It was our last Tuesday in Gedser. On next one we will be on our way to Blåvand. It was a really good day however – we ringed two times more birds than yesterday! We caught only 4 recaptures (not counting the current day retraps – birds than got their rings today and already managed to fall in the net again some time later), and one of them was the Dunnock ringed in Keldsnor which we already met yesterday. It was very successful day not only because of the numbers – we also caught some cool species: Black Redstart (first one this year), Eurasian Treecreeper (the one that we ringed yesterday), Yellowhammer and two Goldfinches (male and female, both hatched last year, so we had an awesome opportunity to compare them and learn how to identify their sex).
Banding birds in the morning was although not the only ornithological activity that we undertook today. After closing the nets me and Agata went on a small trip to the eastern part of Lolland. Our main goal was to find seals, but we saw some nice bird species instead. We begun at Holten Strand, where in place of sea mammals we observed Teals (Krikand), Wigeons (Pibeand), Mallards (Gråand), Shelducks (Gravand), Mute Swans (Knopsvane), Oystercatchers (Strandskade) and Cormorants (Skarv). We also sighted a Tern (first one that we saw this year), but it was a bit too far to identify what species that was. After spending there some time, we drove few kilometers in North-Western direction and stopped by Røgbølle and Hejrede Lakes. There, among other species that we already saw today, we spotted some Goldeneyes (Hvinand), a lot of Tufted Ducks (Troldand), some Great Crested Grebes (Toppet lappedykker) and a Red-necked Grebe (Gråstrubet lappedykker). It was a great birdwatching day then!
When we came back to the Station, Susanne was waiting for us with a delicious lasagna that she prepared. I couldn’t stop myself and was taking one piece after another, but I do not regret any bite of it! I think we might expect a lot of birds tomorrow, so during the rounds we will burn the calories anyway.

Lovely pair of Goldfinches - male on the right and female on the left. Just look at these gorgeus faces! Photo: Susanne Primdahl

Black Redstart. It's polish name is ´´Kopciuszek´´, what literaly means ´´Cinderella´´ in english. Photo: Agata Balicka

The fierce predator (starring: Chiffchaff) won't leave it's prey (some Ant) even when extracted from the net or held by a human. Photo: Maciej Wozniak

People at the station: Agata Balicka, Maciej Wozniak, Susanne Primdahl

Complete list of birds caught today (ringed/recaptured):
Gærdesmutte / Wren: 4/0
Jernspurv / Dunnock: 3/1
Rødhals / Robin: 23/1
Husrødstjert / Black Redstart: 1/0
Solsort / Blackbird: 3/0
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush: 1/0
Gransanger / Chiffchaff: 8/0
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest: 1/0
Rødtoppet Fuglekonge: 2/0
Træløber / Eurasian Treecreeper: 0/1
Bogfinke / Chaffinch: 1/0
Stillits / Goldfinch: 2/0
Gulspurv / Yellowhammer: 0/1

Total: 49/4

Previous days seem to have been some kind of forecast of this week. Since we begun opening the nets every day after the heaviest winds we were catching more and more birds. Of course we started slowly, but this monday we were able to open almost all the nets and it brought us 35 individuals (only 11 of them were recatpures)! It was great to finally have a bit more busy day, filled with disentangling birds nearly every round and identifying quite a lot of them. With every animal that we ring we feel that we know more and gain experience quickly, especially when there are four of us in the station and we can discuss and exchange our insights. When we will return to Poland we will surely be on a higher level of bird banding than we were in the beginning of our journey.
One of the highlights of today's catching was an Eurasian Treecreeper. It is not rare either in Gedser nor in Poland, but it was only the second one caught here this year and we have not seen them in a while. The second interesting bird today was a Dunnock, that already had a ring, but not from our station! We recieved really fast reply and learned that it got it's ring in Keldsnor on the island of Langeland, about 80 km from here.
We also decided to keep nets open a bit longer than just the standard 5 hours, but it unfortunatelly did not bring us many more birds. However, the weather got so nice in the afternoon, that me and Agata even went on a little picknick near the sea. It was lovely, and I think I could never get bored with the beautiful sight of this Danish shore.
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Andrea after ringing today, as she needed to go already. But I am sure we will not forget the time we spent here together. Andrea, thank You for the Australian warmth that You brought and shared with us in the Station!

 
Eurasian Treecreeper, despite being so small, he looks so angry! But that doesn't make it any less cute. Photo: Susanne Primdahl

People at the station: Agata Balicka, Maciej Wozniak, Susanne Primdahl, Andrea Mestrov

Complete list of birds caught today (ringed/recaptured):
Gærdesmutte / Wren: 0/2
Jernspurv / Dunnock: 2/2
Rødhals / Robin: 11/3
Solsort / Blackbird: 0/2
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush: 1/0
Gransanger / Chiffchaff: 6/0
Rødtoppet Fuglekonge: 0/1
Blåmejse / Blue Tit: 1/1
Træløber / Eurasian Treecreeper: 1/0
Bogfinke / Chaffinch: 1/0
Kvækerfinke / Brambling: 1/0

Total: 24/11

Endnu en dag med et vejrlig, hvor vi af hensyn til fuglenes sikkerhed ikke kunne åbne alle net. Det var egentlig et dejligt vejr med masser af sol, men vinden er stadig en hård modstander.
Trods vinden kunne vi åbne flere netmeter, end hvad en standardmærkning kræver, så det kunne have været værre. Men antallet af fugle er stadig alt for lavt, når der står 4 ringmærkere klar til at udføre dagens arbejde.

Når vi ikke fik mange fugle i nettene, kunne vi i stedet udnytte muligheden for at lære af hinanden. Der var rigtig god tid til at hjælpe Andrea, som er ny i faget, og alle dagens fugle blev aldersbestemt af flere ringmærkere uafhængigt af hinanden, og bagefter diskuterede vi resultaterne, før fuglen blev sluppet.
Meget lærerig øvelse for os alle.

Aldersbestemmelsen af en fugl diskuteres grundigt - en af fordelene ved at være flere ringmærkere på stationen.
Foto: Andrea Mestrov

Endnu et eksempel på godt samarbejde er her, hvor Maciej holder en fugl, så Andrea kan få et godt billede af den.
Foto: Susanne Primdahl

Det kom der dette fine billede af en Gærdesmutte ud af.
Foto: Andrea Mestrov

Efter ringmærkning og frokost gik Andrea en tur ud til Danmarks sydligste punkt for allerførste gang. Det var spændende for hende at se stedet, hvor hun også kunne læse om en lille del af Danmarks historie, hun ikke kendte i forvejen, fordi hun er vokset op i Australien.

Alle fik sig en god middagslur, og aftensmaden blev en to retters menu tilberedt af et australsk/polsk/dansk kokketeam. Efter maden prøvesmagte vi to hjemmelavede polske likører lavet på hhv. brombær og tjørnebær. De var virkelig gode.
Alt i alt en skøn dag med masser af godt internationalt samarbejde på Danmarks sydspids.

Dagens ringmærkninger med aflæsninger i parentes:

Gærdesmutte / Wren   1 (1)
Jernspurv / Dunnock   2 (0)
Rødhals / Robin   2 (2)
Bogfinke / Chaffinch   1 (0)

Dagens total   6 (3)

Folk på stationen:
Agata Balicka, Maciej Wozniak, Andrea Mestrov, Susanne Primdahl

Obviously today the wind was very strong, even stronger than yesterday, but it changed it's direction luckily. Some of the nets looked well enough to keep them open until the end of standard ringing hours. It allowed us to catch some birds. Not many of them of course, but at least we got some interesting species! We caught a female Reed Bunting, what was really nice as it was only the second one we saw in hand this year. This one was ringed by Agata, so she can also add it to her ´´list´´ of ringed species. The other bird that we were excited about was a Linnet, and it was the first we held in our hands not only this year but ever. ´´Unfortunately´´ it was already ringed in the past, so none of us can boast about banding it. It gave us some interesting information instead - it was ringed and identified as 2k+ in 2020, so it looks that it is at least fourth year of it's life.
Some hours after we finished our ringing-related work, we met another visitor:  Andrea, who came to Denmark from Australia (that's quite far from here, isn't it?). She is going to stay in Gedser for a short while and help us with bird banding. So there is another advantage of our stay here - we really do have an incredible opportunity to practice and improve our english speaking (and writing, as you can see) skills.

Male Linnet - we waited long to finally catch it. Photo: Agata Balicka

Female Reed Bunting - another picture next to the still blooming Mirabelle Plum. Photo: Agata Balicka

Day without wind is unheard of here. Today waking up wasn't easy after yesterday's catching with a flashlight. Although early morning was really windy, we decided to open few nets. In the begining we opened seven of them, but during first rounds we saw that some didn't look good in such a strong wind and closed two. We were left with five open nets until the end of today's catching. But even that brought us four new birds, and two recaptured ones! Today we also had to say goodbye to Ole, who left us so quickly. Thank You for the great dinner and all the talks once again, Ole! But we had more guests: we were visited by Gert who joined us for a coffee and by Jürgen who brought us some sweets! Thank You one more time! All the people that we came across during our stay in Gedser confirm that one of the best and most valuable experiences is meeting so nice and kind people.

Beautiful colors of wren. Photo: Susanne Primdahl

People at the station: Agata Balicka, Maciej Wozniak, Susanne Primdahl, Ole Friis Larsen

Complete list of birds caught today (ringed/recaptured):
Gærdesmutte / Wren: 1/1
Rødhals / Robin: 2/0
Rødtoppet Fuglekonge: 1/0
Bogfinke / Chaffinch: 0/1

Total: 4/2

UPDATE BELOW

Thursday brought us another rainy and windy day. As long as a bit of rain works well for all the plants in the garden (it is getting greener every day), it does not for the birds, especially when wind blows so strong. Therefore we did not catch any birds again. Weather forecast looks quite optimistic for tomorrow however, so we are determined to open at least 60 meters - even one recaptured Robin will make us very happy after two days without any birds caught. Today was also the day when we had to say goodbye to Henrik, because he was going home. And as we are very grateful for everything that he taught us, for his positivity and sense of humour and for all our conversations, we hope to meet him again in the future! But of course we are not left alone - today we were jointed by Susanne, who will help us with ringing in next days. She also brought delicious cake with her. After eating this yummy dessert, Ole prepared wonderful dinner. Our bellies begin to become quite bigger already, but it's definitely worth it. It was so nice to spend some time together by the table and have the opportunity to talk with such nice people. With every day we feel more at home here in Gedser. 

Short weather window. Photo: Maciej Wozniak

UPDATE

In the evening we went to the shore with a flashlight and a ´´ketcher´´ (small net on a long stick) to catch some birds again. It was raining a bit and the wind was blowing even harder than during the day, so it seemed like a perfect weather to try. After a long walk we thought that we will not meet any birds this time, but suddenly we stumbled upon a little wader. It was Agata's turn to try catching a bird this way, so she sneaked up to it and with one confident movement covered it with a net. It was the Sanderling and it already had a ring on it's leg. It turned out that it was the same individual we caught and ringed with Henrik the other day (and was already recaptured by Henrik and Hans). It seems then that this bird decided to stay in that place on the beach for some time. Such recoveries are really rewarding - thanks to them we know that the bird we caught feels well and does not have any troubles because of our ringing actions.
But it was not the only bird that we caught! When we read the number of the Sanderling and released it immediately after, we felt new wave of enthusiasm and power, so we decided to go further along the shore, in hope that we meet more birds. And indeed we did! We spotted another wader on our way, and Agata caught it the same way as she did with the Sanderling - it seems so easy for her although it was only her second bird caught that way! To make things even better it was a Ringed Plover - first individual of this species ringed this year!

It was not easy to identify it as we do not have much experience with this species, but clearly black breast ring and yellow eye-ring allowed us to tell it is surely a male. Photo: Agata Balicka

People at the station: Agata Balicka, Maciej Wozniak, Susanne Primdahl, Ole Friis Larsen

Complete list of birds caught today (ringed/recaptured):
Stor Præstekrave / Ringed Plover: 1/0
Sandløber / Sanderling: 0/1

Total: 1/1

Since early morning the weather was awful: it was cold, rainy and windy until the evening. Having the wellness and health of birds in our minds we did not open any of the nets today - it could end tragically if firecrests or goldcrests would get tangled in them.
As we already did a lot of additional work (like for example cutting branches) in the previous days, we had a lot of time to relax today. We could take up some reading and learning. Moreover, Agata baked delicious cake today! In Poland we call it the Sand Cake, due to it's quite loose, sand-like inside. It was really wonderful to taste some homemade pastry, and I think the view of the Sea behind the window made it even better.
Anyway, because of rather dark and rainy conditions, that we use to call ´´glass weather´´ or ´´bar weather´´, we felt a bit tired and sleepy all day. Even coffee did not help us like it always does and we had to resort to the good old naps. By the way Henrik taught us a new metaphor, that we surely will implement in our lives - sleeping can be reffered to as ´´watching the black goose´´.
We also got visited by Ole, who will stay with us for a bit and will count migrating birds at the tip.
Although we did not catch any birds (Yet! Maybe we will try to catch some with a flashlight again?) and were not very productive today, I still think that such days are really important. Especially in places like Gedser, one can indeed feel the cleansing solitude and admire the slowness of passing time. Only then we can learn to appreciate the slightest things in our surroundings, that we do not have the time to notice in the rush of everyday life.

The cake. Baking and photo: Agata Balicka

On of us being trapped by a Black Goose. Photo: Agata Balicka

People at the station: Agata Balicka, Maciej Wozniak, Henrik Jørgensen, Ole Friis Larsen

Complete list of birds caught today (ringed/recaptured):
---

Total: 0/0

Super strong winds have passed, but not entirely. Today we still were not able to open all the nets, but at least we opened 133 meters of them (the minimum length necessary to perform standarized ringing is 60 m). However, we managed to catch only 3 birds. But only one of them was a recapture so it is still a success! But at the Station there is always some work to be done, so we can take care of datacheck and cleaning. And of course, we are planning to go catch some birds in the late evening, so stay tuned for a late night update!

Aftermath of yesterday's heavy winds - garden furniture flying all over the garden. Photo: Maciej Wozniak

Opdatering/Update:

Efter gårsdagens held med sortanden/common scooter fik vi lyst til at prøve endnu en aftentur, vel vidende, at der næppe blev netfangst dagen after pga. regn. Vi delte os i to hold: Agata og Maciej gik på stranden fra sydspidsen og op til P-pladsen ved Birkemose, og Henrik og jeg tog strækningen fra samme P-plads og godt 4 km mod nord og tilbage ad diget.

Sydholdet havde desværre ikke heldet med sig, så ingen fugle på stranden, men det skyldtes måske nogle ravsamlere, som gik der med deres ultraviolette ravlygter.

Nordholdet var lidt mere heldige, idet vi lokaliserede en sandløber/sanderling et stykke oppe ad stranden. Det lykkedes Henrik at få den i ketcheren. Stor var vores overraskelse, da det viste sig, at den allerede var ringmærket af Maciej for tre dage siden, men det var forøvrigt første gang en af vores ganske få ringmærkede sandløbere/sanderlings bliver genfundet!

Kun denne ene fugl blev set på selve stranden, så det var desværre lidt tyndt! Nogle få harer og 7-8 rådyr rendte rundt på diget og i skovkanten.

Med venlig hilsen, Hans

People at the station: Agata Balicka, Maciej Wozniak, Henrik Jørgensen

Complete list of birds caught today (ringed/recaptured):
Jernspurv / Dunnock: 1/0
Solsort / Blackbird: 0/1
Bogfinke / Chaffinch: 1/0

Sandløber/ Sanderling 0/1

Total: 2/2

UDPATE BELOW

The weather forecast was not wrong - today wind was as strong as it never was during our stay in Gedser. Since early morning it was blowing with a speed of about 12 m/s in most peaceful moments, and was only getting stronger every hour - reaching up to 27,3 m/s about 2 p.m.! To make things worse, it was raining almost all day. Because of this we decided to leave all the nets closed, for the safety of birds. That means that we had a bit more time to rest today. We also went for a short walk to see the waves, and although we got our clothes wet, it was worth it - the view was gorgeous and felling such strong blowing straight into our faces was an unforgettable experience.
Hopefully tommorow we will be able to open some of the nets and catch many birds.

Waves! Photo: Maciej Wozniak

UPDATE:

In the evening we decided to use the ´´bad´´ weather to try catching some birds with a flashlight at the shore again. It was getting dark at 9 p.m. but the clouds were already starting to diverge so it seemed like we had not much time with good catching conditions, but wanted to try anyway. We came across a pair of mallards but they must have noticed us and ran away quite quickly. But about hundred meters later we spotted a common scoter and I though that I must give it a try. Some seconds later I succeded in catching it in the net! Right after we rushed to the lab and let Henrik ring it. We checked and it seems that it is the firs Scoter ringed in Gedser Fuglestation!
That was a good day.

Handsome young gentleman - Mr. Scoter (not to be confused with a german techno band ´´Scooter´´). Photo: Agata Balicka

It's feet are soooo soft! Photo: Maciej Wozniak

UPDATE BELOW

Today we were finally able to open all the nets because of the wind blowing much weaker than in previous days. It contributed to the higher number of birds that were caught. Early in the morning we repaired two nets, and although I almost payed for it with frostbitten fingers, we have all the nets fully working now.
One of the rounds brought us a Wood Pigeon, that I had an opportunity to disentangle. Maciej ringed it, and it was his first one. Personally I never thought that pigeons are so soft and calm during banding! What makes us even more happy, it was only the 19th individual of this species ringed in this Station. We can see the pair of Wood Pigeons bravely watching over their nest and from time to time we observe birds flying by with little branches held in their beaks.
Finally we had more newly ringed birds than recaptured ones. In the garden we can see that the spring is coming and birds are singing louder and louder.

Maciej with his firs pigeon, They look so happy. Photo: Agata Balicka

Wood pigeon being extremaly handsome. Photo: Agata Balicka

UDATE:

Late in the evening (at 10 p.m.) Henrik took us to the beach to try catch some birds with a flashlight and a net held by hand. Although we walked about 4 kilometeres, we found only one bird. But it was an awesome experience anyway! Henrik catched a Sanderling and Maciej had a chance to ring it. It was beautiful!

Sanderling! Photo: Agata Balicka

People at the station: Agata Balicka, Maciej Wozniak, Henrik Jørgensen

Complete list of birds caught today (ringed/recaptured):
Ringdue / Common Wood Pigeon: 1/0
Jernspurv / Dunnock: 6/0
Rødhals / Robin: 0/2
Solsort / Blackbird: 1/0
Bogfinke / Chaffinch: 3/0
Sandløber / Sanderling: 1/0

Total: 12/2