sun and birds!

Today was clear and sunny with hardly any wind. It was great! Quite a change from the weather of the past few weeks. Migration is still being a little slow to get going but we did have our best day today with a total of 17 birds caught. These were mostly Blue and Great Tits although a Chaffinch and 2 Greenfinch added a little variety. One of the 3 re-traps was a Great Tit originally ringed in July last year.

March is now over and we can reflect on our time here and look back at what we have caught. Myself and Teresa have been here for almost 3 weeks and in that time we have ringed 46 birds of 7 species! Despite the weather nets were opened on 19 days during the month and in total for the whole of March 2013 exactly 100 birds have been ringed of 11 species. This is well below average for the station and may represent one of the least productive months ever! In 2012, 564 birds were ringed at Gedser during March and the station wasn't even opened until the 16th. Still, we have enjoyed our time here and hope to come back, although we will try and choose a different month next time!

Other sightings today included 2 Whooper Swan, 2 Common Crane, 3 Red Kite and a White-tailed Eagle all flying north. Single White Wagtail and Meadow Pipit were the first ones of each we have seen here and the Long-eared Owl was seen again in the afternoon.

Hennrik arrived this afternoon and he will be taking over from us here at GFU. We wish him luck and hope he has more success with the birds and weather than we have!

Thanks for reading
Matt Slaymaker & Teresa Montras