Denmark is a relaxed set up, with the nets furled on the private site I was allowed to lie in until 06:10. All nets were opened by 06:30 as the light broke on this beautiful site. Immediately the passage of Siskin and Chafflings was apparent and in the first hour alone I estimated 1000 Siskin and around 800 Chafflings. A Hawfinch whistled through early on as did 3 Yellowhammer, next stop Germany! Throughout the morning I also picked up around 200 Barnacle geese, 15 Bean geese and an impressive (for me) flock of 20 White-fronted geese.
Then there was the ringing and that wasn’t too bad either. Myself and Hans (another ringer) walked around constantly checking nets and ringing at the nets for 2 hours. A scattering of Colybita and Abietinus Chiffs, Goldcrests, Chaffinch and too many Wren (or as I was taught by Phil – Wriggle Arses; they sure lived up to that.) Throughout the morning singles of Brambling, Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting were also caught. At around 9.30 I heard a familar (though I’ve never heard one in the field before) call, a high pitched, piercing “Psweeet”. Yellow-browed Warbler I said to Hans. He didn’t hear it. Unfortunately there was many birds in the nets so I carried on. A little later in the morning I heard another call, then another. Finally at around 10am, Hans heard the bird too. This brightened our spirits and we spoke a little about the species. At 11am the “standardised ringing was over and I was straight to the speakers to play Taigasanger, Yellow-browed Warbler. Within the hour and a net check, I found this beautiful little juvenile female in our nets. Weighing in at an astonishing 5.9g.
Yellow-browed Warbler – Phylloscopus inornatus
In the evening I opened up 15 nets and tried for Tengmalm’s and Long-eared owls – Unfortunately not a repeat preformance of Falsterbo on Friday evening. In fact I drew a blank, but I will succeed!
Tengmalm’s Owl – Aegolius funereus
For age comparison above is a picture of a 1cy bird (left) and a 2cy bird (right - note the two generations of Primaries, obvious by contrasting colour in the 2cy) this is quite a clear cut case but in fact these can be very difficult to age. Owl moult is a very complex and irregular thing they moult “backwards” and often miss out feathers in sequence. The above birds were photographed at Falsterbo on Thursday night were we caught an impressive 13 Tengmalm’s Owl and 1 Pygmy.
1 comment:
Good stuff Craig - enjoy
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