Where are you when you're not here, birds?

Ringing:

My first blog since returning to ringing, and only because Mathilde took the day off. If you're an avid reader of the blog you have probably noticed that we've enjoyed how much she enjoys writing the blog posts :)

Today was an incredibly slow day. We (Strummer and Johan) ringed 9 new birds and handled one recaptured Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula) from this August. The suspects were the usual ones; Common Chiffchaffs (Phylloscopus collybita), Eurasian Chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) and European Robins (Erithacus rubecula).

Our recap Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula) captured by Johan Them Steffensen

The ringing numbers so you can render your own verdict of the day: 

Observation:

Like the ringing, it was a slow morning for the obs with very low numbers of everything apart from gannets (Morus bassanus). It was a letdown for Anton, who is usually the one counting passerines when we're out, but a good day for me, who has been on scoter (Melanitta nigra), diver (Gavia stellata) and gannet counting duty. Although I only have three species to focus on at least I always have something to count!

We ended with 338 gannets today, a very solid count. We try to count them by age when possible, which is is often quite easy as soon as you get the hang of it. In simple terms, the 2-year olds are very dark all over, the 3-years are halfway in moulting their black feathers, the 4-years often just have a black bar at the back of the wing or are in the middle of moulting them, leaving what looks like black piano keys. It's on days like these where you can get some practice with the gannets given the lack of everything else. 

Today's observations

At the station: Strummer Edwards, Mathilde Sif Eiby, Anton Ræbild Jensen, Storm Hauris Borum and Johan Them Steffensen