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