Babies and Belgian recapture!

This morning Amanda and I set off to open the nets at 4:00, and after that had a good breakfast. The wind had gone down a lot since yesterday, and we were hoping for a day with a bit more birds than what I had yesterday morning.

Some of the first birds we caught in the early morning were little fledglings Tree Sparrow (Skovspurv). These first captures set off the theme of the day because we caught quite a few fledglings of different species today!

We had the pleasure of getting the first fledgling Song Thrush (Sangdrossel), which had the most adorable short tail and wings! That little cutie was old enough to be out of the nest, but still practicing their flying skills and most definitely still taken care of by their parents.

Freshly fledged Song Thrush (Sangdrossel), note the short wings and very short tail feathers!

We also had fledgling Dunnocks (Jernspurv), as well as the first two fledgling Chaffinches (Bogfink) which were siblings (female and male) so we could see the difference of coloration of both sexes in chaffinches at this age.

Young Dunnock (jernspurv)

Another highlight of the day, which was not a ‘baby bird’, was this female Blackcap (Munk) which we recaptured with a ring from Belgium! Getting foreign recaptures like this is always very thrilling, and fun to get some more life history from the bird when the reports come back from the original ringers.

Female Blackcap (Munk) with a ring from Belgium.

Belgian ring

This afternoon, Amanda and I will try to find the Woodchat Shrike (Rødhovedet Tornskade) which Alvin and I had found around a week ago, as it would be a new species for Amanda for Denmark! If we don’t find the shrike though, perhaps we can find another interesting bird in the area!