Three new species ringed and some Pink-footed Geese sightings

Hi folks!

I hope you all had a nice weekend and enjoyed the sun :)

Our day started well with very little wind, we were therefore able to open nets! For that, Daniel and I woke up at around 4:30 am. It wasn't as hard to wake up as I thought! We left the house at 5:05 am, on our way to Kabeltromlen. As a thin layer of ice was covering the water, we made our way through with waders over our many layers while listening to the electricity-like sounds of breaking ice.
It is such a privilege to see the sunrise every morning while out in such beautiful nature.

Jonas went observing at Verdens ende 1, and the others joined us for the first round. It was an exciting morning on both end as Jonas had a flock of 500 probable Pink-footed Geese (Kortnæbbet Gås), and we caught a Treecreeper (Træløber), a Wren (Gærdesmutte), and a Reed Bunting (Rørspurv), all new species for this season! :D

Træløber

Lille Dompap male

Stor Dompap, female

Bright lemon-coloured Gulspurv male

After morning observations, Jonas came to join us in the ringing and ringed his 3rd bird, a Blue Tit (Blåmejse), and we all got to observe a Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge), foraging very close by. 

Jonas looking at a Munk's fat

We closed the nets at noon and went back home to have some leftover wraps from yesterday. We then sorted bikes out as to see which ones we could use and the ones needing fixing, while the rest of the afternoon consisted in analysing the night recordings from last week.

We have discovered that a Bewick’s Swan (Pibesvane) named 59X on its neck ring and tagged with a GPS-tracker in Belgium has passed Grenen one of the days between the 10th and 14th of March, on its way to the breeding grounds in the tundra of Russia. The latest signals shows it's roosting just south of Stockholm. On its way it had a stopover around Råbjerg before it migrated out from Grenen towards the Swedish west coast. Maybe it was among those birds migrating during the mornings of the 13th or 14th? See Dofbasen for observations of Bewick’s in that period. Has anyone noticed it near Råbjerg the days before? See the tracks of this and other Bewick’s Swans to the project “The Odyssey of The Bewick’s Swan” from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

For dinner, Daniel cooked Bombay potatoes which were absolutely delicious. Now it's nearly time for bed as we are waking up earlier every day. Wishing you all a very happy evening, and a day full of birds tomorrow. :)

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Musvit - 5
Gulspurv - 1
Gærdesmutte - 1
Blåmejse - 2
Munk - 2
Stor Dompap (pyrrhula) - 1
Lille Dompap (europaea) - 1
Rørspurv - 1
Træløber - 1

Sum = 15

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

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Jonas Pedersen, Daniel Bloche, Laima Bagdonaite, og Michaela Berdougo.