Open Freezer Day

Compared to yesterday, it was quite a quiet ringing day this morning at Grenen. Overall, we “just” ringed 33 birds. Again, there have been a male and female Bearded Tit (Skægmejse), which was very nice for me – I hadn`t had them in my hands before. Besides those, the most common species for today were Redwings (Vindrossel), Goldcrests (Fuglekonge) and Wrens (Gærdesmutte).
We shut down the nets at 11:00 to prepare for the dissection demonstration at the lighthouse. We had a Kestrel (Tårnfalk) and Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) to open, as well as some smaller birds like Blue Tits (Blåmejse), Redpolls (Gråsisken) and a Budgie (Undulat), on which we investigated the skulls. All in all, there were about 30 people that came by and watched the dissection. I showed James how to open a bird using the gull, and so he finally lived up to his name. ;-P
I think it`s very interesting to see the insides of an animal, and you could see them very well inside the birds, so it`s easy to understand how everything is working and connecting together, like the connection between the heart and the lungs or the gastrointestinal system.

In the afternoon, Sarah, James, Molly and I cycled to Den Tilsandede Kirke to get some ice cream (it was very delicious!) and watch the Parrot Crossbills (Stor korsnæb), which I haven`t seen before. It was a very nice tour with good weather. I really missed being around these guys!

After dinner (we had gnocchi, which I had brought from Germany), we tried to catch Pygmy Owls (Glaucidium) in the lighthouse garden, but without success. I hope that we`ll be luckier during the next days!

Birds we ringed this morning: 7 Goldcrests (Fuglekonge), 7 Wrens (Gærdesmutte), 5 Redwings (Vindrossel), 4 Blackcaps (Munk), 3 Robins (Rødhals), 3 Blue Tits (Blåmejse), 2 Bearded Tits (Skægmejse), 1 Chiffchaff (Gransanger), 1 Bullfinch (Dompap)

People: Sarah Bedford, James Butcher, Molly Brown, Simon S. Christiansen, Erik Christophersen, Jørgen Kabel, Igor and Lisa Vergin