Between World End and Kabeltromlen

Today, we split up in the same teams as yesterday, but swapped tasks; this means that Alvin, Alix and I went out to Grenen to carry out the standardized migration count, while János and Dylan were ringing at Kabeltromlen. Since the conditions were promising for another try at catching birds in the dunes this morning, with very low wind and some fog, we got up extra early and therefore walked to the counting location in almost complete darkness, carrying with us the needed equipment to set up a net before the migration count started. When the net was in place, we still had almost one hour left, which we spent napping in the dunes to compensate for the little sleep we got at night. During the first 30 minutes, it was still very foggy, so we couldn’t count many birds. After that, it started to clear up, and soon the sun was shining brightly from a blue sky.

Alix at the sunny migration count.

It was within the second hour that the first bird flew in our net: a 2cy female Snow Bunting (Snespurv). I quickly got on my way to bring it to the others at Kabeltromlen for it to be ringed there. Simon, Lisa, János and Dylan were very busy with the large number of Blue Tits (Blåmejse) they’d caught in the meantime, when I arrived. After having delivered the bird, I returned to World End, only to head back again three minutes later, because we caught one of the Twites (Bjergirisk) that had been around the net for a while, attracted by the seeds and the sounds we’d put on a speaker placed nearby. So, I walked all the way to Kabeltromlen again and then back to Grenen, only for the story to repeat itself once more, this time with four new Twites (Bjergirisk).

Ringed Twite (Bjergirisk)

The last two hours were rather calm in terms of migration with the highlight being one Peregrine Falcon (Vandrefalk) attempting to migrate out.

For János and Dylan it has been the first day of ringing this spring, which they enjoyed a lot. They had luck with several different species, amongst them Bullfinches (Lille Dompap), Long-tailed Tits (Nordlig Halemejse) and a Reedbunting (Rørspurv). (For all species ringed see the list below.)

After we all met again at the station, had lunch and some much needed rest, the first half of the afternoon was spent with indoor activities like data entry, working on presentations, cleaning, etc.  Later, Alvin and János went out again to count resting seabirds for the NOVANA programme. Unfortunately for them, the fog came up again and they had to stop early. In the evening, Dylan and János biked into town for shopping and discovered a flock of Waxwings (Silkehale) right in front of the supermarket. Meanwhile I was out at Kabeltromlen again to start cutting trees for a new net lane.

Let's cut some trees!

It went very well, and just at sunset, the ten-meter-long clearing had taken its shape. Hopefully we will be able to set up the new net tomorrow.