Another day, another day of wind and rain. The volunteers woke up early and were prepared to go out on a morning of observing and ringing only to find the rain belting down. Over the course of the next three hours, we as a collective woke up every hour to check the radar but the weather did not improve. At 8 AM the crew woke up for the day and began to finish up the remaining data and apartment improvements that needed to be done. 

At 11 AM, Jan Eske and Jørgen Hulbæk arrived at the station with Simon to go to the Natur Møde in Hirtshals. Because of the weather, we were able to leave earlier than expected and had time to stop off at Trold Kær to see the continuing Eurasian Dotterel flock (Pomeransfugl) which contained 10 birds and the single individual at Kandestederne. We then continued down to the festival. 

Rasmus had arrived a few hours earlier by train to meet up with his sister while the others and I arrived around 1 PM. Over the course of the afternoon, the volunteers thoroughly enjoyed the festival and spent time visiting all the different exhibits, going to talks and of course, a birder in Denmark cannot go to Hirtshals without spending time looking for the only breeding pair of Crested Lark (Toplærke) in Denmark. We spent several hours looking for the bird, but were only able to hear it. A shame, but we progress.

In the evening on the way home, those in Jan Eske’s car stopped at the Kandestederne Dotterel (Pomeransfugl) site and got some incredible looks. Below is a photo Tue took, which he is extremely proud of!

And so, another day passes at Skagen Fuglestation. What will tomorrow bring? We will have to wait and see.

No Ringing.

Highlights: 

• Pomeransfugl 11
• Toplærke 1

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Rasmus Mattiesen-Juhl, Tue Baaner, Andrew Jacobs, Simon S. Christiansen, Karin Christiansen, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiensen, Jan Eske, Amanda Johannisson

When we got up this morning it was very rainy and windy, so we were unable to do the regular ringing and observing program and had to wait for the weather. When the skies cleared Søren, Karen-Marie and I went out to the beach at Grenen to see what birds were around. We had the Eurasian Bittern (Rørdrum) fly over the parking lot and once we got out to the beach there were some close Northern Gannets (Sule) and Sandwich Terns (Splitterne) feeding off the tip and Common Ringed Plovers (Stor Præstekrave) running around on the beach with a single Barnacle Goose standing on the beach before flying away.

We decided that with the strong winds there could be some birds sheltering at the harbor, so we went there to check it out and there was around 400-500 gulls which unfortunately mostly flushed when some workers came through the area. We did see a Lesser Black-backed Gull (Sildemåge) with what appeared to be a Spanish ring which was close enough to read. There were also 4 European Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) nests on the roof across from the tip.

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Sildemåge) photo Andrew Jacobs

In the afternoon Cora scratch built a new walk in trap so we now have two to try and catch Northern Wheatears (Stenpikker)  with. Then we walked down to the sandworm track and watched the Common Swifts (Mursejler)  and some other passing birds for a while. After dinner we went to go find some Eurasian Dotterel (Pomeransfugl) that had been reported, and they were out bobbing in and out of muddy ditches in a farm field that we viewed from the road.

Common Swift (Mursejler) photo Andrew Jacobs

We received news on the Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger)  recapture that we had from France on April 29^th. It was originally ringed as a 1k bird on November 5^th, 2024 having a gap of 175 days since it was first ringed and has moved a distance of 1678.8 km on its migration from there. Getting these internationally ringed birds is always great as we collectively get more knowledge on the temporal and spatial movements of the species we work with.

Map of where the Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger) was in France before comig to us in Denmark.

Highlights around Skagen:

Eurasian Dotterel (Pomeransfugl) 8

Glaucous Gull (Gråmage) 1

Colour ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull (Sildemåge) from Spain.

Observations in the area today on Dofbasen

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Rasmus Mattiesen-Juhl, Andrew Jacobs, Simon S. Christiansen, Søren & Karen-Marie Leth Nissen

There were almost no birds migrating when Tue and I started the count at world's end 1 today. Because there was no wind there were many mosquitoes around, who had it in for us. So we were very happy to hear the message about a female Bluethroat (Blåhals) they catched at Kabeltromelen. The first one this season! 

So we went to see it. Out there we met Mette and our guest Karen-Marie who were supporting the ringers and there were also three very nice journalism students who were joining today. Who should also be mentioned are Denis Lepage the creator of Avibase and Peter Hosner the Bird Curator at the Natural History Museum  Copenhagen who were at Kabeltromelen today. 

Our journalist guests at Kabeltromelen

Back at our observation point a Golden Oriole (Pirol) was called out but we didn't manage to see it. Not much later we got another message from the ringers. They catched another Bluethroat (Blåhals), a beautiful second year male this time!

male Bluethroat (Blåhals)

There was a  sharp change in the weather forecasted for the morning. And in the last hour of counting suddenly many Fullmars (Mallemukker) started to come in from the sea. Not 20 minutes later suddenly the wind really picked up. We counted 225 Fullmars (Mallemukker) in just forty minutes! It was really impressive to observe how strong the birds react to such weather changes.

Another bird which was probably also pushed in by the weather was a Nightjar (Natravn). It came in from the sea and flew directly over our heads. It was really cool to see this bird in daylight! At the same time there was also a Caspian Tern (Rovterne) seen flying along the shore. And the ringers got to see that one.

Nightjar (Natravn) over Grenen

Later in the morning they caught another male Bluethroat (Blåhals). That One was an adult. Appart of the Bluethroats (Blåhalser) they caught 26 other birds today. One of them was a Hawfinch (Kernebider). They were again migrating in good numbers today. 

Later in the day Rasmus and Tue got interviewed by the journalism students and Andrew went out to see a Serin (Gulirisk) which was found earlier. In the evening we went for a little walk  and saw a Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade) and a resting Hobby (Lærkefalk).

Ringmærkning: Kabeltromlen

Kernebider 1

Gærdesanger 4

Løvsanger 5 

Blåhals 3

Gulbug 1

Rødstjert 1 

Munk 2 

Rørsanger 1

Bogfinke 3 

Havesanger 7 

Gransanger 1 

Total: 29

Highlights: 

Nightjar (Natravn) 2

Bluethroat (Blåhals) ssp.svecica 3

Caspian Tern (Rovterne) 1

Golden Oriole (Pirol) 1

Black-Winged Kite (Blå Glente) 1 

Great Northern Diver (Islom) 5

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

 today’s raptor summary from the Skagen area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Rasmus Mattiesen-Juhl, Andrew Jacobs, Simon S. Christiansen, Søren & Karen-Marie Leth Nissen

Halløjsa

Dagen startede for Andrew og mit vedkommende klokken 04.45 på Grenen. Vi havde set frem til denne morgen, da det var den første uden vind fra nord i en lang periode. Men det var desværre som om at fuglene ikke helt selv havde fanget det giftige vejrskifte, så de fleste af dem udeblev fuldstændig. Morgenens højdepunkt blev en adult Ride, og det syntes jeg giver et godt billede af hvordan det var derude:) Der skete absolut ingenting…

Hos ringmærkerne var der heller ikke helt vildt meget at lave, men årets første gulbug varmede dog:) Da vi besøgte ringmærkerne på vej hjem fra morgenobsen, var Simon i fuldt gang med at fortælle en 4. Klasse om ringmærkning af fugle. De var virkelig søde og engagerede, og da de fik lov til at røre en bogfinke, blev de ellevilde:) 

Fra Kabeltromlen så vi igen i dag den Blå Glente, der blev fundet i går. Senere på dagen blev den meldt ud igen, men denne gang fra Storsig, lige ude foran fyrtårnet. Vi løb ud af døren, og midt i kampens hede glider Andrew så lang han er ned af trappen, og får på en eller anden måde skubbet kameraet om på ryggen så det ikke gik i stykker! imponerende!. Han er heldigvis okay:), og vi fik set fuglen rigtig fint. Vi så også en ung Kongeørn fra stationen, flyvende lavt over Storsig. I min optik den flotteste rovfugl der findes:)

Senere på dagen tog vi allesammen ned til Gyvelmarkerne og Flagbakken for at kigge på rovfugle. Det blev ikke til det store, men 3 havørne og et par hvepsevåger kan altid inhaleres:) Vi kørte derefter i Lidl og Netto, og nu er Cora i gang med at lave lækre omeletter med manchego, det dufter virkelig godt!

Jeg vil runde bloggen af nu så jeg kan komme i seng! Jeg håber virkelig at i morgen bliver mere spændende på Morgenobsen og hos ringmærkningen:)

Vi ses derude!

Ringmærkning: Kabeltromlen

(Opdateres)

Highlights fra Skagen:

Kongeørn

Blå Glente

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Raptor migration in Skagen today

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Rasmus Mattiesen-Juhl, Andrew Jacobs, Simon S. Christiansen, Søren & Karen-Marie Leth Nissen.

Hejsa folkens.

Så gik endnu en dag med vilde oplevelser på Skagen Fuglestation. I dag vågnede jeg op til en morgen, der stod på træk optælling med Cora. Vinden havde endelig lagt sig en smule, så der var høje forventninger. Grenen viste sig også hurtigt fra sin bedste side, og vi havde en helt fantastisk morgen ved verdens ende. Over havet var der rigtigt godt træk i lommerne, vi havde 219 rødstrubede lommer, samt en enkelt islom og sortstrubet lom. Det var virkelig dejligt, da der har været ret stille de foregående dage. Derudover var der god gang i småfuglene også, især kernebidere og korsnæb fremtrådte i store antal. Det var dog ikke de eneste overraskelser, som morgen bød på, vi havde også en mosehornugle, samt 6 sangsvaner, hvilket er meget sent for svanerne.

Mosehornugle over Grenen: Foto Tue Baaner 

Islom over Grenen: Foto Tue Baaner 

Efter vi var færdige med trækket, gik vi hen til ringmærkerne for at være sammen med dem, indtil de også skulle hjem. Det viste sig at være en rigtigt god ide, da kernebiderne her også var i fuld sving. Vi endte i sidste ende med at have hele 153 kernebidere, hvilket er helt vildt mange, og slår den tidligere største tælling af kernebidere fra Skagen på 79 med næsten dobbelt!

Det var godt, at der var en masse fugle på vingerne, for nettene havde ikke den helt store aktivitet. Ringmærkerne endte med at have 15 fugle igennem, og årets første grå fluesnapper Heldigvis var der jo også en masse andet at kigge på, da det nemlig ikke kun var de mindre fugle, som vidste sig i dag, også rovfuglene fremkom i store antal. Især hvepsevågerne viste sig virkelig fra deres gode side i dag med helt op imod 60 observationer fra formiddagen. Hvepsevågerne er kommet ret sent i år, men nu begynder de virkelig at rykke derude. Vi glæder os til mange flere! 

Hvepsevåge: Foto Tue Baaner

For at slutte morgenen af med et kæmpe bang, kom der også endnu en blå glente, som vi alle fik set. Det har været helt fantastisk i år for de blå glenter, og vi er virkelig heldige at vi får lov at se så mange af de her fascinerende fugle! 

Blå glente: Foto Tue Baaner 

Efter vi var kommet hjem og slappet lidt af samt indtastet data, gik Cora, Andrew og jeg ud over Storsig for at se hvad vi kunne finde. I starten gav det ikke det helt store ud over et par traner. Men efter at have smidt skoene og gået igennem en dejlig muddersump fandt vi en fin rødrygget tornskade. Til vores overraskelse viste det sig at den var alt andet end genert, og vi kunne stå helt tæt på den i 20 minutter, mens den fangede guldsmede rundt om ørerne på os. Helt vildt fed oplevelse!

Rødrygget tornskade med bytte: Foto Tue Baaner.

Simon og Peter fra bestyrelsen var i løbet af eftermiddagen, desuden også ude at fikse en af vores radiomast, som reagerer på taggede fugle, og opfanger når de flyver forbi. Vi håber den finder noget lækkert.

Peter Kristensen fikser radiomodtager 

Nu vil vi takke af efter en lang og spændende dag, med en helt masse fugle og gode minder. 

Ringing:

Grå fluesnapper 1

Løvsanger 3

Rødhals 1

Munk 1

Gærdesanger 2

Tornsanger 3

Havesanger 2

Gransanger 2

Total: 15

Highlights: 

Hvepsevåge 63

Kernebider 153

Blå glente 1 

Islom 1 

Mosehornugle 1

Sangsvane 6 

Rødrygget tornskade 1

Biæder 1

Turteldue 1 

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Raptor migration in Skagen today

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Rasmus Mattiesen-Juhl, Andrew Jacobs, Simon S. Christiansen, Karin Christiansen, Søren & Karen-Marie Leth Nissen.

This morning started earlier than most. At 3 AM the ringers woke up eager to head out for the first time to an actual ring-able morning in 5 days! But this time, rather than going to Kabeltromelen as per usual, we got on our bikes and cycled to north beach in our waders for the inevitable trek to Skarvsøen for CES ringing. After an extreme northern wind period, the forecast showed it would slow to only 5 m/s with gusts up to 12 m/s. A borderline day, which would have been cancelled had it not been the absolute last day of the period for this CES cycle.

That said; Cora, Tue and I arrived at Skarvsøen to open the nets at 04:15 and had all 12 nets open by the right time. Fortunately, none of the nets needed to be seriously retied after the wind period. As the sun came up, we headed out to our first round at 5 am with high hopes. We then only managed to catch a single male blackbird (Solsort). By 5:45, the wind began to pick up dramatically and the nets were getting tossed around a bit which made ringing challenging, however, we persisted. Over the next 5 hours, we only managed to catch a grand total of 9 birds. A total which is very low for this location. We finally caught more than one Reed Warbler (Rørsanger) which was nice and a beautiful Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger) which is a personal favorite. The highlight from Skarvsøen came in the form of wader migration. A nice flock of Temmincks Stints (Temmincksryle) and three Spotted Redshank (Sortklire) dropped by the lake on their migrations as they headd north! Also a good assortment of pipits and wagtails helped pass the time in between 0 rounds, of which we had 4. 

 3k+ Solsort (han)!

On the observation front, the good numbers of swifts (Musjeiler) continued today along with more yellow wagtails (Gul Vipstjert) and lots of Hawfinches (Kernebider). A Rosefinch (Karmindompap), was also documented singing at Grenen this morning, however, the observers were unable to get on it. 

The afternoon was quite slow around the station and had most of us sleeping the afternoon away to catch up on the much needed sleep of 8 hours of ringing at Skarvsøen. We did, however, welcome back guests Søren & Anne-Marie Leth Nissen. 

Some late celebrations for the May 10 Bird Race!

And so, another day passes at Skagen Fuglestation. What will tomorrow bring? We will have to wait and see!

Ringing: CES

Solsort 1

Gærdesanger 1

Rørsanger 5

Munk 1

Sivsanger 1

Total: 9

Highlights: 

Sortklire 3

Temminksryle 9

Karmindompap 1

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

 Today’s raptor summary from the Skagen area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Rasmus Mattiesen-Juhl, Andrew Jacobs, Simon S. Christiansen, Karin Christiansen, Søren & Karen-Marie Leth Nissen.

Today was another windy day where we couldn’t open nets for ringing again. We went to do observations at world’s end 1 again where it was warmer today than it had been the last few days. Migration numbers for finches, swallows and swifts were up with large numbers of Hawfinch (Kernbider) migrating. On the water there was a good selection of divers with all 4 expected species passing through and generally a few more birds than the last couple days. A highlight was a Bluethroat (Blåhals) that briefly landed near us then flew off, only the second for the station obs this season.

A little later around noon we decided to go out and try to find some close up European Honey-buzzards (Hvepsevåge) which we managed to see a few very nicely as they passed through with the other Common Buzzards (Musvåge) and the fork tailed Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge), there was a interesting very white Common Buzzard (Musvåge) in the flock. On the way back we saw signs of spring with European Skylarks (Sanglærke) carrying food and a European Stonechat (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl) feeding a chick that was with it in the bushes.

In the late afternoon we set up the Northern Wheatear (Stenpikker) trap again and got a couple, today one of the recaps went in a couple times to eat the mealworms.

Tomorrow we will be conducting the CES project again at Skarvsoen for ringing, we hope more of the migrants will have arrived in the area!

Observations in the area today on DOFbasen

A brief shot of the Bluethroat (Blåhals) before it bounced away. Photo Andrew Jacobs

The white Common Buzzard (Musvåge). Photo Andrew Jacobs

European Honey-buzzard (Hvepsevåge). Photo Andrew Jacobs

European Honey-buzzard (Hvepsevåge). Photo Andrew Jacobs

Highlights from the observations today

Bluethroat (Blåhals) 1

Yellow-billed Loon (Hvidnæbbet Lom) 1

Common Loon (Islom) 1

Hawfinch (Kernebider) 39

Other notable observations reported in Skagen

Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge)

European Shag (Topskarv)

Bohemian waxwing (Silkehale)

Black Kite (Sort Glente)

Ringing (Fyrtårnet)

New

Northern Wheatear (Stenpikker) 1

Recaptures

Northern Wheatear (Stenpikker) 1

 Today’s raptor summary from the Skagen area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Andrew Jacobs.

Hejsa folkens.

Så er solen snart ved at gå ned efter endnu en dag her på Skagen Fuglestation. I dag vågnede vi op til en helt masse vind, hvilket dsv gjorde at vi ikke kunne ringmærke. Cora og Lucas fik derfor lov til at sove længe, imens mig og Andrew tog af sted på træk optælling. Det viste sig heldigvis, at der var lidt mere aktivitet derude, end de foregående dage, og alt i alt endte vi med en super stabil morgen, skønt den hårde vind aldrig lagde sig. Ude over havet var det især Mallemukkerne, som vi så i fine antal, og det blev da derudover også til et par stykker af vores sædvanlige arter. Inder over land var det dejligt at se og høre en hel del kernebidere som kom forbi i flokke. Derudover havde vi også rigtig mange mursejlere, som lagde vejen forbi grenen. Det blev altså ikke til nogen sjældenheder i dag, men så er det jo heldigt, at selv alle de helt almindelige fugle, kan gøre en glad.   

Efter vi kom hjem fra optællingen, stod det på rengøring, så nu står lejligheden simpelthen snor lige, så må vi jo se hvor længe det holder…

Derudover stod eftermiddagen for mig og Cora på en lang gåtur på stranden, hvor vi laver vores regulære undersøgelser af døde fugle, der skyller i land, med ekstra fokus på mallemukker. Ruten går fra det Grå Fyr, ned til Gammel Skagen, langs stranden, så det er en dejlig gåtur. Heldigvis fandt vi ikke mange fugle, det blev kun til en sule og to par måger, så det er jo sådan som vi helst vil have det.

Død Sule 

Cora på mallemuktur

Vi blev selvfølgelige også hurtigt færdige, så på vejen hjem kørte vi sammen med Simon forbi industriområdet, for at kigge efter en underart af gul vipstjert (cinereocapilla), som opholdte sig i området. Dog var vi ikke heldige at se den, men det er heller ikke nemt når der var en meget nysgerrig hest, der helst skulle stå lige foran vores teleskop, så fik den et par klap og lidt græs i stedet. Cinereocapilla opholder sig normalt i Italien, så vi krydser virkelig fingre for at den bliver genfundet, eller at der kommer en ny forbi her en af dagene, så vi igen kan have chance for at se en. 

Hest 

I mens vi var på tur, havde Lucas og Andrew åbnet, den lille stenpikker fælde ude på stranden, og den var stadig meget populær, indtil videre har der været 5 fugle igennem, som alle har fået en lille ring med i købet. Stenpikkerne er nogle helt fantastisk smukke fugle at have i hænderne, så det er en fornøjelse at kunne ringmærke dem. 

I morgen håber vi at vinden tillader at vi kan ringmærker igen, men lige meget hvad kan man finde os på klitterne. 

Vi ses derude! 

Ringing (Fyrtårnet)

Stenpiker 5

Total: 5

Observation Highlights

Kernebidder 29

Mursejler 50

Mallemuk 158

Today’s raptor summary from the Skagen area

 People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Andrew Jacobs,  Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl

It was again too windy for ringing today. So just Andrew and I went out to do the Obs. It may sound a bit illogical but we went to Sandklitt because there  is less sand around than at World’s End 3. There were very few birds migrating in this wind. But surprisingly, many Swallows migrated out, straight into the wind. They must have been in a great hurry not to let the wind stop them.

After the first hour we went to the seal bunker to have wind shadow continue the counting from there. From there we could see some really close Arctic Terns (Havterner) and Kittiwakes (Rider) very nicely. And also a nice lite morph Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) came by. There were also more Common Swifts (Mursejlerer) migrating today. 

After we came back to the station Anders and Andrew went out to Råbjerg Mose to look for Butterflys. They found eleven different species, which is a good number for a day in mid may. Out there they also saw two Red-backed Shrikes (Rødrygget Tornsakader) and a pair of Cranes (Traner) with chicks!

Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornsakade)

Lucas and I stayed back to do some data work. Later we also went out for a walk and set up the Wheatear (Stenpikker) trapp again. Today we were not as successful as yesterday but we recaught a  Wheatear (Stenpikker) we rang yesterday. Later we also caught a new female Wheatear. 

Today our guests Dorte and Anders cooked dinner for us and also Simon joined us. It was very hyggeligt.

Highlights from Skagen: 

Golden Eagle (Kongeørn)

Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove)

Ringing Fyrhaven:

Stenpikker 1

Total: 1

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

 Today’s raptor summary from the Skagen area

People: Cora Köberle, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Lucas Corneliussen, Andrew Jacobs,  Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl,  Dorte and Anders Østerby.

Today started off quite slow for me. For the first time in several weeks, the standardized ringing was unable to carried out at Kabeltromelen due to intense northerly wind. This allowed me to take a morning off and catch up on some much needed rest so that I can finish the rest of the season strong. 

The observers on the other hand headed out to Verdens Ende 3 to for the morning counts. It was very windy, however, in the first hour they had a nice flock of Western Yellow Wagtails (Gulvipstjert) and a nice push of Fulmars (Mallemukker). As the morning progressed, the wind continued to pick up and the observers were forced to move back to the sand bunker to avoid damaging their optics and their eyes from the sand in the air.

In the afternoon, the wind continued to persist but we decided to reopen the Wheatear (stenpikker) trap with hopes of catching more of them as we did the previous day. Over the course of 6 hours we were able to catch close to ten individuals. It was a very nice way to spend an afternoon studying the different plumages of Northern Wheatear (Stenpikker).

In the evening, I cooked dinner and we continued to try to catch the wheatears up until dark. A nice way to spend an afternoon.

Stenpikker Hun

And so, another day passes at Skagen Fuglestation. What will tomorrow bring? We will have to wait and see!

Ringing: Fyrhaven

Stenpikker 9

Today’s sightings from observers in the area on dofbasen

 Today’s raptor summary from the Skagen area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Andrew Jacobs, Rasmus Mattiesen-Juhl, Anders & Dorte Osterby