Last Day of Fall 2014

Our last official banding day here at Gedser turned out to be a bit of a flop. The winds have been strong all day, and have continued to pick up. We were able to open up the sparrowhawk nets and managed to catch one! A first year male, was our last bird of the year! As far as last birds go, that is not too bad at all.

Young Male Sparrowhawk - Accipiter nisus

Overall, this season has been more than a success. Gedser has banded 13,119 birds for the fall season, the third busiest year of all time! Many species have broken records here at Gedser this year, including songthrush (sangdrossel), robin (rødhals), chiffchaff (gransanger), wren (gærdesmutte), long-tailed tit (halemejse), and redstart.(rødst jert). However, it was a lower than average year for bluetits (blåmejse). It has been a huge year for goldcrests (fuglekonge), with 4,087 in fall alone, and the highest totals in November, at 715 birds. Treecreeper (træløber) totals also broke a record, with 81 in total, and 73 in fall alone. Sparrowhawk (spurvhøg) totals were also high, with 124 in total, close to beating Gedser's record. Numbers of long-eared owls (skovhornugle) have increased, with 11 this year.  

As far as our time here, we could not have asked for a better season. The warm weather has been wonderful, and we have seen and banded more birds then we ever expected! We would like to thank everyone who has come through Gedser, for making this experience the best it could be. We will be sad to leave here, but hopefully we can return again! We will miss Danish food before too long, so I imagine we will be back in no time.

Abbi & Joe

Our penultimate day with a puffball

Given yesterday's birdy-ness and the fact that the weather was still quite calm we decided to exercise a bit of caution this morning and only opened around a third of the nets. As expected as the morning progressed there were plenty of birds every net round and we were kept quite busy all morning. Todays total though not as high as yesterday was a pretty respectable 100 birds exactly!

Species wise things were pretty similar to yesterday with goldcrests (fuglekonge) making up most of the catch, but also a few bullfinch (dompap) and robins (rødhals). Some pretty significant migration going overhead today as well. A large flock of about 200 blackbirds (solsort) skimmed over the garden at around midmorning which almost hit the top of one of the high nets.

As an aside from the bird news; yesterday we noticed a rather large mushroom in the garden not far from the apple trees. After doing some research we established that it was a giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea) and as you can see it was as big as my head. This species is edible while they're still young and not producing spores so we decided to incorporate it into this evenings meal! While it didn't have an incredibly strong flavour the texture was fantastic.

Giant puffball mushroom (Calvatia gigantea)

Things aren't looking too promising for the last day of the season with strong winds forecast. With any luck though the goldcrests will stick around and we'll be able to find a few nets out of the wind to open.

Joe

Fistfuls of Fugles

The wind was quite strong yesterday, and we weren't able to open the nets for standard. It calmed down in the late afternoon, and we set up the owl nets hoping we would get another chance to catch a Tengmalm's. But alas, we caught nothing. However, we did see a Tengmalm's and a long-eared flying around, so there is hope yet.

When we woke up this morning, the wind was calm and it seemed rather quiet. So, over-enthusiastically we set up all the nets we could. On our first round we were surprised to find the nets filled with gold-crests (fuglekonge)! All morning the gold-crests rained from the skies into our nets. Joe and I wondered, where do they all keep coming from?! By the end of standard we had banded 295 goldcrests (fuglekonge), out of a total of 318 birds. Phew!

The few other birds that landed in the nets included the usual suspects, robins (rødhals), wrens (gærdesmutte) and bluetits (blåmejse). However, Joe and I also caught our first fieldfare (sjagger)!

Fieldfare Turdus pilaris

 

 

Although today was exciting, and made up for our lack of birds yesterday, we hope tomorrow is a little more calm. Personally, I am a little fugled-out. 

Abbi

   

Fog!

A thick fog descended over Gedser this morning and the birds didn't seem to like it! With little wind and a couple of dozen birds on the first couple of net rounds we thought we were in for a busy morning, however when the fog rolled in at around 9 bird activity stopped all together.

Nothing out of the ordinary today birdwise, a few goldcrests (fuglekonge), a siskin (grønsiskin), greenfinch (grønirisk), chaffinch (bogfinke) and blackbirds (solsort).

We were expecting a dull day spent inside but Gert came to the rescue and took us on a trip to Lolland! We went to Maribo nature reserve and saw White-tailed Sea-eagles, Great Egrets, and many species of duck including a bunch of Smew a bird that we both very much wanted to see!

Maribo Nature Reserve

After we were treated to dinner and ice cream and a chance to see many many moths! Thanks Gert!

A&J

And then there were two...

There was a bit more activity in the garden this morning compared with the last two days, the wind wasn't too strong and we were able to open most of the nets again.

We beat yesterdays total on the first two net round alone were we extracted over twenty goldcrests (fuglekonge)! However this trend didn't last and things started to slow down at around 9 o'clock. We continued to catch goldcrests, however they were all already caught today!

While it seems the robins have left us, with only one ringed bird in the nets today, we had quite a nice variety of birds this morning. Quite a few bullfinch (dompap), a treecreeper (træløber), a chaffinch (bogfinke), a brambling (kvækefinke), a few redpoll (gråsiskin) and what was probably the last chiffchaff (gransanger) of the season. All up a total of 63 birds, pretty good considering the low numbers of the past couple of days.

The end of standard ringing was also the end of Johan's time here at Gedser as he set out on a long drive home to Jutland. We're defiantly going to miss him and his passion for birding. Hopefully some of his good luck for catching unusual birds stays with us until the end of the season!

A&J

November og kragefugle

Dagen i dag startede lovende, da vi stod op for at sætte net op. Vinden var løjet noget af siden i går og kom nu fra en sydøstlig retning og lå på cirka 5-6 m/s. Det lykkedes os få sat næsten alle net. Den nu aftagende måne var fremme, så det var ikke svært at se hvor man befandt sig i det grå daggry.

Efter et par håbefulde runder stod det dog klart, at det ikke ville blive en af de store dage rent talmæssigt. Måske glemmer man at vi jo er kommet et godt stykke ind i november allerede. Man kommer næsten allerede helt til at savne de store fuglekongedage vi har haft så mange af i oktober. I alt blev det til 21 fugle, hvor størsteparten blev fanget i løbet af de tre første timer. Temaet var siskener med 4 grønsiskener (Carduelis spinus), 2 gråsiskener (Carduelis caberet) og til slut 4 grønirisker (Carduelis chloris). Derudover en lille rest af de foregående dages mange fuglekonger (Regulus regulus).

Ved cirka 9 tiden spottede jeg ud af øjenkrogen noget sort og forholdsvist stort hænge i et af spurvehøgenettene. Meget mærkeligt! Efter nogle hurtige skridt hen mod nettet, stod det snart klart at vi havde fanget en råge (Corvus frugilegus). Efter lidt søgen i databasen kunne der ikke herske tvivl: vi stod med den første råge fanget på Gedser Fuglestation! Dermed er efteråret 2014 en periode hvor kragefuglene har holdt deres indtog på odden med stationens første ringmærkede Gråkrage og nu altså også første ringmærkede Råge.

Råge, første ringmærkede for Gedser Fuglestation.
Foto: Johan H. F. Castenschiold

Så er det også dagen i morgen, hvor jeg takker af for denne gang efter næsten fire uger på Danmarks sydligste spids. Det har været en fornøjelse at være med, og som altid på Gedser fuglestation har der været hyggeligt samvær og ikke mindst masser af fugle, både i nettene og på himlen, når der ellers blev tid til at se op i løbet af dagen.



Opdatering:

Her til aften prøver vi lykken igen med uglenet oppe, til trods for en frisk vind og en måne der gemmer sig bag skyerne. Det skal dog ikke holde os tilbage og klokken 19:15 kunne vi pille årets første Perleugle (Aegolius funereus) ud af bundfaget på et af hejsenettene! Jo, så er aftenen ligesom skudt i gang!

Årets første perleugle på Gedser Fuglestation og forhåbentligt ikke den sidste!
Foto: Johan H. F. Castenschiold

Blog ved:/
Johan Henrik Funder Castenschiold

Windy and birdless

It seems like Heidi and Anders took all the birds with them when they left yesterday!

It's been very windy all day but we managed to find just enough nets to open for standard ringing. Only five birds ringed this morning though! And three of which were already ringed! A treecreeper (træløber), robin (rødhals), siskin (grønsiskin) and two goldcrests (fuglekonge). 

We were thinking of trying for owls tonight but the wind doesn't seem to be abating. Hopefully we'll have more luck tomorrow!

A&J

Farvel for denne gang

Blog for fredag d. 7. november
Så landede Anders og jeg i Svendborg, efter en god sidste dag på Gedser Fuglestation.
Dagen var forholdsvis mild, og vi fangede 94 fugle, så det var helt fint. Vejret holdt sig pænt hele dagen, og vi sluttede af med en rødmosset måne, som rejste sig, da vi lukkede nettene.
Vi brugte den sidste dag på en masse praktiske gøremål. Hvad der var vores værelse i knap 3 1/2 måned, er nu klar til indtagelse af andre mærkere.

Vi er begge taknemmelige for alle de smil vi har mødt på vejen og alle de mennesker, som har lagt deres vej forbi GFU. Vi vil gerne takke alle andre frivillige for et super godt efterår, med en fantastisk indsats. Vi har jo været så mange, at det er lykkedes os at slå en del rekorder dette efterår! Blandt andet årsrekord for Fuglekonge, Rødhals og så tog vi oktober-rekord.
Og så var der jo (ikke at forglemme) den nye art for landet, som blev fanget i oktober. Og de dertilhørende twitchere, som kom med håbet om at se fuglen den næste dag.
Vi er kommet hjem med så mange gode oplevelser, og masser af blod på tanden.

Og tak til alle, som har læst med på bloggen, og alle jer der har givet et skulderklap. Det har været en fornøjelse at skrive til jer!
Det bliver altså et stort tak for denne gang, og ikke mindst et på gensyn, til alle omkring GFU.

Heidi og Anders

Bon Voyage Anders & Heidi!

Yet, another blustery day here at Gedser. The winds were strong and there was a damp mist hanging in the air all morning. We still managed to catch a few birds, about 30 or so. The goldcrests (fuglekonge) have more or less dissipated, while there still are a few robins (rødhals) and wrens (gærdesmutte) hanging around. Joe and I each banded our first redpoll (gråsisken) which, was not a new bird for the season, but still was exciting for us!

It is Anders and Heidi's last night at the station. Tonight we shared some pictures of some of the North American birds we banded at Long Point, and Heidi made us a special Danish cake! (It was so sweet and delicious that I have gone into a slight food coma) It pains us to see them go, they have been awesome to work with and we could not have asked for better roommates! We wish them the best on their next journeys, and hopefully our paths will cross again (in Australia perhaps?)!

We have our fingers crossed for an owl tonight, maybe a new species?! What better way for Heidi and Anders to spend their last night?

A & J

Få fugle og ihærdige ringmærkere

Dagen startede ud med megen blæst som gradvist aftog henover dagen. Trods en ihærdig indsats fra Johan og Joe lykkedes det ikke at ringmærke mere end 12 fugle i dag. En spurvehøg og 3 stillitser blev det mest bemærkelsesværdige. Selv forsøgte jeg mig med en eftermiddagsobs på spidsen, hvilket resulterede i 2 sortgrå ryler, mindre flokke af havlitter og bjergænder, samt nogle få lommer.

Stillits (Carduelis carduelis)

Blog og foto v. Anders O. W. Nielsen

En stille novemberdag

Anders og Johan tog morgenmærkningen, og lukkede da den standardiserede mærkning var overstået; Blæsevejret gjorde fuglene lidt umedgørlige. På de fem standardiserede timer fangede de sølle seks fugle: En Spurvehøg (Accipiter nisus), en Fuglekonge (Regulus regulus), tre Solsorte (Turdus merula) og en Vindrossel (Turdus iliacus).

Vindrossel (Turdus iliacus)

Dagen har altså ikke overordnet stået i ringmærkningens tegn. Men der er blevet lavet god mad og faktisk to gange dessert - vi klager ikke. Jeg har slået græs i hele haven og så har der ellers været tid til at tage en "morfar" og diverse andre indendørs-hygge-ting. (Vi har bl.a. slået rekord i antal spiste pakker popcorn i dag!)

Vi håbede på at kunne give den et forsøg med at fange fugle på stranden her til aften, men Anders og jeg måtte give op inden vi overhovedet kom i gang, på grund af det kraftige måneskin.

Morgendagen ser igen blæsende ud, og det er i morgen Abbi og Joes tur til at prøve lykken med morgenmærkningen. Vi krydser fingre for, at det går bare lidt bedre end det gjorde i dag.

Blog: Heidi Vibe Frederiksen 
Foto: Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen

Ny mærkeart for GFU

Dagene er efterhånden begyndt at lugte af efterår, og vi kunne derfor åbne alle net fra morgenstunden. Nu havde vi også to ekstra mand, som kunne give en hånd med, i tilfælde af det blev nødvendigt.
Abbi og Joe kunne tage fridag, og fik gået en lang tur på stranden, hvor de fandt et stykke rav! Imens stod Anders og jeg for mærkningen. Jesper og Johan blev sendt ud på netrunderne, så alle havde lidt at lave. Grundet en fangst på kun 81 fugle, var det godt at have fordelt arbejdet lidt.
Selvom det ikke blev det så mange fugle, så var der alligevel nogle gode ting imellem. Som forventet var der stadig lidt fuglekonger, og det blev da også til en Fuglekonge (Regulus regulus) med svensk ring. Ud over den sjove aflæsning, så bød morgenen på to Træløbere (Certhia familiaris) og et par Dompapper (Pyrrhula pyrrhula).

Det mest spændende skulle dog vise sig at være en ny mærkeart for stationen: Gråkrage (Corvus cornix). Anders var så heldig at finde en flot gammel Spurvehøg () i det ene net midt i haven, og i det lige ved siden af hang en ung gråkrage. Glad kom han tilbage og fik en ny mærkeart - altså både ny for ham og stationen.
Det blev anden nye mærkeart i år for Gedser Fuglestation.

Gråkrage x Sortkrage hybrid(Corvus cornix)
Foto: Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen

Glade folk på GFU, med dagens fangst
Fra ventre: Johan, Heidi, Per Bo, Anders og Fie
Foto: Jesper Brinkmann

Dagen har været beriget af mange besøgende, da der skulle holdes møde på stationen, og så har vi ellers bare hygget som vi plejer på GFU. Lige med en ekstra sød top, for Per Bo var på besøg med lidt godt til maven, for at sige farvel for denne gang til Anders og jeg.

Her til aften er der gang i uglefangsten igen. Indtil videre uden gevinst, men man skal aldrig sige aldrig! Johan er krøbet til køjs, Anders og jeg driver den af på sofaen, mens Abbi og Joe venter på at det bliver tid til næste runde (som gerne skulle være lig med nye ugler). Vejret for i morgen ser ikke videre lovende ud, for vinden kommer til at stige. Men igen; man skal vel aldrig sige aldrig.
Godnat fra Gedser Fuglestation.

Blog: Heidi Vibe Frederiksen 

An oddly quiet morning with blackbirds...

Despite very calm conditions this morning there weren't an awful lot of birds around today. We were expecting to be blown away by vast quantities of goldcrests (fuglekonge) again, instead there were only a couple of dozen birds per net round.

Although the birds weren't around in the same abundance of yesterday, there was a fair bit of diversity. Lots of blackbirds (solsort) this morning though, we had five in a single net at one point, and we also caught quite a few treecreepers (træløber). We also caught small numbers of bluetits (blåmejse), great tits (musvit), siskin (grønsisken) and redwings (vindrossel).

The highlight of the morning was bird with a ring from Stockholm, sporting the colours of the Swedish flag.

A bluetit - Cyanistes celruleus (2k+), ringed in Sweden.

There was a surprising catch late this afternoon, Anders walked in with a fieldfare (sjegger)! A first for the season (as far as I'm aware!).

The owl nets are up again tonight. Here's hoping we catch some more long-eareds or maybe something a bit different!

Joe