Is it summer now May is over?

A pleasant day but the westerly wind was pretty strong throughout which kind of limited things really with 20 birds caught through the morning; these included a Red-backed Shrike, a Common Rosefinch, 6 Icterine Warblers, a Redstart, a Sand Martin, 3 Garden Warblers and a Lesser Whitethroat.

Red-backed Shrikes have been a bit scarce this spring - this is only the second to be caught so far, compared to 22 by this time last year.   With the exception of Marsh Warbler (3 so far this year compared to 37 this time last year) however, all the other common migrants are well up on the end of May 2013

Common Blue

Respectable

A really nice start to the day - especially after the previous few days gales, with light westerly winds and scattered cloud; the wind however, gradually increased through the morning to become pretty strong by lunchtime but by then I had already caught a very respectable 58 new birds (a very good total for this late in the spring).   The total included another female Hawfinch, 2 Marsh Warblers (plus a Swedish control), 3 Reed Warblers, 15 Icterine Warblers, 12 Blackcaps, 5 Garden Warblers, 5 Whitethroats and a White Wagtail.

Hawfinch

A slightly unseasonal arrival of Blackcaps with several of them having high fat scores indicating that they are genuine late passage migrants but equally there were a few females in amongst the total that had big brood patches so were probably failed breeders moving around - perhaps the recent gales disturbed a few nests. 

The first Tree Sparrow fledglings appeared today although how this one got up into the top panel of the high net only he knows!

 

There were a few things seen out at the tip today but it was a fairly quiet day elsewhere as birds included 2 Hobbies, 1,800 Brent Geese still moving north-east and a few waders with Grey Plover, Knot and Bar-tailed Godwits passing in small mixed flocks.

Common Darter

High expectations

Still very windy first thing but it quickly eased off and I could open nets by 06:00; after I had cleared all the debris out of the nets and net rides, 12 new birds were caught in a few hours which included 2 Common Rosefinches, an Icterine Warbler, a Garden Warbler, a Blackcap, 2 Sand Martins and Goldfinch.

The baby Great Tits have survived the gales and found the nets!

 

There were bits and pieces seen out at the tip through the day with a Caspian Tern north, a Bee-eater also north (but very politely returned south when I got out there!) and a couple of Honey Buzzards, Marsh Harriers and Common Buzzards floating around.   The Common Buzzards included the dark local bird which frequently and sometimes annoyingly hovers like a Rough-leg, I've never seen this behaviour in the UK but apparently its quite regular here in Denmark.

 

Male and female Red-backed Shrikes and at least 5 Marsh Warblers were my reward for a walk north up the coast in the afternoon.

 

After this big easterly blow of the last few days its predicted to be pretty calm with the wind in the W or NW over the next few days - perfect for something awesome!   We'll see!

 



A day of rest

Well, for the first time in seemingly ages I was unable to open any nets in the morning as the gale force NE wind was still lashing the station (its been a pretty good run really!) so after a little check at the appropriate time - 03:15, I had the luxury of sleeping until 08:30; very strange, threw my whole day out of whack!

There wasn't much bird news with good numbers of Little Terns along the coast the main feature with 6 feeding on the sheltered side of the tip, 5 between the station and town, 7 by the harbour and at least 12 around Kroghage and feeding in the marina.   Other birds included a few Swifts ridiculously flying into the wind out at sea, a Green Sandpiper on the shore just east of town and the usual singing birds still going despite the wind at Kroghage with at least 3 Marsh Warblers and 2 Common Rosefinches of note.

Swallows sheltering on the beach at Kroghage - they didn't seem to like sitting by themselves on the beach with flocks of them sitting alongside Little Terns, Sanderling and Ringed Plover!

What a difference a day makes

It was a breezy start but I still managed to get the nets open; 3 Icterine Warblers, a Chiffchaff and one of yesterday's Common Rosefinches were caught before I was forced to close all the nets at around 08:00 as the wind had become a blazing force 7/8 North-easterly tearing through the garden.   That was the end of that!

Not much else to say really!

The tip, late afternoon

Mega dag i Gedser - den 26. maj – a day to remember!

Morgnen begyndte stille og rolig men herlig nattergale sang fra Sønder Boulevard.

Men allerede på vej til Odden havde en vagtel ”spyttet” sin underfundige sang ud over markeren med sin strofer ”wet my lips” ”wet my lips” (lyt her).

På selve Odden kunne igen de herlige strofer fra en nattergal sang høres.

Ikke længe efter ankomst kl. 0439 fløj en gulirisk omkring og karmindomappen sang sin ”pleased to meet you” sang (lyt her).

Straks før kl. fem og igen ved halv otte tiden hørtes det skønne kald fra en pirol (lyt her).

Men dette var kun en lille forsmag på en lang varm og enestående dag i Gedsers ornitologisk historie – a day to remember.

Ved 7-tiden dukker en skøn trane op fulgtes op som straks fugtes af en turteldue! Og endnu en gulirisk flyver omkring og kalder over de to Københavnere der ikke var forvent med det ene eller det andet – skønt skønt.

Forbi flyvende turteldue

Men så  - - - BANG!

En mindre hvid hejre (med medium mørk ryg) dukker  frem lavt over markerne mellem Frisenfelt og Gedser Fuglestation mod vest og nord!!! Arten er set 15 gang før i Danmark men tilsyneladende aldrig på Falster eller Lolland – så dette var stort som vi siger.

Forfærdeligt foto - men fuglen er 1,5-3 km væk!!

Puha godt vi var to til denne observation J

Det var svært ikke at være glad for at se denne sjælden fugl i Danmark. Men mere skulle komme til!

Ved halv ni tiden var det tid til dagens sorte glente – men i dag to samtidig – sort glente er ganske almindelig ved Gedser i dette forår hvor vi har set flere sorte glenter end røde!

Senere ser vi dog også en rød glente som følges op af en rødstrubet piber og en hvepsevåge.

Men så BANG igen!! En buskrørsanger dukker frem! Kun syvende fugl i Gedser området og denne på samme små-lokalitet som først fund i Gedser ved Frisenfelt! (lyt her) (også mange grønne frøer - men lyt efter de knirkende strofer).

Buskrørsanger i sin favorit busk - en lille pil med rørskov omkring

Medens kødranden af ornitologer stod der og nød deres kryds på deres lister faldt de i staver og glemmer at lytte til den lille fluesnapper der synger løs over deres hoveder – men så blev de blev vækket da der hørtes en biæder trække forbi.

Biæder - fra dagen før

Ja en dag der ville kunne huskes.

Mvh, personalet ved Gedser fuglestation

The quality continues

I'm running out of original ways to describe the weather so I won't try - it was still hot and sunny although the NE wind did increase through the day.   Ringing was pretty quiet through the morning with just 22 new birds and nothing later than 07:30 but we did pass through the 3,000 birds for the year mark!   The total included 2 Common Rosefinches, 6 Icterine Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, 6 Whitethroats, 2 Garden Warblers, a Spotted Flycatcher and a Yellowhammer.

Common Rosefinch

Yellowhammer

There were more quality birds to be had in the area today with the two headliners being a a small size white heron (possible pond!!) which flew west along the coast towards town at 07:42 (0741?) to ca 07:47 (updated 23/06 2014) and secondly a Blyth's Reed Warbler in full song at the small roadside pond near Frisenfelt Farm just down the road from the station; he was blazing away like a trooper at lunchtime and showed reasonably well for short periods.   There was also a Quail singing here first thing in the morning.

   The other bird news all came from the tip and all early in the morning where the pick included a Turtle Dove and a Golden Oriole flying around, a Red-throated Pipit south and 2 Black Kites over.

Internets down! Now its back!

The glorious, summer-like conditions remain over Gedser and today (25th) it produced a good varied morning's ringing with most of the action predictably in the first few hours of the day; highlights for me were 2 awesome Hawfinches, another Red-breasted Flycatcher, a nice female Blue-headed Wagtail and the overdue first Marsh Warbler of the spring to find its way into a net.
   Other migrants caught included 8 Icterine Warblers, a Reed Warbler, a Lesser Whitethroat, 6 Whitethroats, 7 Garden Warblers and a Yellowhammer.

Male and female Hawfinch

Blue-headed Wagtail

Marsh Warbler

 



 There was some excellent vis mig action at the tip today as well, with the quality coming late morning (in fact, almost as soon as the group of four birders staying at the station for the weekend left to go back north!).   A Black-headed Bunting called a few times as it went south down the coast, a total of 8 Bee-eaters also flew south (two groups of three and a two) and a Red-rumped Swallow flew south down the coast and out to sea with presumably the same bird coming back north 45 minutes later.
   Also seen were a few raptors including 6 Honey Buzzards north and an Osprey, 5 Kestrels, 6 Marsh Harriers and a few Buzzards going south.

Also of note the Great Reed Warbler, first seen at Kroghage yesterday was still singing occasionally but not showing at all!

Dingy Mocha

 

The photograph I took of a Dragonfly and put in yesterday's post was not, as I surmised a Northern White-faced Darter but instead it was a Large White-faced Darter Leucorrhinia pectoralis which is much rarer and is the first record for the Gedser area!

 

Large White-faced Darter - worth another picture!



Record

A cloudy start slowly cleared to leave another warm, sunny, calm day with the wind in the west; there were a few bits around in the morning as I managed to catch 44 new birds with the 7th Red-breasted Flycatcher of the year creating a new spring record for this species.   Other migrants caught included 8 Icterine Warblers, 3 Redstarts, a Reed Warbler, 5 Whitethroats, 7 Garden Warblers, a Blackcap and 16 Willow Warblers (they're back!).

Redstart

 

Two Honey Buzzards came in and a Serin flew over the garden in the morning while there were a selection of migrants just north of us that we are lacking in the nets so far this spring with 4 Common Rosefinches, a Wryneck, 3 Red-backed Shrikes and 2 singing Marsh Warblers around Birkemose and just beyond.

 

A Black Kite was fighting with a Short-eared Owl over the station in the evening.

Northern White-faced Darter Leucorrhinia rubicunda (probably!)

The promise of a rumble

A similar start to the last few days but shortly after dawn the wind switched round to the west and started to pick up bringing some cloud with it and for a short while, the promise of a storm with rumbling thunder getting closer and closer.....before it veered off to the north-west, brightened up and became another lovely, warm day!   Another similar morning ringing wise as well with 28 new birds caught - perhaps fewer birds than of late but really its pretty similar numbers, just minus the 15-20 Willow Warblers we were catching daily which seem to have stopped.
   There were some good birds in the total however including 2 Thrush Nightingales, another Red-breasted Flycatcher, 3 Common Rosefinches and 2 Icterine Warblers.   Other migrants consisted of a Wood Warbler, 2 Garden Warblers, 7 Whitethroats, 3 Chiffchaffs, a Spotted Flycatcher and a Siskin.

If you squint and hold him up to the sun, there maybe some red coming through on the latest RBF!

Wood Warbler

The first Siskin to be caught since 3rd April was probably a failed breeder as she had a big brood patch just starting to dry out and go wrinkly!

 

There were a few other birds around the garden through the morning with a Golden Oriole calling before flying off over the station, a Hawfinch which dropped in briefly, a singing Redpoll and 2 late Bramblings.   A singing Marsh Warbler was the only bird of note at Kroghage in the afternoon.

Red Admiral

Its about time you showed up

Hot, hot again with the wind still in the east and a little stronger - very pleasant to be out but it produced a ringing session with far fewer birds than of late with just 19 new caught.   There were some good things though (especially for a young British ringer just starting out in the world!) with two more Red-breasted Flycatchers, 4 Icterine Warblers and a Common Rosefinch part of the catch; other migrants included 2 Redstarts, 3 Garden Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, a Whitethroat and a Goldfinch but for the first time in ages, no Willow Warblers.

Red-breasted Flycatcher (with a red breast - just!)

 

It was also a day for returning birds from last year with 3 Whitethroats and 3 Icterine Warblers [re]appearing in the nets for the first time this year.   Also seen through the morning were 6 Common Crossbills, a smart rufous morph Cuckoo and a female Red-backed Shrike.

Chocolate-tip

Sprosser

Still calm, hot and sunny but with a bit of haziness and a few wispy clouds coming and going through the day on the light easterly breeze; a similar morning of ringing to yesterday with 35 new birds caught including the first Thrush Nightingale of the year and the third Red-breasted Flycatcher of the spring.
   Other migrants trapped consisted of 5 Icterine Warblers, 7 Garden Warblers, 8 Whitethroats, just 5 Willow Warblers, 2 Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap and a Spotted Flycatcher.

Thrush Nightingale

 

There were 2 Hawfinches at Birkemose early afternoon where there was also another singing Thrush Nightingale while a singing Common Rosefinch was holding territory on the outskirts of town.

Soon be plenty of baby birds out and about

They'll have to be careful though as old Snog will be waiting!

Tan

A stunning, glorious day - calm, hot and sunny and it followed the prescribed route with a small rush of birds in the first two hours of the day before becoming very quiet and turning into a day to cut the grass and get your tan on!   The dawn rush produced 34 new birds caught and ringed including the first Wheatear and Sedge Warbler to be ringed this year, 13 Willow Warblers, 5 Garden Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, an Icterine Warbler, a Blackcap, 2 Reed Warblers, 2 Whitethroats and somewhat surprising, 2 Goldcrests.
   These were the first Goldcrests caught since 17th April; one at least was probably a failed breeder, already moving around as she had a big brood patch but the other, also a female showed no signs of breeding so was probably a late migrant.

Wheatear

Sedge Warbler

 

The day's other main bird news was a/the Black Woodpecker making another appearance, flying east across the front field in front of Gert and Benny early morning - I missed it by roughly 10 seconds (imagine how annoyed I would be if I hadn't seen the one earlier in May!).   Who knows if its the same lingering individual, logic would suggest it probably is.

We had a large visiting group of ex-teachers from Nykøbing today; they unfortunately arrived after the dawn rush but they all got to see a few birds in the hand and hopefully enjoyed themselves seeing what happens here - a very civilised affair as well, here they are partaking in coffee and biscuits!

This wasp was dragging this poor paralysed spider up the side of the house this afternoon - just needed a David Attenborough narration in the background!

My first red one in the hand

A real mixed bag weather wise today with pretty thick fog lingering through the morning, a nice spell at lunchtime before heavy rain set in early afternoon (which unfortunately coincided with me cycling back from town!) and finally a nice pleasant end to the day.   There were a few birds around in the morning and I managed to catch 32 new birds including 2 Common Rosefinches, an Icterine Warbler, 2 Redstarts, 7 Whitethroats, 4 Garden Warblers, 10 Willow Warblers, 2 Spotted Flycatchers, 2 Pied Flycatchers and a Swallow.

Common Rosefinch

Look at the tail streamers on that!

Swallow

 

Birds at Kroghage in the early afternoon (before the rain set in) included a smart male Red-backed Shrike, a singing Common Rosefinch, 3 Whinchats, a Redstart and a few more singing Reed Warblers setting up territories.   A 1st summer Little Gull was off the point late afternoon along with a flock of 10 Goosanders and a Common Sandpiper.

Exactly what it said on the tin

Clear and calm at dawn but while remaining calm it gradually clouded over through the morning to eventually rain most of the afternoon (which, in the interest of unbiased reporting was exactly what the forecast said would happen!); a decent 57 new birds were caught through the morning session with the second Red-breasted Flycatcher of the year the highlight.
   Other migrants caught included the third Great-spotted Woodpecker of the spring, a Tree Pipit, 4 Redstarts, 2 Icterine Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, 5 Whitethroats, 6 Garden Warblers, 2 Blackcaps, 20 Willow Warblers, 3 Spotted Flycatchers and 4 Pied Flycatchers.

Red-breasted Flycatcher

 

After missing them for the last two days I finally caught up with 2 lovely summer plumaged White-winged Black Terns as they flew east; other birds seen from the station included an Arctic Skua, one flock of 24 Little Gulls, a few flocks of Arctic Terns moving east and a steady movement of mainly 1st year Black-headed and Common Gulls.

   As well as a few more White-winged Black Terns, Louis had two separate Whiskered Terns moving with the Arctics as well as 2 more large Diver sp. and a Short-eared Owl.

 

Also of note Gert weighed in with a Black Woodpecker up at Bøtø (who knows, maybe the same bird that was seen at the station on 9th May) as well as 10 more White-winged Black Terns.

Gonna have to hide better than this, its hunting season now!

Scorchio

More of the same today with calm, sunny and warm conditions but this time there was a decent arrival of birds in the garden - at least in the first two hours after dawn anyway, when I caught the vast majority of the 44 new birds ringed today; a cracking female Bluethroat and the first Common Rosefinch of the year were the pick of the bunch.
   Numbers were made up of 6 Redstarts, 4 Lesser Whitethroats, 7 Whitethroats, 3 Garden Warblers, 14 Willow Warblers, 4 Spotted Flycatchers and a Pied Flycatcher.

Bluethroat

Common Rosefinch

 

Not much else was seen from the station through the morning with the exception of a ten minute period when 3 Honey Buzzards and a Hen Harrier came in low across the sea.   Visible migration was a bit quieter today with more Geese heading NE with the Brent Geese starting to get going, a few Black-throated Divers going backwards and forwards and another small flock of White-winged Black Terns.

 

A thanks must go to the three Copenhagen birders who stayed last night, not only did they give me a couple of beers last night, one of them left me his Leica scope - it must have been meant as a gift!

3 out of the 4 Icterine Warblers caught this year so far have been re-traps - today's bird was from July 2011

It was just too nice!

A beautiful sunny, calm, warm day today but maybe it was a little bit too nice as there were very few grounded migrants in the garden, especially when compared to yesterday, with no fog to drop them in resulted in a quiet morning's ringing.   Birds caught included a Firecrest - the first for a long time, the second Great-spotted Woodpecker of the spring, 9 Willow Warblers, a Redstart, 2 Garden Warblers and 2 Whitethroats.

Firecrest

Great-spotted Woodpecker

 

It was a good day in the surrounding area however with pride of place going to a brilliant female Citrine Wagtail which Louis found on the tip in the morning, it flew in from the west to spent a short while feeding on the beach but disappeared before any other birders arrived.   There was some good passage recorded as well with another excellent count of 42,000 Barnacle Geese heading NE - although the majority of them 'cut the corner', passing to the north of us here on the point, often just showing as a smear on the horizon!   This count is part of an all time record spring for this species here at Gedser!

 

Other birds recorded through the day included 42 White-winged Black Terns east (part of a big invasion into Denmark today), 710 Brent Geese, a Great-northern Diver, 2 specifically unidentified large Divers (GND/WBD), 16 Honey Buzzards north, a Hobby, a Serin and 3 White-tailed Eagles - a glorious day!

 



One of an impressive brood of 10 Great Tits ringed today at the station