunnocks and chaffinches, and the dunnocks won. One can also notice an early caught blackbird which was ringed here in july 2015 as a young bird.

All that, plus the fact that I ringed 37 birds this morning, made this a day a day way above average!

Birds ringed today:
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 13
Rødhals - Robin: 2
Solsort - Blackbird: 1
Rødtoppet fuglekon - Firecrest: 2
Nordlig halemejse - Northern long tailed tit: 4
Sydlig Halemesje - European long tailed tit: 1
Blåmesje - Blue tit; 1
Musvit - Great tit : 2
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 10
Grønsisken - Siskin: 1