A flock of Longtailed Tits and more

When Hayley and I went out this morning to open the nets at Kabeltromlen, we didn’t know we would stay there for 8 whole hours. It was an awesome day!

Joined by Oluf and Simon Jr., the first round was rather quiet, compared to what would expect us for the second round. We ringed about 15 birds, accompanied by visitors: our guests Jette and Anders, and Gustav with his family, which are on vacation here. Then from the second round onwards, the birds came. Many birds. We developed a well-functioning system to ring and measure the birds as quickly and precisely as possible. Teamwork it is! Rebecca joined us from Migration Count to support us, and therefore some of us could walk the rounds while the others were ringing the birds. We had several highlights, but most exciting for all of us were definitely the Longtailed Tits (Halemejse), which came in as a little flock of 8 birds, altogether in one net. Five of them could be identified as subspecies europaeus, which have dark feathers on the head. Another subspecies, caudatus, has purely white feathers on the head. Some of them where mainly white on the head but with some dark feathers admixed so. On those we therefore coul'dnt exclude genens of europaeus. 

Then we had a flock of 8 Coal Tits (Sortmejse), which was also very exciting. On other days we caught one at most. As we also had many Blue Tits (Blåmejse) and one Great Tit (Musvit), we were able to take a good look at those different species.

 

Even though we see many Wheatears (Stenpikker) on our daily walks around the area, we rarely catch them. That’s why it was a nice surprise today that we could ring this pretty bird and have a close-up look. And having a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte) and some Lesser Redpolls (Lille Gråsisken) is always an interesting sight.

When we closed the nets at half past 1 pm, we had a total of 102 birds ringed. Since I have been here, this was by far the highest number per day. To see and measure many birds of different species really helps to develop a good eye for the molt limits and quickly decide about age or sex of the birds.

While the ringing day was really intense, Rebecca had a more quiet day at Migration Count with Knud this morning. Nevertheless, some Black Guillemots (Tejst) and Razorbills (Alk) were seen, and a nice group of waders, consisting of Dunlins (Almindelig Ryle), Red Knots (Islandsk Ryle), Ruffs (Brushane) and, Rebecca’s Highlight, Golden Plovers (Hjejle).

After this exciting day, we had to enter a lot of data, but still found time for walks around the beach, forest and dunes. Today, an very interesting phylloscopus Warbler was seen and heard at World’s End 1, and Simon Jr. even managed to hear the call in the evening. After checking of the sound files it seems to be a Hume's Leaf Warbler, which would be a very early one and not as called out first a Greenish Warbler (Lundsanger). But the ID is not clear, so we will keep you updated. Maybe we will catch it tomorrow. 

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet):

Chiffchaff (Gransanger) – 11

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) – 8

Longtailed Tit (Halemejse) - 3

Longtailed Tit (Halemejse, Sydlig; ssp. Europaeus) – 5

Dunnock (Jernspurv) – 9

Common Redstart (Rødstjert) – 3

Robin (Rødhals) – 23

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) – 2

Wren (Gærdesmutte) – 1

Reed Warbler (Rørsanger) – 1

Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) – 2

Coal Tit (Sortmejse) – 8

Black Cap (Munk) – 10

Blue Tit (Blåmejse) – 11

Wheatear (Stenpikker) – 1

Reed Bunting (Rørspurv) – 2

Great Tit (Musvit) – 1

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte) - 1

Total: 102

Ringing (Jennes Sø):

Wren (Gærdesmutte) – 1

Robin (Rødhals) - 5

Blackbird (Solsort) - 1

Blackbird (Munk) - 2

Chiffchaff (Gransanger) - 6

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) - 1

Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) - 1

Great Tit (Musvit) - 4

Siskin (Grønsisken) - 2

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) - 116

Total: 139

People: Antonia Greil, Hayley Land, Rebecca Cheape, Gustav Nyberg, Simon Kiesé, Oluf Lou, Knud Pedersen, Michael Anchor, Jette and Anders.

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