Day of the fuglekonge

Our valiant attempt to catch a second owl was in vain last night and we had to call it a night at around 2am when it started to rain.

Last night's Long Eared Owl (Asio otus) - Photo: Abbi MacDonald

We woke this morning to find Anders, Heidi and Johan with nets full of goldcrests! (fuglekonge). There were flocks of them absolutely everywhere today. The fields around the station were full of them. They made up the majority of the 480 birds ringed today, although there were also the usual blue tits (blåmejse), robins (rødhals), wrens (gærdesmutte) and dunnocks (jernspurv).

We had another few bullfinch (dompap) and I also ringed my first goldfinch (stilits)! Interestingly we also caught another very late, first year, male, redstart (rødstjert). The ring ouzel (ringdrossel) that was flying frustratingly close to the nets refused to be caught and at around one o'clock rain set in and the nets had to be closed.

...until now! Owl nets are open again and a tawny owl (natugle) has been heard in the garden!

Joe