Westerly winds don't mean birds ... yet !

You’ve read earlier in the week that we are now 4 volunteers. This means we can split again the team so we can be both at the ringing station and counting migration. That’s what we did today !

Amelie, Angus and Christina went ringing at sunrise, joined by Simon. In the meantime, I was counting at World’s End 3 with Knud.

We've been waiting for westerly winds for a long time now, but we didin't notice any great changes since it was a rather slow morning on both sides. Only 12 birds were ringed today and the team decided to close the nets earlier than the usual, around 10.

Gransanger - Chiffchaff

Lille Gråsisken - Lesser Redpoll

At sea, it was kind of the same with a really slow migration happening, with only a few Gannets (Sule) on the move, some alcids, Red-throated Divers (RØdstrubet Lom). Although, we had the chance to see some nice roosting birds such as two Brant Geese (Knortegås) which were belonging to two different subspecies : the white-bellied hrota (Lysbuget) and the dark-bellied bernicla (M?rkbuget). According to Knud, it’s an uncommon sighting to have them together ! We also enjoyed great views of a Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) already in its winter plumage and roosting with more common Red-throated Divers.

In the early afternoon, Simon organized a session about moult strategies. We’ve spent a nice hour and a half learning about the different kind of moult birds can use and which moult strategies they use in relation with their migration strategies. The aim was to learn how to use this knowledge when we are in the field to age more accurately the birds we ring. We now have our homework to do with a lot of reading and learning which strategis are used by the species we might encounter during our ringing sessions. It may have felt like a return to the school benches for this scholar session, but it surely felt enriching and fascinating ! We need more of those teacher Simon !!

The rest of the day was spent to our usual daily tasks like data entry, sorting pictures for the archive, …

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):

Gærdesmutte - Wren - 1

Gransanger – Chiffchaff - 1

Munk – Blackcap - 4

Rørsanger – Reed Warbler - 1

Sortmejse – Coal Tit – 3

Lille Gråsisken – Lesser Redpoll - 1

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Martin Grienenberger, Amelie Zeller, Alfrida Garboe, Angus Barnett, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Knud Pedersen