Small birds and small world

With the temperature near freezing this morning, gliding my fingers over the net poles while opening the mist nets I could feel the morning frost. There were no strong winds which made the morning cold a lot more bearable and with the promise of clear blue skies and sunshine during the day, Morten and I were hopeful we would get another day of double digits.

It turned out that the birds would disappoint us a little today. With only 4 newly tagged birds and 2 recaptures. Matters were only made worse when during the whole afternoon a particular unringed juvenile blackbird kept returning to the same spot in front of the station. It was as if it could feel our eagerness to catch more birds and was tantalizing us with its unwillingness to be caught in the nets.

But not all was bad today. The first control catch of the day was a crested tit, a species I had never heard of before coming to Blavand and it made my day a lot better! Such a cute and pretty bird! And not nearly as stubborn as their relative the great tit. I had heard before (many times), that great tits can have a big personality which I have definitely experienced firsthand by now while handling one this past week. I had no idea they could scream like they do! The other recapture was a tree sparrow and it turns out that it was ringed on the same day last year as the crested tit! Small birds and small world, I guess.

Another nice surprise today was a visit from Henrik. He did a bit of birdwatching on the coast and in the afternoon he fixed the cabinets Morten build to the wall. Now they stand firm and sturdy and won’t be able to fall over. The three of us also had some time to discuss my research subject which I have not completely finalized yet but will have by the end of the weekend if all goes as planned.

Now while writing this letter, Morten is preparing to go stargazing! Unlike yesterday there is a clear sky tonight. Hopefully he is able to spot the comet he has been telling me about. If I understand correctly, it is visible for the next view weeks and won’t be returning to this part of the Galaxy for some 70+ years. I’m sure he will be telling us all about it, tomorrow.

Today's ringing (tagged/recaptured):

Black bird: 2/0

Dunnock: 1/0

Crested tit: 1/1

Tree sparrow 0/1

People at the station: Henrik, Morten and Maxim