A late Lesser Whitethroat - maybe eastern?

Today was quite a lovely day, with a lot of blue sky and sun, which we missed a lot the last days. Louis and Henrik had a nice Morning Observation, with the highlights being 5 Hen Harriers (Blå Kærhøg), 3 Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove) (which is quite late now) and some Little Gulls (Dværgmåge). The wind was slow with 3m/s from ØSØ. Passerines were also migrating, like Goldfinches (Stillits), Common Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb), Red Polls (Nordlig/Lille Gråsisken) and Meadow Pipits (Engpiber). Most numbers were in Starlings (Stær), with over 2000 migrating southwest. You can see a comprehensive list of all observations here.

Meanwhile, the weather conditions were giving the ringing a little push and Anton, Joseph, Alexandra and I were excited for the day. The first two morning rounds were really good and granted us more birds than the last days. In total we got exactly 80 new birds ringed, most of them being Goldcrests (Fuglekonge) and Robins (Rødhals). Even a deer entered the garden at some point to look curiously at the nets, so we really had variety today.

In the third round, an unexpected bird was found in the garden: a Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger)! At this time of the year, there was a chance for it being the eastern subspecies, which has not been often recorded in Denmark yet. So all of us were very excited and hoping to get better views on the bird. But it came even better: the bird flew into the net! We took a good look and did all the measurements, which are fitting for the subspecies. Still, to be entirely sure, we would need DNA proof, which we will send in and hope for a positive answer. But what an exciting catch! You can see the bird in the pictures below.

People at the Station: Louis Poulsen, Anton Liebermann, Joseph Stephan, Antonia Greil, Alexandra