So, this is it, the nets have been folded for good this time. Today was the last day of spring season in Gedser! I had the time to ring 5 hours before the storm showed up very briefly with a strong showery rain that was pretty needed.

Not many bird around today, but still a couple of good birds in the last round as a goodbye gift.  Another marsh tit was one of them as well as another red backed shrike.

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Not very surprinsingly, one last lesser white throat was also caught in the last round. 

There were only 3 retraps today, two of them ringed last year and breeding in the garden now.

So this is it for me! I'm heading back to France this afternoon, but I'll be back! Actually, it's already planned for me to come back with some friend in late autumn! So have a nice summer and see you around!

Today couldn't obviously be as good as yesterday but still brought a few good suprises.

It was another hot summerly day with temperatures reaching above 20 even in early morning and no wind, so only the first round were a bit productive.

The first nice surprise was a chick of a marsh tit. These little birds seem always so tiny in the hand and this one still had fluffy feathers on its belly.

Then, a few round later, when nothing was trapped anymore, I had the surprise to catch one of these bullfinches that have been calling yesterday and this morning and that I can still hear while writing now! It was a 2k female who got trapped and had a brood patch.

Among the retraps, there was nothing particular, mainly breeding birds, mostly lesser white throats.

After a day like yesterday my hopes were not very high this morning... Hoewever, days succeed but are definitely not alike!!

Surprinsingly, I had much more birds trapped today but above all, a very nice diversity with a few suprises! 

It all started at 6:00 in one of the last net of the round, I found this bird:

With not tail and very worn but it is a red breated flycatcher! And what's more is that it had an obvious brood patch!

A few minutes later, I heard an oriole in the edge of the garden!! But had no chance to see it. I also heard at least two bullfinches  on the path but not seen either.

However, the day was not over and the singing rosefinch of yesterday which was still singing this morning suddenly got silent... it was trapped in a net!!

This was a first in the hand for me! So I was very happy to get it! But even more, is that a few round later, I got another one!!

Not need to say that I got quite excited! I therefore tried to keep nets open acouple of hours more but only got one more bird.

All in all, it has been a really nice day!  13 different species trapped mostly new birds but also a couple of retraps among which one garden warbler ringed in 2017.

After yesterday, I was hoping that it could go on a little bit but it went back to very quiet today with only 4 birds captured. Two new ones and two retraps. Maybe the birds of yesterday spread the word that the ringing is still on.

The weather is still very very nice and I had hoped that the rosefinch which sang the whole morning in the garden and still does now was going to get caught but that didn't happen... Maybe tomorrow?

Nets were open in a peaceful and warm morning, with almost no wind. 

I wasn't expecting much of the day but it turned out to be much better than yesterday! In the first round, I already had 3 new birds to ring, which was the total amount of yesterday's captures! All in all, 10 new birds were ringed today, among which my first chick of Chiffchaff.

But it is mainly the retraps that were really interesting today. Strangerly, many adult birds, ringed in the previous years were trapped today. It looks as if they knew that ringing usually stops the 15th! So, a garden warbler ringed in 2019 as an adult was already a good one: this bird is at least 3 years old and has undertaken at least 3 migrations to the south and back! Well done!

But the probably even more funny retrap has been the one of a wood pigeon today. This pigeon was ringed here by Andreas in 2016 as an adult! Also, it apparently had not been recaptured since then! That actually made my day :)

Trækket på Odden: En interessant morgen med havtræk på landets sydspids. Vi laver ikke standardiserede tællinger i juni, men det ser ud til, at der foregår et træk, som er værd at hæfte sig ved. På fem timer – som svarer til en standardtælling for Gedser Fuglestation – kom der fra klokken lidt over fem til lidt over ti 1.365 hanner af Ederfugle (Common Eiders) og 7 hunner forbi Gedser Odde på vej mod vest ad ’hovedsporet’ for efterårets træk af andefugle. Det er et betragteligt antal Ederfugle uden for ’sæsonen’.

 Trækket er sikkert helt normalt, men bare hidtil lidt upåagtet. Det er hanner på det, der ofte bliver kaldt fældningstræk, fordi de søger mod steder med rigelig mad, hvor de kan være, mens de skifter fjer. De ganske få hunner i trækket kan man kun gisne om; det er måske fugle, som har fået deres æg ødelagt eller har mistet alle ungerne.

 Det bliver spændende at se, hvordan tallet for onsdag bliver.

Lys Ederfugl (Common Eider) på en af betonklodserne ud for Gedser Odde. De manglende kulører er genetisk bestemt mangel på farvestoffer i fjerene. Foto: Ole Friis Larsen/GFU

Der er også op mod et par hundrede Ederfugle, som ikke trækker, men holder til ved odden. Det er et broget foretagende af hovedsagelig hanner i alle mulige stadier af fældning, men tirsdag morgen var der alligevel en, som skilte sig ud i mængden med en usædvanlig lys fjerdragt. Den mangler nogle af farvestofferne i fjerene, og det kan være genetisk bestemt. Bedre kikkerter, teleskoper og kameraer har gjort os i stand til at opdage mange flere af den slags variationer hos fuglene, og mange kender sikkert især fænomenet fra Solsorte med hvide fjer.

 Trækmæssigt bød morgenens fem timers tælling desuden på nogen trafik af Knopsvaner i forskellige retninger, lidt Fiskehejrer og fire Traner, som i samlet flok passerede ud over havet mod syd. Det kunne være fugle, som var for unge til at yngle, eller fugle som af en eller anden grund har mistet deres æg eller unger og derfor allerede flyver væk fra ynglepladsen nu.

 Ringmærkning: 

It was good that Ole was here and had some migration news because on the ringing side, it has been a super quiet day. The 15th of june is usually the end of the ringing season and it definitely looked like it today. 3 birds were captured: 2  new birds, among which a reed warbler and 1  retrap of a icterine warbler. In 5 h of ringing, it was not much work!

I have a few more days at the station, so we can still hope for one good bird before the actual end of the season.

Folk på stationen: Marie Chevalier, Ole Friis Larsen

Trækket på Odden: Mange fugle er på farten det meste af deres liv og kan bedst betragtes som nomader, der slår sig ned et sted i nogle få måneder hvert år for at yngle. Derfor er der næsten altid et eller andet træk i gang, selv om vi ikke står og tæller for fuglestationerne eller på de andre store træklokaliteter hver dag året rundt. Lige nu ser det ud til, at der er bevægelser i Knopsvanerne (Mute Swans), som kommer i småflokke fra øst og fortsætter mod vest rundt om Danmarks sydligste punkt. På nogle timers morgen- og formiddagsobservation løb det mandag op i lidt over 130. De landede til rast på vandet ud for havnen i Gedser. Det kan være fourageringstræk væk fra områder med for lidt mad, det kan være fældningstræk mod kendte lokaliteter med sikkerhed for meget mad til en periode med fældning, hvor de ikke kan flyve.

En broget skare af hanner af Ederfugle (Common Eiders) på et vestligt træk, der allerede er godt i gang, måske især for hanner, der er i overskud og ikke yngler. Foto: Ole Friis Larsen/GFU

I de samme timer rundede over 330 Ederfugle (Common Eiders) pynten på vej fra øst mod vest. Det var trækfugle, som kom langt ude fra havet og fortsatte ad de kendte ’spor’ for havtrækket, til forskel fra de cirka 180 Ederfugle, der rastede og fouragerede fast i området tæt på land. Fælles for både fastliggerne og forbitrækkerne var dog, at det langt overvejende var hanner i fældning med alle mulige overgangsdragter. Kun tre af de godt 330 Ederfugle på træk var hunner. Det kan være hunner, som allerede har mistet deres æg eller unger, og de tidlige hanner kan være fugle, som er i overskud og slet ikke er kommet til at yngle, eller de har parret sig og overstået deres rolle i yngleriet for i år. Vi ved fra de årlige tællinger af trækket, at der tilsyneladende er et markant underskud af hunner blandt Ederfuglene.

Bysvale (House-Martin) over buskene på Gedser Odde. Her var der masser af insekter i luften. Foto: Ole Friis Larsen/GFU

Værd at opleve på Gedser Odde lige for tiden er også, at alle tre arter af svaler yngler her. En lille koloni af Digesvaler (Sand-Martins) har gravet sig ind i skrænten, mens Land- og Bysvaler (Barnswallows, House-Martins) bygger reder og ruger rundt omkring på den gule bygning, der er tilbage fra militærets tid på stedet.

Ringmærkning på stationen: There was less wind this morning when I opened the nets. Event though it is stil quiet, the increase of birds continues with 5 newly birds ringed and 6 retraps. Most of the birds are breeding and one can find cloacal protuberance or brood patch on almost all of them. Some of the retraps are 2k birds, borned last year and having their first reproduction season in the garden! Others are a bit older like this great tit which was ringed as an adult last year.  Amazingly, that actualy was my first tit in 14 days in the garden.

Folk på stationen: Marie Chevalier, Ole Friis Larsen

The wind was strong again this morning with guts around 14 m/s and a few nets stayed closed. 

From the numbers underneath one could say that it was another low day and that Claus jannig and I preferred to watch football instead of ringing... However, if you compare it to yesterday, then it is another story! Compared to yesterday we made an increase of 100% of new birds! Two red backed shrikes, beautifull males, allowed us to reach that. As for the retraps, we can say that we capture 33% more birds than yesterday as well. And last but not least, we have more than doubled our number of different species trapped. So in the end, could we really say that it was a lazy day? :)

Tomorrow the wind should not be as strong but still coming from the same direction then changing through the day. We shall see!

Dagens ringmærkningstal ligner en joke - men er det desværre ikke! To nymærkede og tre aflæste fugle på fem timer! Ikke imponerende, men især heftig vind gav ikke de bedste forudsætninger for ringmærkning i dag, så nettene blev lukket efter standardtid. Det bliver derfor ikke ringmærkningen, men dagens hygge, der kommer i fokus på denne dags blogindlæg.

Efter standardtid gik vi - Ole, Nina og Clausjannic - et smut til Louis på odden, mens Marie fortsatte 'sin nattesøvn'. Heller ikke på odden var der dog de store ting at berette. En steppehøg, en trækkende bjergvipstjert, syngende karmindompap og to tejst tæt under kysten er nok det mest spændende. Så også her var det godt selskab og hygge, der kom i fokus. I løbet af eftermiddagen gik vi lidt 'arbejdsamok'. Ole malede, Clausjannic skrev til Fugleåret, Marie gik på odden og Nina gik i gang med aftenens måltid. Eftermiddagen blev afsluttet med at Ole og CJ eksperimenterede med den nye skærm i skolestuen, så den er nu klar til at blive brugt i formidlingen - og vise en forhåbentlig god fodboldkamp i aften, mens vi indtager aftenens festmåltid. Det må da være en passende debut for brugen af formidlingsskærmen. Vi har i dagens løb - mere ller mindre forgæves - forsøgt at lære franske Marie et par danske fodboldboldsange, men uden at vi er voldsomt benovet. 

Dagens mærkninger herunder

Morgendagens vejr ser ikke meget bedre ud end i dag, men vi er alligevel optimister! 

Folk på stationen:
Marie
Gert og Tulle
Ole 
Nina og Clausjannic

The weather being as nice as the previous days and the wind blowing west in the morning, it is not surprising that there were few birsd in the nets!

6 new birds were ringed among which a beautifull white wagtail ( hvid visptjert) female. There were also only two retraps this morning. Apparently the birds know pretty well the nets except this lesser white throat ringed last year that I still catch every now and then.

There will be Klaus Yannig and Ninna at the house this week end, so let's hope we'll get something good.