Short abstract from the book: The water rail is a common breeder in most of the country.
The highest concentrations are found on Zealand and in
northeast Jutland. A small number of water rails winter in
Denmark. The first water rail was ringed 1928, with the highest number ringed in 1961 (49). Most of the recovered birds
were ringed in eastern Denmark and only one was ringed in
Jutland. All but one were ringed during autumn (3 August to
20 October) and could therefore be of either Danish or foreign
origin. Eight water rails have been recovered in Denmark
during autumn. The first recoveries from abroad was in
early October, one from northern Italy, one from Brittany in
France and one from the Faeroe Islands. Later in the autumn
other birds have been recovered in the Netherlands, Belgium
and France. Two birds have been recovered in winter, one in
northwest France (January) and one in Ireland (February).
A bird ringed in December in Dorset in England was recovered three months later on Zealand. Two birds have been
recovered in spring, one in southern England (10 March) and
one in Denmark (6 March). A bird ringed on Funen on 13
April was recovered near St Petersburg in Russia, indicating
that Denmark is visited by migrants from more northeasterly
populations.
About half of the recoveries were live recaptures (9): seven
at the ringing site, one in England and one in France. Seven
birds were found dead, two were shot (Belgium and Italy)
and one died in a rat-trap. Five of the seven birds that were
ringed as juveniles and recovered as dead were found during
their first year of life.
Read more about the species in the chapter from The Danish Bird Migration Atlashere
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