A moment to recline.

I haven’t been able to keep up with the daily blogging as I had hope, I think sleep deprivation and numbers of birds have caused that. But now stuck in the second week of November a brisk Easterly grips the Gedser coast and the birds just don’t like it! An update then on the past few days or even weeks. Not day by day however; you can follow that on the Gedser site (see side).

It’s not been a bad few weeks here at Gedser and in total I think I’ve had 5 or so “Ringing Ticks”. Nothing mega rarity wise but it’s been nice to handle and learn about some different species.

Great Grey Shrike – Lanius excubitor, 1cy male. No room for gloves or wimps here.

                                     Woodcock - Scolopax rusticola, adults.

Then for the really late, out of season oddity. First I heard this bird early morning and then I used tapes to catch it later in the afternoon.

                                         Serin – Serinus serinus, adult female.

Other nice species to catch include (Northern) Bullfinch (though their tendency to get their oversized heads through the undersized mesh is a little annoying.)

                                Big Bullfinches - Pyrrhula p. pyrrhula

Redpolls (The birds which I do not put down as subspecies unless something is really obvious.) I’m quite sure these birds are hybridising and in Scandanavia as Lesser Redpoll looking birds are coming in with wing lengths above 75mm which is already out of the range; however I have caught Lesser and Common along with many hybrids. 

                    A ‘clear cut’ Common Redpoll’s arse – Carduelis f. flammea.

Robins actually, I have caught many robins here probably near 400 without checking the database, and I’ve been amazed by how much these birds vary in wing lengths, fat , weight, general bulk and getting into more detail the difference in the amount of un-moulted or moulted Greater coverts within birds. I’ve actually had a couple that proved difficult to age. But nice because we catch a different Ssp. at home and so will be nice to hopefully notice the difference.

                                Robin – Erithacus r. rubecula, adult female.

Unfortunately the only shot I have of a Robin was this German control.

Sparrowhawks, I’ve never heard of a place that catches as many Sparrowhawks as we have here at Gedser this year. In 3 weeks we have caught more than 60 Sparrowhawks, which gave me a chance to figure the ageing of these birds. We saw many juveniles, some 2cy, some 3cy and at least one 5cy Plus. It’s a new record year for Gedser this year apparently with over 125 Fully grown Sparrowhawks ringed.

 

                                  Sparrowhawk – Accipiter nisus, 3cy+ male.

Finally there’s the Owls. I caught my first Long-eared Owl here and I’ve caught another 2 since – again nice to learn ageing and sexing on these. Then due to the big invasion of Tengmalm’s Owls in Sweden I’ve had a few tries here to catch them. I’ve caught 4 now. Only 5 have been recorded in Denmark this Autumn to my knowledge and I’ve held 4 of these so not a bad total. This species is probably very under recorded and I believe that under 50 records in the UK isn’t too accurate, there must be birds passing the extreme South-East in invasions like this years? 

 

                                       Long-eared Owl – Asio otus, 1cy female.

                                    Tengmalm’s Owl – Aegolius Funereus, 2cy female.

 Me ringing a Tengmalm’s, they really are small. (I would say tiny but I’ve seen Pygmy’s.)

 

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