Coming to an end...

The end of the migratory stop programme is approaching and we can feel it! On one hand, the weather is not on our side, preventing us to open the nets or shortening the time of opening... On the other hand, the birds have simply left.  
Our results are quite low, about 20 captures a day. This morning, we did a bit better with 43 birds captured.
At this moment, we are starting to catch more wintering passerines (Robins, Trushes, Blackbirds, Tits, Firecrests and Goldcrests and a few Chiffchaff and Eurasian Blackcap). 
 

Among the uncommon species, one can notice the ringing of a Cetti's warbler last wednesday. This is the 7th caught in 2012. 

 

Eurasian Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola).

Cetti's warbler (Cettia cetti).

Blackbird (Turdus merula).

Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita).

Coal Tit (Periparus ater).

It is getting quiet...

Like last year, after the massive influx of Blackbirds, the number of captures is gradually decreasing and it is the same observation this year. However, we're not unhappy because we continue to do ringing session with results that would have make us jump for joy in August..!

We can mention again some new captures of Sparrowhawks!! On Wednesday, we even captured an adult female for the first time at the station and , the same morning, we captured once again a young male that we have ringed 2 months ago.  
 We can also notice the capture of a Mistle Trush this Friday: that's the first and probably the last of this year...

Bohemian Waxwing: this one has taunted us a lot, taking care of avoiding the nets all the time... (Bombycilla garrulus).

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris).

Common Chiffchaff : this individual presents the characteristics of an Eastern subspecies (Phylloscopus collybita).

Eurasian Sparrowhawk, female adult : notice the orange coloured iris (Accipiter nisus).

10 000 !!!

On Saturday the 10th of November, we captured our 10 000th bird at the station and hanged our 8 000th ring of the year the very same day!

10 000 birds: it is a symbolic number,  this is huge and we're glad to share this event with you.
 On the captures side, we have had a few more nice sessions these last days, reaching easely about one hundred captures a day and we even caught 248 birds last Friday.

 On the menu: we ringed Sparrowhawks (20 captured this year, almost as much as last year (21)), we also caught our first Brambling of the year and a few more Blue Tits, among these one had been ringed in Littuany. 

Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes).

Common Firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla).

Brambling, male (Fringilla montifringilla).

Blackbird (Turdus merula).

A small red ball: this is the Eurasian Bullfinch! (Pyrrhula pyrrhula).

Today, another nice event at the station : Happy Birthday to Mélodie!!

And this is her gift from the station: a Sparrowhawk... (Accipiter nisus).

One nocturnal bird of prey at last!

Yesterday evening, we did a second Water Rail session. The session started slowly and the nets were empty for a while. As we were ready to call it a day, we captured 1 Water Rail and it convinced us to continue a bit longer. We did the right choice since we ringed 6 Water Rail after all and we captured a Water Rail which had been ringed in Belgium. 

And last but not least, during our last round, we captured our first nocturnal bird of prey of the ringing station: a Long Eared Owl!

Mesuring the wing's lenght on a Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus).

Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus).

Long Eared Owl (Asio otus).

A heap of Blackbirds !

Since last Thursay and this Week-End, we were litteraly drownig in the rain... This bad weather forced us to only use the Helgoland Trap when it was raining a bit less.. But it was worth it anyway, because Blackbirds are seen everywhere in the dunes! And despite the bad weather conditions, we've had good sessions of capture, since the Helgoland trap allowed us to catch a big amounth of Blackbirs.
Yesterday, the weather improved and North wind brought new birds to us. Finally, we caught 414 birds yesterday including 259 Blackbirds and 352 birds today,among these 249 Blackbirds!  In the sky, we could see loads of flocks of birds, among them, a great numer of Fieldfare (We ringed 39 of them yesterday, unprecedented at the ringeg station!) and we have seen and heard a few Bohemian Waxwings. 
This morning, about ten Bohemian Waxwings landed in front of the Helgoland trap but none of them could be ringed...
Sparrowhawks are following their preys to the South and for this species as well, we had never seen that at the ringing station: 2 sparrowhawks yesterday, and 2 others again today!

On the surprises side, we captured our first Common Kestrel and Eurasian Siskin for the ringing station, one more Eurasion Woodcok, 1 Common Starling ringed in Littuany and 1 Blackbird ringed in Denmark!!

 

Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris).

Two "Giants" of the ringing station : Eurasian Woodcok and Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Scolopax rusticola et Accipiter nisus).

Eurasian Sparrowhawks in every perspectives... : 4 in 2 days! (Acipiter nisus).

Common Kestrek, first one for the station (Falco tinnunculus).

Fieldfares (Turdus pilaris).

Eurasian Siskin, superb male (Carduelis spinus).

2 days of craziness!

The last week when we caught 599 birds, we thought we had realized our best session for the entire year. But records are made to be exceeded and we just lived 2 exceptionnal sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, with an enormous influx of blackbirds: 1500 captures (863 on Tuesday and 642 on Wednesday) includig 986 Blackbirds!!! That means that we captured more birds in those 2 days that over the entire months of August and September...!
And the Helgoland trap revealed all its effectiveness by catching half of the birds. Apart for the Blackbirds, it also allowed us to capture a lot of Common Starling (178 captures). Tits are still around and we caught 184 of them; however, it's the Blue Tits that are more numerous now.
These last days have also given us some good surprises: 2 more Woodcocks, 1 more Green Woodpecker, 1 Ring Ouzel, 1 Common Redpoll,our 2 first Fieldfares, 2 Common Reed Bunting and one big female Sparrowhawk this morning! 

On Tuesday, to the delight of all, we observed a Bohemian Waxwing flying over the ringing station!

Eurasian Woodcok (Scolopax rusticola).

Ring Ouzel, first time for the ringing station! (Turdus torquatus).

Common Redpoll, the first for this year (Carduelis flammea cabaret).

Eurasian Sparrowhawk, a big Lady! (Accipiter nisus).

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris).

Common Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus).

Tuesday, 3pm, one more successfull ushering in the Helgoland Trap!

The result: 863 captures!!

From left to right, thanks to Marie, Justin, Gilles, Alex, Kevin and Adeline (who is taking the picture...) for ensuring this great day!

Water Rail session.

On Wednesday evening, we have done a short capture session within the context of Water Rail protocol (nets in a squarre shape with a diagonal in the middel)
Between 8pm and 12pm, we have captured 11 Water Rails: not that bad for the first session of this year...!

Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus).

A crazy week!

This week, the counter went wild at the ringing station! The influx of Tits confirmed and increased with massive catchings in our nets, generally in the early afternoon. Moreover, a lot of turdidae arrived as well these last days. These were all the ingredients for amazing sessions!
It all started last wednesday with 176 captures, 116 of them being Tits. The next day, we surpassed our record of this year with 341 birds caught, among these 257 Tits. Then, on Saturday, we surpassed this record again with 370 captures, among these 149 Tits and the same amount of turdidae. However, Monday's session was the best session ever made at the station: we reached almost 600 captures (more precisely 599), including 328 Tits and 175 turdidae. And, what's more, is that these little Tits are coming for far away since we can add that among all these captures, quite a few were birds ringed in other countries: 2 Blue Tits ringed in Belgium, 8 Great Tits ringed in Belgium, 3 in Holland, 4 in Littuany and 1 in Russia!!!
 Furthermore, we have had a nice diversity of capture this week: 2 Common Redstars,
1 European Crested Tit, our first 2 Eurasian Woodcocks, 3 Green Woodpeckers, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, our first adult male Eurasian Sparrowhawk of 2012, 2 Eurasian Jay, 1 Willow Warbler and 1 garden warbler (these last two are a bit late...).

Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius).

European Crested Tit (Lophophanes cristatus).

Eurasian Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola).

Common Redstar, young male (Phoenicurus phoenicus).

Green Woodpecker, female (Picus viridis).

Eurasian Sparrowhawk, beautiful adult male (Accipiter nisus).

Bullfinch,female (Pyrrhula pyrrhula).