Short abstract from the book: The blackcap is a very common breeding bird all over
Denmark, breeding in most forest types. The birds arrive in
late April and the last depart in October. In Denmark the
first blackcap was ringed in 1925, with the highest numbers
ringed in 1987 (2,136) and 1995 (2,114). The majority
of the recovered blackcaps were ringed during migration in
May and September-November. The blackcaps are of Danish,
Norwegian and Swedish origin. Birds ringed in western
Denmark migrate mainly west of south and birds ringed
in eastern Denmark east of south, indicating that passage
migrants in Denmark are from at least two different subpopulations. Birds from the Danish breeding population show
the same pattern: birds ringed in western Denmark (mainly
ringed as chicks) mostly migrate west of south and birds ringed
in eastern Denmark (mainly birds ringed as adults) mostly east of south. The mean position of birds recovered east and
west of 12°E show different timings of migration: the autumn
migration of western birds seems to take place later than that
of eastern birds, and the winter quarters seem to be more
northerly. In spring western birds arrive in Denmark earlier
than eastern birds. Several birds ringed south of Denmark in
autumn (Belgium (13), Germany (5), The Netherlands (2)
southern England (1), the Czech Republic (1), Austria (1)
and Poland (1)) have migrated in a northerly direction during
the same autumn. Birds ringed in Denmark in the autumn
have been recovered the subsequent winter on Orkney and in
Lithuania and Sweden. A bird ringed in northern Jutland
on 17 October was recovered in Iceland on 29 October the
same year. Most of the recovered birds were recorded by ringers
(58 %). The most common causes of death are hunting and
collisions with windows.
Read more about the species in the chapter from The Danish Bird Migration Atlashere
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