Today we have had a very windy day, which was a shame because we have seen a lot of chaffinches flying over the station! And it was a shame because due to the heavy wind, we could not open the high nets… The good thing was that despite the heavy winds, we were able to open 132 meters of sheltered and safe nets for catching some birds.

Last night Gail and I left everything absolutely ready in the lab (ringing vests included) and talked about how would we act depending on the amount of birds and weather, because we are alone at the station now so we have to be even more prepared than usual. Due to the wind and intermittent drizzle, we were checking the weather radar frequently. In the end we had a lovely day of ringing the usual species plus two surprises: a Wren coming from a Punk party and also, Gail and I got our first Bullfinches! Neither Gail or I have ringed one before - we were very happy when we found them in the nets! Although they are chunky birds, I have learnt from other ringers that they must be treated with extreme care and processed quite fast, and so we did.

In the two pictures above you can see a Wren with assymetrical leucistic feathers in the primaries and in the primary coverts.

Please note that we are not holding the legs of the bird, this young male sat for a few seconds before flying happily away!

In the last two rounds we got less than 3 new birds and we were recapturing the same goldcrests, and plus that the wind was increasing, so we decided to call it for the day and closed nets at 13:40. That left us plenty of time for doing other things like cleaning the house, entering data very early (which is always nice), and time for running and yoga.

As every night we are trying to catch owls, but we suck… so probably another night of futile efforts, but as always, a lovely day in Gedser Fuglestation!

We will keep you updated!

The data of today below:

Best,

Ramón.