October draws to a close

So, we have reached the end of October and today the chilly winds of the last few days abated and after some weak sunshine in the afternoon, the sky took on a strange misty quality. Visibility was much lower than usual with mist enveloping the ferry that shuttles between Gedser and Rostock several times a day.

Birds numbers were low again, Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) are still the leading species with Long-tailed Tit (Halemejse) the second most frequent capture, but this is also the first day that we have seen no new Robins (Rødhals). A bird that usually only crops up as singles is the Goldfinch (Stillits) but today a male and female were captured together.

 Male (red extents behind eye) and female first year Goldfinches (Han & hun 1k Stillits)

There was also a recaptured adult Yellowhammer (2k+ Gulspurv)

Age 4 Yellowhammer (2k+ Gulspurv)

The mist above the sea reduced visibility and created an unusual effect as the Sun sank lower in the sky, but did not seem to deter the Eiders (Ederfugl) that continue to migrate towards the west.

The evening was very calm so we tried for owls and caught an adult Long-eared Owl (Skovhornugle). Pictures will be included in tomorrow's blog.

Good birding.
Denise

Totals: 42 (15)

Skovhornugle - 1

Gærdesmutte / Wren - 2
Rødhals / Robin - 0 (2)
Solsort / Blackbird - 2 (1)
Sangdrossel / Songthrush - 1
Vindrossel / Redwing - 1

Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 18 (10)
Halemejse / Long-tailed Tit - 10
Skovspurv / Tree Sparrow - 2

Musvit / Great Tit - 0 (1)
Grønirisk / Greenfinch - 1
Stillits / Goldfinch - 2
Grønsisken / Siskin - 4
Gulspurv / Yellowhammer - 0 (1)

Pre-winter wind down.............

A very slow start that failed to improve as the morning drew on. This was not down to problems with rain or wind, just the fact that there weren't many birds - and some of those that we did catch were recaptures from previous days.

 Gærdesmutte / Wren

The Wren (Gærdesmutte) is not often mentioned in the blog, despite frequently being on the species list, as there are usually other birds that I want to feature, but, it is a muscular little bird with very short wings. Usually weighing between 8.2 grams to 10 grams, most of the birds that we have measured have had wing lengths of 48 to 51 millimetres. It is hard to believe that their tiny wings can allow then to travel any significant distances, and yet they can, and do so at night. 

Here's hoping for more birds tomorrow.

Good birding.

Denise

Totals: 31 (23)

Gærdesmutte / Wren - 7 (2)
Rødhals / Robin - 2 (4)
Jernspurv / Dunnock - 0 (1)
Solsort / Blackbird - 2 (2)
Sangdrossel / Songthrush - 2

Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 9 (12)
Blåmejse / Blue Tit -  0 (1)

Musvit / Great Tit - 2
Bogfinke / Chaffinch - 1
Grønsisken / Siskin - 6 

Return of the Fuglekonger and three control rings

A new influx of birds and the Fuglekonger (Goldcrests) are back, thankfully in lower numbers than the big rush that we had earlier. There was no question where the birds had come from as we had no less than 3 control rings! Two on Goldcrests , TL0266 and TL0973 that turned up together in the same net both carried rings issued by the Swedish ringing scheme.

Ring issued by Stockholm ringing scheme

The third control came in the form of a young female Grønsisken CX96622, also ringed in Sweden.

 CX96622 showing retained greater coverts, an ageing criterion for first year birds.

 The weather forecast was for very low wind as the day progressed so we tried for Twite (Bjergirisk) at the tip again in the afternoon, but a stiff on shore breeze saw us packing up after a very short time with nothing to show for our efforts.

A few birds seem to have stayed in the garden so there should be birds to ring tomorrow.

Good birding.
Denise

Totals:  139 (26)

Spurvehøg / Sparrowhawk - 1

Gærdesmutte / Wren - 6 (1)
Rødhals / Robin - 4 (8)
Solsort / Blackbird - 7 (4)

Vindrossel / Redwing -1
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 0 (1)
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 85 (7)
Blåmejse / Blue Tit -  0 (1)

Halemejse / Long-tailed Tit - 7
Musvit / Great Tit - 2
Bogfinke / Chaffinch - 1
Kværkerfinke / Brambling - 2
Grønirisk / Greenfinch - 2
Grønsisken / Siskin - 21 (1)

Autumn advances

The chilly wind is tearing so many leaves from the trees and shrubs that we spent much time clearing nets, certainly more time than was spent extracting birds! Autumn is well advanced now and the frequent low numbers of birds in the garden make us feel as though just about everything has already left. We haven't seen any cranes or geese for some days and raptors are less frequent although there was a Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge)and some Red Kites (Rød Glente) over the site this morning.

There were 40 new birds today, almost half being Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) with 11 Long-tailed Tits (Halemejse) boosting the numbers well towards the end of the session. They had a mixture of Northern, Southern and intergrade plumage.

 Northern Long-tailed Tit  (Nordlig Halemejse)

Intergrade

Southern Long-tailed Tit (Sydlig Halemejse)

There are very few Robin (Rødhals) at the moment but Redwing (Vindrossel) are being caught in ones or twos most days and today we also got a Reed Bunting (Rørspurv).

 Reed Bunting - Age 3 female (Rørspurv - 1k hun).

Good birding.

Denise

Totals: 40 (20)

Gærdesmutte / Wren - 2
Rødhals / Robin - 2 (4)
Solsort / Blackbird - 2 (1)

Vindrossel / Redwing - 3 (1)
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 1 (1)
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 17 (12)
Blåmejse / Blue Tit - 1 (1)

Halemejse / Long-tailed Tit - 11

Rørspurv / Reed Bunting - 1

Husskade - Gedser's third ever! - - Updated!

It was windier conditions today with little in the way of thrushes or finches passing overhead.
We still managed a new species for our stay at Gedser, a rather smart Black-billed Magpie (Husskade), only the third ringed at the station.

 Black-billed Magpie - first year  (Husskade 1k)

This is the first day, for quite a few days, that Sisken (Grønsisken) have not been captured. We did, however trap our first Bullfinch (Dompap) of subspecies P. p. europaea, much smaller than Northern Bullfinch (Stor Dompap) and a different subspecies to those we usually work with in the British Isles.

Bullfinch female / Dompap hun

Good birding!

Denise

Totals: 67 (12)

Gærdesmutte / Wren - 16
Jernspurv / Dunnock - 1
Rødhals / Robin - 18 (4)

Solsort / Blackbird- 4 (5)
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush - 1
Vindrossel / Redwing - 1
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 2
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 19 (3)
Blåmejse / Blue Tit - 1
Musvit / Great Tit - 1

Husskade / Black-billed Magpie - 1
Bogfinke / Chaffinch - 1
Dompap / Bullfinch - 1

I dag kom en af de rigtig gode genfund - - - af en skovsneppe, som Craig ringmærkede 24/10 2012: Den er blevet skudt (øv) 02/05 2015 Ruskeala, Karelen, RUSLAND.

Recovery of a Woodcock (skovsneppe) ringed Gedser Fuglestation, shot Russia.

Vi har kun mærket 10 skovsnepper ved fuglestationen, så det er fantastisk med et sådant genfund. Ifølge ringmærkningsatlasset er der hidtil kun fundet tre danskmærkede skovsnepper i Rusland, alle tæt på grænsen til de baltiske lande. Da det er et eftertragtet stykke jagtvildt, bliver næsten hver syvende ringmærkede skovsneppe fundet eller nedlagt, de allerfleste er skudt.

Hans

Bjergirisk by the sea

There were a few more birds around first thing this morning and we had quite a lot of birds after the first two rounds but the garden went quiet quite quickly and the last two rounds gave us fewer than 10 birds.

After standard we decided to make the most of the low wind speed and took a couple of double panel nets to the tip to try for Twite (Bjergirisk). It took some patience but we eventually came away having ringed three. This was a new bird for both myself and Chris.

9AT0418 - Twite age 3 male / Bjergirisk 1k han

9AT0419 - Twite age 3 male / Bjergirisk 1k han

Totals: 104 (17)

Spurvehøg / Sparrowhawk - 1
Gærdesmutte / Wren - 7
Jernspurv / Dunnock - 1
Rødhals / Robin - 16 (6)
Solsort / Blackbird - 8 (7)
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush - 1
Vindrossel / Redwing - 1 (1)
Rørsanger / Reed Warbler - 1
Munk / Blackcap - 2
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 2
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 3 (3)
Blåmejse / Blue Tit - 3
Musvit / Great Tit - 3
Skovspurv / Tree Sparrow - 1
Bogfinke / Chaffinch - 1
Stillits / Goldfinch - 1
Tornirisk /Linnet - 3
Grønsisken / Siskin - 50

Gedser Odde
Total: 3
Bjergirisk / Twite - 3

Eider (Ederfugl) continue to migrate past in groups, less frequently now, and these later groups have more immatures and females than we had been seeing as males tend to migrate ahead of the females.

Good birding!

Denise

Nordlig Halemejser and biting Blåmejser

Standard ringing started late today as we had to wait for a shower to clear before dropping nets.     But, due to the clocks going back we appear to have taken our first round at 7am as usual when of course we are actually an hour later than our usual time after sunrise.   

It was looking like a fairly mundane October session, a few Grønsisken (Siskin), more Rødhals (Robins) and Fuglekonge (Goldcrest) still passing through - when a volery of Nordlig Halemejse (Northern Long-tailed Tit) were heard working their way through the ringing site. A couple went into a net and the rest soon joined them.

Nordlig Halemejse (Northen Long-tailed Tit)

.All birds were aged as 1k+, meaning fully grown.

At this timeof year these birds can not be aged other than fully grown as both adults and young have fully completed their moults. We have not seen these before and were surprised to find that the feathers on the head are not completely white, being black where they emerge from the skin. We released the little group all together.

There was also a very small arrival of Blåmejse (Blue Tit) and a few Sortmejse (Coal Tit) were also seen but not caught.

1k Blåmejse (Age 3 Blue Tit)

 2k+ Musvit (Age 4 Great Tit)

Musvit(Great Tit) are quite regular in the garden. This recaptured bird was first ringed at Gedser Observatory in April this year. 

Good birding!

Denise

Totals:65 (19)

Spurvehøg / Sparrowhawk - 1 (1)
Rødhals / Robin - 5 (4)

Solsort / Blackbird - 6 (1)
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush - 1
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 4 (11)

Nordlig Halemejse / Northern Long-tailed Tit - 8
Blåmejse / Blue Tit - 11

Musvit / Great Tit - 1 (2)
Skovspurv / Tree Sparrow - 4
Bogfinke / Chaffinch - 1
Grønirisk / Greenfinch - 2
Grønsisken / Siskin - 21

A mixed bag - 15 species

Back to the dull and windy weather again. Numbers of birds were up in the morning with Grønsisken (Siskin) being the leading species. This was because a small group managed to find their way into one of the double height nets, then began calling, creating the same effect as playing audio lures (that we are unable to do during standard ringing). Happily, the calls were entirely natural and resulted in nearly 30 of the charismatic little birds being ringed.

 1k han Grønsisken / Age 3 male Siskin

There were 15 species processed today so more of a varied mix than some days where the catch has been heavily dominated by one or two species.

1k Trælober / Age 3 Treecreeper

Good birding!

Denise

Totals: 74 (18)

Spurvehøg / Sparrowhawk - 2
Gærdesmutte / Wren - 4
Jernspurv / Dunnock - 1
Rødhals / Robin - 6 (6)
Solsort / Blackbird - 5 (2)
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush 1
Vindrossel / Redwing - 1
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 4
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 16 (8)
Blåmejse / Blue Tit - 2
Trælober / Treecreeper - 1
Skovspurv / Tree Sparrow - 0 (1)
Bogfinke / Chaffinch - 3
Stor Dompap / Northern Bullfinch - 0 (1)
Grønsisken / Siskin - 28

Spurvehøgs & Tårnfalk

Still windy today but no chance of rain and plenty of sunshine. The improvement in the weather brought an influx of  smaller predatory birds and these formed a fair proportion of our rather modest catch for the day.

Spurvehøg1k han - Sparrowhawk 1st year male

 1k Tårnfalk - first year Kestrel

Spurvehøg1k han - Sparrowhawk 1st year male

 

Spurvehøg1k hun - Sparrowhawk 1st year female

 Spurvehøg2k+ han - Sparrowhawk adult male

Good birding!

Denise

Totals: 17 (21)

Spurvehøg / Sparrowhawk - 4
Tårnfalk / Kestrel - 1
Gærdesmutte / Wren - 1 (1)
Rødhals / Robin - 0 (4)
Solsort / Blackbird - 0 (3)
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 5 (12)
Blåmejse / Blue Tit - 1
Musvit / Great Tit - 0 (1)
Skovspurv / Tree Sparrow - 1
Kværkerfinke / Brambling - 1
Grønsisken / Siskin -2
Lille Gråsisken / Lesser Redpoll - 1

More leaves than birds in the nets

The wind has turned westerly and there are very few birds migrating in the cold, windy and often damp weather. Our instinct that there was nothing arriving and that whatever was able to move on had, ahead of the bleak weather was confirmed by the few birds caught. Just three unringed individuals caught on the first round and recaptures far outweighing new birds. Most of the retraps have low fat so either intend to stay or have not garnered enough fat to cross the Baltic.

The garden is looking very autumnal now and many more leaves, than birds, were taken from our nets.

Many leaves are now turning to orange, yellow 

and brown and being blown from the trees.

Good birding!

Denise

Totals: 14 ( 23)

Gærdesmutte / Wren - 1 (1)
Rødhals / Robin - 0 (5)

Solsort / Blackbird - 0 (4)
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 1
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 6 (13)
Grønsisken / Siskin - 6

More finches today

Lots of Robins (Rødhals) seems to have left overnight and Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) numbers also seem to be down on yesterday. More finches are using the garden and this is reflected in the record sheet.

 Greenfinch female - Grønirisk hun

 Siskin male - Grønsisken han

 Goldfinch male - Stillits han

Lesser Redpoll female - Lille Gråsisken hun

The wind has increased during the afternoon. We shall try, again, for owls this evening but conditions are not at the optimum.

Good birding!
Denise

Totals: 104 (29)

Gærdesmutte / Wren - 1
Rødhals / Robin - 8 (6)

Solsort / Blackbird - 2 (7)
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush 2

Vindrossel / Redwing - 1
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 12
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 31 (15)
Musvit / Great Tit - 1 (1)
Grønirisk / Greenfinch - 1

Stillits / Goldfinch - 1
Grønsisken / Siskin - 42

Lille Gråsisken / Lesser Redpoll - 1

Rørspurv / Reed Bunting - 1

Not so many Rødhals, Fuglekonger and Gærdesmutte today.

After yesterday's rush of birds following the rain, today seemed really rather quiet. We opened extra nets as we were to be joined by Hans and Bo but in contrast to our ringing sessions over the last week or so, after the first couple of rounds, we were checking some nets to find them empty.

There was more processed than we expected.

 Grønsisken -han / Siskin - male

Around midday there was enough warmth from the sun to encourage birds of prey to use the thermals, some migrating while others continued to rest in the area.

Fjeldvåge / Rough-legged Buzzard 

Totals: 155 (18)

Gærdesmutte / Wren -16 (1)
Jernspurv / Dunnock -1
Rødhals / Robin -  23 (5)
Solsort / Blackbird - 13 (3)
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush - 6
Vindrossel / Redwing - 2
Rørsanger / Reed Warbler - 1
Munk / Blackcap -1
Gransanger / Chiffchaff -11
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest -53 (9)
Blåmejse / Blue Tit -5
Musvit / Great Tit - 4
Træløber / Treecreeper - 1
Skovspurv / Tree Sparrow -1
Bogfinke / Chaffinch - 1 
Grønsisken / Siskin - 15
Stor Dompap /Northern Bullfinch - 1

After the rain many birds & Perleugle.

The rain had stopped today and we bagged a very healthy 329 new birds. The total was swelled by the numbers of Robins (137), Goldcrest (67) and Wren (53). It was very pleasing to catch 30 Blackbirds but our favourite has to be the Tengmalm's Owl (Perleugle). We have tried for these on several evenings but this was our first successful capture.

 Tengmalm's Owl age 5 / Perleugle 2k

 Pattern of flight feather replacement shows this to be a second year bird.

Good birding!
Denise

Totals: 329 (21)

Perleugle / Tengmalm's Owl - 1
Landsvale / Swallow - 1
Gærdesmutte / Wren - 53
Jernspurv / Dunnock - 1
Rødhals / Robin - 137 (14)
Solsort / Blackbird - 30 (2)
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush - 13
Vindrossel / Redwing - 3
Munk / Blackcap - 3
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 9
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 67 (5)
Musvit / Great Tit - 1
Skovspurv / Tree Sparrow - 2
Bogfinke / Chaffinch - 3
Grønsisken / Siskin - 1
Lille Gråsisken / Lesser Redpoll - 1
Rørspurv / Reed Bunting - 3

Nothing to be done about the weather

For the second day running we have had to close nets, during what should have been standard  ringing, due to rain. There were times when the precipitation eased a little, and a couple of times it virtually stopped altogether, but we had had a message that there were still large numbers of Fuglekonger (Goldcrests) in Gedser town so we could not risk a sudden arrival of many, many birds in such damp conditions. It is now almost a week since we processed over 700 of these diminutive little birds but they still continue to influence the number of nets we can use and are affecting our catch rate of other species.

 Fieldfare - 3F / Sjagger - 1k hun

During the morning a flock of Cranes (Trane) flew over and migrated. Apologies for the shaky filming - but an impressive sight nonetheless.

Barnacle Geese (Bramgås) also passed overhead as they moved to a different field.

We continued as best we could but closed nets, for the last time today, soon after midday. The weather cleared a little in the afternoon and the wind was not too fierce so we took a couple of nets and went to a stretch of beach along from the ferry terminal. We hoped to take a break from Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) and target finches and buntings. Of course, the Goldcrest are everywhere so we caught yet more, but at least there were a few Chaffinch (Bogfinke), Reed Bunting (Rørspurv) and a Yellowhammer (Gulspurv).

If the weather forecast is to be believed there may be no ringing at all tomorrow due to rain.
Take care and stay dry.
Denise

Gedser Fuglestation
Totals: 82 (8)

Gærdesmutte / Wren - 7
Jernspurv / Dunnock - 1
Rødhals / Robin - 18 (6)
Solsort / Blackbird - 5
Sjagger / Fieldfare - 1
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush - 1
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 48 (2)
Stor Dompap /Northern Bullfinch - 1


Vesterhave
Totals: 65

Landsvale / Swallow - 3
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 6
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 36
Bogfinke / Chaffinch - 9
Gulspurv / Yellowhammer - 1
Rørspurv/ Reed Bunting - 10 

Day of the drossels

A damp and drizzly day that forced us to abandon standard. Just too much time was spent with nets inoperative due to the weather, and the numbers of Goldcrests (Fuglekonge) that continue to forage in the ringing garden.

There were lots of thrush species going through, either feeding in the garden or surrounding fields and passing overhead but few found their way into the few nets that we were able to open. We were aware of at last two Ring Ouzel (Ringdrossel) near the house and from time to time large numbers of Mistle Thrush (Misteldrossel) dropped into the large trees on the observatory boundary. There were also Song Thrush (Sangdossel) and a few Fieldfare (Sjagger) and Redwing (Vindrossel) on site.

 Juvenile (above) and adult (below) Redwing (Vindrossel).

We also captured a juvenile Ring Ouzel (Ringdrossel) at the end of the day.

Ring Ouzel (Ringdrossel)

Denise

Totals: 270 (12)

Gærdesmutte / Wren - 3 (1)
Jernspurv / Dunnock - 2
Rødhals / Robin - 50 (7)
Ringdrossel / Ring Ouzel - 1
Solsort / Blackbird - 3 (2)
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush -7
Vindrossel / Redwing - 2
Munk / Blackcap - 2
Gransanger / Chiffchaff -18
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 182 (2) 
Bogfinke / Chaffinch - 2

Passerines on passage

A very windy day with rain due mid afternoon. The migration of thrushes and finches was apparent all morning, only slowing after 11am. Most shot straight over the site - it seems that they intend to go by the time are this near to the tip, although some groups change their mind and rush back again. There were still Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) around and more of these were caught throughout the morning.

A single Treecreeper (Træløber) was captured and of all the finches passing overhead, just a few ventured down into the garden.

Treecreeper (Træløber)

Female Chaffinch (Bogfinke - hun)

As so few finches and thrushes were coming down to net rides or open areas where they may be caught, after standard, we had a drive around before the rain and did find some places where birds may have been caught were it not for the wind that had quickly become much too strong for netting in unsheltered locations. 

At the end of the day as the wind howled and rain beat down we noticed that Blackbirds (Solsort) and Song Thrushes (Sangdrossel) were coming into the trees and bushes around the house. Perhaps there may be some chance of catching a few tomorrow morning.

Denise

Totals: 144 (27)

Gærdesmutte / Wren - 2
Rødhals / Robin -27 (9)
Solsort / Blackbird - 1
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush - 11
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 1

Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 94 (18)
Blåmejse / Blue Tit - 1
Træløber / Treecreeper - 1
Bogfinke / Chaffinch - 4 
Kværkerfinke / Brambling - 1
Grønsisken / Siskin-1

A chill wind

We opened enough nets to comply with standard ringing, but after the last few days with hugh numbers of Fuglekonge (Goldcrest) being captured, we are running short of rings so opened nets less likely to catch birds since we have no more than 140 or so of the size that they take.

The wind was very cold from the start of the day and strengthened as the afternoon went on. Birds were passing overhead all morning, flying ahead of the next weather system bringing yet stronger winds and rain.

We caught quite a few Fuglekonge (Goldcrest) but not enough to completely exhaust our 2.00mm rings so we were also able to ring a Sibirisk Gransanger (Siberian Chiffchaff) that was captured.

Sibirisk Gransanger (Siberian Chiffchaff)

Another new species and a splendid addition to our list of birds ringed at Gedser this autumn was a Stor Dompap ( Northern Bullfinch). This bird was so much larger than the birds that we get in the UK.

Stor Dompap - han  (Northern Bullfinch male)

We spent the afternoon trying for finches, buntings and thrushes both on and off site but had no success as birds were not attracted to the audiolures and the nets became too visible in the wind.

Visual migration over the garden included Fieldfare, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Brambling, Chaffinch and Siskin.

Migrating passerines

A Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl were both seen hunting over the garden in the afternoon and
we were most relieved that the new rings arrived by the end of the day ready for tomorow.

Totals: 118 (42)

Gærdesmutte / Wren -7
Rødhals / Robin -27 (25)
Solsort / Blackbird - 1 (2)
Munk / Blackcap - 1
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 1
Sibirisk Gransanger / Siberian Chiffchaff - 1
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 73 (14)
Blåmejse / Blue Tit - 1
Musvit / Great Tit - 1 (1)
Grønsisken / Siskin- 2
Stor Dompap / Northern Bullfinch - 1
Rørspurv/ Reed Bunting - 2