The earliest ever!

While the weather feels more and more like spring and we don't have to wear the warm onesuits anymore, also the birds show us, that it is spring now. In the past few days the numbers of arriving Swallows (Svale) or Tree Pipits (Skovpiber) rised and some early birds like Yellow Wagtails (Gul Vipstjert) showed up well. This also made us enjoy this morning at Nordstrand a lot. When two Whimbrels (Smålspove) or a Spotted Redshank (Sortklire) flew by, everyone was exited. The variety of species was really good. One of our highlights were two Garganeys (Atlingand) which showed up really close in the sunlight - this gave Magnus good views on his first new species since he arrived in Skagen. The best bird of the morning was a Slavonian Grebe (Nordisk Lappedykker) in breeding plumage, which stayed the entire morning - what a beauty! I've never seen the species in its colorful breeding plumage before - when they turn up in Germany they are mostly just black and white - so it was great to see this bird. 3 Scaups (Bjergand), 26 Pink-footed Geese (Kortnæbbet Gås), 4 Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove) and a Short-eared Owl (Mosehornugle) should also get mentioned. During our entire count (Common) Redpolls migrated east and added up to stunning 1100 birds. It was fun counting them, while the others scanned the horizon to find even the distant Hen Harriers (Blå Kærhøg). Due to their effort we counted 13 birds in 5 hours. It was a nice morning and beside of the birds we enjoyed smelling a bee (every species has its own smell - thanks to Magnus for this experience without getting stung) and the daily sandwich.

In the meanwhile, the surprise of the day made its way into the net at KAB. A super, super, super early Wood Warbler (Skovsanger) should not just be the beauty of the day, but also the earliest ever for Skagen. Before today the earliest in Skagen were on the 21st of April (both in 2020 and 1981). So our bird from today is 12 days earlier! You still don't believe it? Than have a look at the pictures of this stunning bird:

Wood Warbler (Skovsanger) - picture by Isis

It was also very fun to catch 10 Coal Tits (Sortmejse). Usually, we ringers have splitted feelings when there are many tits in the nets. On the one hand they are cute and look nice, on the other hand they pick and hurt a lot for their small size. Thankfully, Coal Tits are quite harmless in comparision to its evil neighbour - the Blue Tit (Blåmejse).

After ending the count, Magnus and I went to Stald Grenen. It started raining a bit, but this did not stop us to find a f-type Pied Wagtail (Sortrygged Hvid Vipstjert). You can recognize this british subspecies by it's overall darker apperance but to make sure it is not a dark continantal one, you need the combination ofthe marked flanks, the blackish rump and the white in the wing.

The rainy afternoon got used for necessary things like shopping, data entering and sleeping. There is always stuff to do, everyone who has been here before knows that. Ladies and gentleman - it's spring now!

Ringing (Jennes Sø):

Total: 42

Ringing (Nordstjernevej):

Total: 8

Ringing (Kabeltrolekrattet):

---to be added---

Total: 36

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area.

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen the same day.

People: Hayley Land, Isis Khalil, Hanelie Sidhu, Magnus Houen Lauritsen, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen, Georg and Birthe.