A big day for migration

The weather is looking decidedly 'iffy' over the next few days. There are strong winds and rain in the mix and the change in the weather is bound to drive birds to get moving southwards.

It was windier than we'd expected first thing and some nets were too wind affected to be opened. Others seemed to collect nothing but leaves. Still, there were enough nets to ensure that birds in the garden would be caught, and it was just as well since we had a visiting group due at 9am.

There would certainly be Goldcrests (Fuglekonge) and Robin (Rødhals) for them to see but other recent species such as Wren (Gardesmutte) and Chiffchaff (Gransanger) were absent from the captures record. Luckily there were some Blackbird (Solsort) and a Redwing (Vindrossel) for them to look at.

Another Swedish ringed bird was trapped, this time a Goldcrest, TB6854. When the information comes through it will be interesting to see the originating location and the number of days elapsed between captures. 

Early on we caught a Brambling (Kvækerfinke),the first caught this season although they have been seen flying overhead and heard about the ringing site for more than a week now.

Brambling (Kvækerfinke)

During the morning there was a sustained movement of birds heading for the tip. This included many finch flocks, Mistle Thrushes, some Woodlark and several Red Kite that passed quite low over the observatory.

Once standard ringing was completed all nets were closed and we headed to the tip to see if this big day for migration was still in full swing. The flocks of passerines and raptors were no longer in evidence, but there was still a lot happening on the sea. In the couple of hours that we watched,until 3pm, there were well over a thousand Eider by, with several large flocks of Wigeon and Scoter, some Pintail and Mallard, circa 60 Little Gulls, Red-breasted Mergansers, Goosanders, three Grey Plover, five Velvet Scoter, five Black-throated Divers, one Arctic Skua and two Goldeneye. A flock of forty or so Cranes passed on the landward side of the building.

 Rough sea and strong winds at the tip.

A search of the arable fields around Gedser turned up a flock of Barnacle Geese with seven White-fronted Geese, a couple of Cranes, six Mistle Thrush and three Baltic Gulls mixed in with the regular gulls.

The numbers that passed the tip must have been phenomenal today. By 5pm large flocks could still be seen heading round the tip.

Good birding and keep warm!
Denise

Totals: 131 (21)

Jernspurv / Dunnock - 0(1)
Rødhals / Robin - 55 (2)
Solsort/ Blackbird - 7 (3)
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush 7
Vindrossel / Redwing - 1
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 60 (15)
Kvækerfinke / Brambling - 1