First Marsh Warbler

This morning Amanda joined me again for the ringing which was so nice! She unfortunately had to drive back home to Copenhagen after the ringing as she has work on Monday, but I enjoyed those two ringing sessions and two days with her so much! I miss you already my dear!

The weather looked a bit uncertain at certain points, even with a few drops of rain from time to time. It never went bad enough to warrant us to close the nets though, which was nice. Being two people instead of me alone when the weather is looking uncertain is less stressful because if it goes chaotic, we can close and manage the nets quicker!

The morning was relatively quiet as is usual for this end of season, but we still were happy to find a few special birds in our nets!

For example, early in the session we caught a Marsh warbler (Kærsanger) which is the first of the season for the station, as well as for me! Catching these ‘Acrocephalus’ warblers is always fun, they are a treat in the hand and interesting to study. We look at the wing and a few measurements to confirm the identification in between Reed warbler (Rørsanger), Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger), and the rare Blyth’s Reed Warbler (Buskrørsanger), as they can sometimes be a little hard to differentiate by the plumage and appearance alone when not used to these species. Our little cutie was definitely a Marsh warbler!

Marsh warbler (Kærsanger)

Later in the morning we caught a beautiful breeding female Greenfinch (Grønirisk), which was the first of the season for me, and a rather rare catch for both of us!

Female Greenfinch (Grønirisk), with a presence of a brood patch indicating she is breeding in the area.

Amanda also had the pleasure of getting a sweet Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) recapture, which she really enjoyed as it is another species she rarely gets to catch.

Female Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken)

Otherwise, still an immense joy as usual to catch some young fledglings Tree Sparrow (Skovspurv), they are the cutest!

Thank you Amanda for two very nice days together, and see you sometimes soon again I hope!!