Good Catches

A picture is worth a thousand words.

This is the motto of today's blog post. Except for the Water Rail, the pictures today are all mine.

Last night we opened the nets again, as usual for Nightjar (Natravn) and Storm Petrel (Lille Stormsvale). Things didn't go quite according to plan during the night, but that's another story. The night got off to a great start. At the first real net check Bjørn and I walked together to the first net and to our surprise there were two Nightjars (Natravn) hanging right there. Totally cool. Martina put a ring on the young bird (1st cy) and I on the previous year's female (female 2nd cy), then the birds were measured and weighed as usual. The age determination was easy to see, especially in direct comparison with the feathers moulted on the K2 bird. Without the comparison the camouflaged feathers look confusing, but in comparison you can see the differences. See for yourself.

Nightjar (Natravn) - 1st cy

Nightjar (Natravn) - female 2nd cy

 

Later that night we also caught and ringed the first Tern of the year, this year's Common Tern (Fjordterne). What a successful night.

Since I was already awake, I spent the night with Johanna doing the checks. It was really nice to hear storys about previous volunteer life here. Some shooting stars could be seen in the sky.

 

As it was already late, I went directly to World's End 3 to start the count, which was later continued by Knud in view of my lack of sleep. We again saw two roosting Parasitic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove), a few Fulmars (Mallemug) (fewer than yesterday) and an Manx Shearwater (Almindelig Skråpe).

Then I went back and paused briefly to photograph the House Martins in front of the lighthouse.

After that I had my sleep from 9 to 3pm. Meanwhile Bjørn and Martina were ringing at Kabeltromlen. There were not many birds on site, but a really cool species composition. The first bird of the day was this Water Rail (Vandrikse).

The afternoon was spent sleeping, evening meeting, shopping, cooking and reporting data. So the day (and night) was very successful with nice catches and slowly the songbird migration starts. I am already looking forward to the next nightcatching session.

Ringing (Grå Fyr)

Nightjar (Natravn) - 2

Common Tern (Fjordterne) - 1

Total: 3

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet)

Water Rail (Vandrikse) - 1

Wren (Gærdesmutte) - 1

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) - 1

Common Redstart (Rødstjert) - 1

Chiffchaff (Gransanger) - 2

Icterine Warbler (Gulbug) – 1

Garden Warbler (Havesanger) - 1

Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) - 2

Blue Tit (Blåmejse) - 1

Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger) - 1

Total: 12

 

People: Martina Hillbrand, Simon Kiesé, Bjørn Laursen, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Karen and Henrik Toft, Johanna Veentjer

A link to today's observations from volunteers and local observers.