Good evening readers!

This morning was raining lightly and a bit foggy, but us observers (myself, Christina, Rosie, Gustav and Saxe) went out to World’s End III to start the count at sunrise. It was a lovely pale grey day today and we had a nice time on the beach in our boiler suits. The first couple of hours had a steady stream of birds, including many kittiwakes (ride), a couple of goldeneyes (Hvinand), and some very rotund long-tailed ducks (havlit), some of my favourites. My main excitement for going to the count these days is to see little auks (søkonge), but despite being on high alert, I sadly missed the only one today! Only Saxe was quick enough to spot it flying briefly in Kattegat before disappearing. Although we don’t see so many of them down here, Little Auks are one of the most abundant seabird species in the North Atlantic. They breed in the high arctic in the millions—wouldn’t I love to see that!—and winter in the Greenland sea, where they experience a short flightless period during winter moult like the rest of the auk species.

A nice 1k Mediterranean gull (sorthovedet Måge) showed up near the end of the count

We also got to admire the hundreds of diving Gannets (Sule) feeding close to the shore. How they manage to dive like that in such large groups without collision is a mystery! The conservation status of Northern Gannets is currently under review due to some steep declines in their biggest colonies. The UK holds over half of the world’s population, and some of the bigger colonies experienced severe crashes recently due to highly pathogenic avian influenza (bird flu), introduced from farmed chickens. Gannets also face threats due to climate change, and are particularly vulnerable to entanglements from marine pollution. As they collect nesting material from beaches and shallow waters, they can easily become trapped in ghost nets. Over half of all Gannet nests contain fishing nets, and in some colonies up to 100%.

Meanwhile, Louis-Marie and Mio went to Kabeltromlen with Simon for the ringing. Although they had opened the nets 2 hours late from the rain, they had a slightly busier day today, with a couple of nice surprises. Super-speedy Mio managed to snag a Sparrowhawk (Spurvhøg) from the net just before it escaped (they are a bit too big to become trapped in this size net). Rosie, Christina, and Gustav left the count to go admire this beauty.

2k Male Spurvhøg

Simon’s dad was also at the ringing, with cake, hoping to see a Nødkrige. He did not, but he did get to see a nice arctic redpoll (hvidsisken). Simon assured me that the good ringing day when he was there was just a coincidence—the birds don’t know which one of us is there.

Glorious hvidsisken

After a nice lunch together, Christina and Rosie opened the garden nets and got two retrap Musvit. After dinner, our expert woodcock catchers will try again.

Highlights from World's End 3

Søkonge 1

Blåkærhøg 1

Lapværling 1

Sorthovedet måge 1

Hvinand 2

Havlit 11

Ringing Kabeltromlen

Spurvhøg 1

Gærdesmutte 1

Bogfinke 1

Dompap 2

Gråsisken 6

Stillits 1

Hvidsisken 1

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Saxe Lind Christiansen, Gustav Juel og Gunnar Simonsen. 

This morning started very grey and got progressively more grey. Our new interns, Saxe and Gustav joined Mio and I at the count, while Louis, Sarah and Christina headed to Kabeltromlen. There was some early excitement with a sighting of a small group of little auk (søkonge), but they disappeared fairly quickly into the sea fog. Compared to yesterday’s influx, the numbers today were low, and especially towards the end of the count, it appeared that birds have given up migrating.

In the ringing team, the morning started even slower but eventually some bullfinches (dompap), a blackcap (munk) and a wren (gærdesmutte) showed up. When ringing is slow, it just gives more time to appreciate each bird!

We returned to the station for lunch and data entry, and opened the garden nets, hoping they might be more fruitful than Kabeltromlen. Sarah went for a quick swim to gear herself up for work, and returned with a dead razorbill (alk), which had washed up. A visitor on top of the lighthouse probably experienced an odd sighting of her sprinting out the stormy sea holding a dead bird.  

Early on, we caught a robin (rødhals), and then half an hour later we caught the same robin – he/she was perhaps not the smartest. A little later, I checked the nets and found the highlight of the day – an arctic redpoll (hvidsisken)! We recently had an education in differentiating between the redpoll taxa, and today we were put to the test. Take a look at the photo below and see if you can figure out which is the arctic, and which is the mealy redpoll (stor gråsisken).

Photo: an arctic redpoll alongside a mealy redpoll – but which is which?

If you said the bird on the left, you are correct – this is a tough one as the redpoll on the right might also be mistaken for an arctic, but the paler plumage, shorter beak and lack of streaking on the flank are more obvious on the left bird. From another angle, it is more clear – look at that white rump!

Photo: an arctic redpoll from above.

We caught in total eight birds in the garden net, five of which were redpolls, so we had plenty of opportunities to practice our identification. These nets are often just as successful as those at Kabeltromlen, sometimes even more!

Christina kindly went shopping and Mio cooked us a delicious vegetarian Bolognese to fuel us for night catching, which unfortunately didn’t go so well. We expected good conditions, given the new moon wouldn’t illuminate the fields too much. Sadly, the haze from earlier in the day persisted and diffracted the light from the town and the lighthouse, so conditions were closer to a full moon’s light! No woodcock (skovsneppe) let us get close, but we did creep up on a nice hedgehog (pindsvin) after mistaking it for a bird in the thermal lens.

Photo: a hedgehog (pindsvin).

We had also opened the nets for Tengmalm’s owl (perleugle), but the wind picked up and it started to rain, so we had to admit defeat again. One of these days, we will start the blog with a photo of an owl!

Highlights from the observations:

Søkonge  4

Silkehale  10

Kaspisk Måge  1

Ringing (Kabeltromen):

Munk  1

Gærdesmutte  1                   

Dompap  4

Total: 6

Ringing (Garden):

Hvidsisken  1

Stor gråsisken  4

Gærdesmutte 1

Rødhals 1

Total: 7

Nordstjernevej (Michael Ancher)

Træløber 1

Skovspurv 6

Rødhals 1

Gulspurv 2

Total: 10

Jenne sø (Michael Ancher)

St gråsisken 89

Lille gråsisken 69

Hvidsisken  3

Blåmejse 1

Total: 162

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Saxe Lind Christiansen, Gustav Juel og Michael Ancher.

Today was more windy than every other day we had. We were full of hope at Grenen for the migration count this morning and it, in fact, did not disappoint ! We witnessed big movements of auks for exemple. Mio counted more than 4000 thousands Razorbills (Alks) during the 4 hours count.

Kittiwakes were also seen in big numbers with more than 500 individuals.

During this busy morning, we had the pleasure to have the visit again of the Orcas ! Who came swimming quit close to the shore at one point.

Redpoll (Gråsisken) foto : Rosie Berkin

At Kabeltromlen, the ringing team was not able to open nets because of the wind but they still had a decent morning of captures, regardless of the previous days…

They especially enjoyed the control of a stunning male Blue tit (blåmejse). It now became a regular customer of the Skagen mist nets, since it was ringed in September 2025 by Simon S. Christiansen. Since the it has been controlled around 8 times by the station.

Stunning adult male Blue tit (Blåmejse). Foto : Rosie Berkin

Later in the afternoon, we opened the garden net and caught a young male Great-spotted woodpecker (Stor flagspætte).

Great-spotted woodpecker in hand (Stor flagspætte). Foto : Rosie Berkin

We also said our goodby to Leon and Jørgen who left the station today after a very nice week of observations ! It was really nice having you both at the station ! But then we welcomed our two new young volunteers that are staying with us for this upcoming week. Welcome Saxe and Gustav ! looking forward to work with you, hopefully you will bring us good birds !

Tonight we are also eating Pizza. Thank you Magnanimous Lars Bo !!! You are really the best without even trying.

The morning started freezing cold. Mio and I went to open the nets at Kabeltromlen, but the nets were frozen because of the low temperatures. Although we were not able to open all the nets, we were able to open most of them, even though it took us a little bit longer than usual (one and a half hours). Sarah joined us for the first round, and Leon joined us for the third round. Youri was also going to join us, but had the bad luck of getting a flat tyre minutes after setting off.

The day was really slow, with a lot of rounds without birds, but a Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge), what I call a 'rave bird' (because it looks like it has makeup on for a rave), delighted us halfway through the ringing session. 

A female firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge). Photo by Christina Liu, 11-07-2026.

Great company and also a great cake Jørgen brought (thank you, Jørgen!) made the slow morning a great morning.

Great company, featuring Mio trying to train Igor (11-07-2026)

Meanwhile, Louise-Marie, Leon (for the first round) and Rosie went to the migration count. Things were also slow on their side, but a White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) and a Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Måge) spiced things up.

After the field activities, we came back to the lighthouse and opened the garden net. We were lucky to catch two Common Redpolls (Gråsisken)!

In the afternoon, we had a small family outing (the highlight of my day!). Sarah, Rosie, Mio, Leon and I went into town to get some hot dogs from a hot dog stand. It was the first Danish hot dog I had here, and it was really good.

Hotdog family outing (07-11-2026)

After that, we went for coffee, hot chocolate and cake at the bakery. Extremely hygge! And then we did some shopping. Meanwhile, Louise-Marie decided to stay home to do some cleaning and cook dinner (it smells amazing!).

Jørgen and Youri are going away tomorrow. It was really nice having you here! I hope we will meet again in the future.

Finally, dear reader, today's 'movie' recommendation: a lesson on redpolls (subspecies differentiation, sexing and ageing). We are going to watch it after dinner with some popcorn and drinks. I'm sure it is going to be really interesting and extremely hygge! 

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

This morning I got to sleep in a little bit as Rosie and Youri kindly opened the nets at Kabeltromlen. Christina and I joined for the first round, and so did Simon. The first round had a fun surprise, a dipper (vandstær)! This is the first one ever ringed at Kabeltromlen. They are not often seen around Grenen, but this one must have been feeding in the mud puddles around the nets. It was extremely cute and round, and amazed us all with his bright white nictating membrane when he blinked.

Dipper blinking

Dippers hunt for aquatic invertebrates by swimming with their wings, unlike most passerines. They also have a unique adaptation—they can walk along the bottom of riverbeds underwater, with the help of their solid bones, the only solid bones among flying birds. While taking our measurements we could also see the incredibly dense downy feathers that aid in waterproofing the bird underwater.

Later on in the ringing, we were also very lucky to catch a waxwing (Silkehale)! After seeing them flying around close to the nets, we decided to add one net very close to the berry bushes. The whole flock of 40 or so came over and they could clearly see the net, as they were flying around it and many were landing on the poles and the strings that hold it up. But, one clueless individual flew into a pocket so we got to ring him, admire him, and send him back to his cleverer friends. Lisa left her lunch to come see the silkehale, which is her dream bird. 

Meanwhile at the count, Louis-Marie, Leon and Mio went to World’s End III. Early in the morning, they got to see a Great Northern Loon (Islom) migrating. The rest of the day they saw a nice selection of ducks including Havlit, Hvindand, and Stor Skallesluger. Jorgen went by himself to Nordstrand but didn’t see anything that he wanted to share.

In the evening, our guest Jorgen cooked us a nourishing soup, and now we will try again for night catching, both with the hand nets and the owl nets.

Highlights from World’s End III

Islom

Nødkrige

Havlit

Stor Skallesluger

Laværling

People: Mio Brix, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Leon Pedersen, Youri Van der Horst, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Lars Bo Sigaard Jacobsen, Michael Ancher, Dr Lisa Vergin, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, William Aarestrup, Peter Jürgensen og Thorkild Duch

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

Sarah and I started the morning as the earliest ones today, opening the nets at Kabeltromlen. For the first round, Simon and Youri joined us, and a bit later, Louis-Marie joined as well. He had stayed awake until 1 AM to check the nets for Tengmalm’s Owl (Perleugle), but unfortunately, we didn’t succeed this time either. But we’ll keep trying!

Okay, back to what was happening at Kabeltromlen this morning: Three nice Redwings (Vindrossel) in the nets, the still-present Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) around the area and some Waxwings (Silkehale) nearby were the highlights so far. But there was also a people highlight: the famous Lars Bo joined us at Kabeltromlen and we had some nice chats with him!

In total, we only caught a very small number of birds, so we also closed an hour earlier. Simon and Youri left after three rounds to collect some berries in town for catching Waxwings (Silkehale) over the next few days.

Simon collecting berries. Photo by Youri H. T. H. van der Horst

At the count, Leon, Rosie, Christina, Jørgen and Knud had a nice encounter with a young Pomarine Skua (Mellemkjove), which flew quite close to shore and sometimes  over the horizon, so Simon and I were also able to see the bird from Kabeltromlen. Later, they also spotted a Little Auk (Søkonge). Also notable was the number of Fulmars (Mallemuk) they saw: 53 is quite a high number for this time of year. And to round off this nice count, Jørgen Hulbæk brought cake to the count!

After our morning session, I opened the garden net, where we caught a nice adult male Mealy Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken). Sarah worked on her other job, while Leon, Christina and Rosie prepared to go and see the wolves together with Youri and Lars Bo. While I was checking some bushes around Bankes Marker and Stald Grenen, they were lucky to see at least three wolves. For Leon, Christina and Rosie, it was their first time seeing wolves. Congratulations on that amazing sighting!

Observing Wolves. Photo by Youri H. T. H. van der Horst

By the time they got back, Sarah and I had already started preparing the mushroom feast, which Sarah wanted to make as a goodbye gift for Páll and Sophie, who will be leaving Skagen tomorrow, but they will definitely come back! Christina and Rosie joined us to help prepare the feast and after a lot of chopping and stirring, it was done!

A big goodbye feast for Páll and Sophie at the Lighthouse (which was somehow misunderstood as the White House in the morning). Photo by Simon Sigaard Christiansen

Highlights from the observation:

Pomarine Skua (Mellemkjove)-1

Little Auk (Søkonge)-1

Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger)-1

Ringing Kabeltrommen:

Redwing (Vindrossel)-3

Blackbird (Solsort)-1

Wren (Gærdesmutte)-1

Robin (Rødhals)-1

Total:6

Ringing Det Grå Fyr:

Mealy Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken)-1

Great Tit (Musvit)-1

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Leon Pedersen, Youri Van der Horst, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Lars Bo Jacobsen, Lisa Vergin, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Páll Vang Kjærbo og Sophie Booker.

The cold morning slowed the migration over the sea today, this did not, however, scare away the passerine (small birds) resting in the dunes. Leon, Christina, Louis and Sarah went to the migration count at worlds end 3 while Youri, Sophie, Páll, Simon, Rosie and Mio went to Kabeltromlen for ringing. Since the migration over the sea was a little slow, I decided to go for a walk in search of Water Pipits (Bjergpiber) in hopes that I would find a resting flock which we could try to trap and ring. Unfortunately, I only found Meadow Pipits (Engpiber). On my way back however, I found 2 resting Lapland Longspurs (Lapværling). Back at worlds end 3 we enjoyed the flocks of Redpoll (Gråsiskin), 2 Greater Scaups (Bjergand), and a little later a beautiful Short Eared Owl (Mosehornugle).

Lapland Longspur (Lapværling) identifiable by its “framed” face and reddish-brown wing patch. However, since this species is usually seen in flight one usually must rely on its heavy build, long wings and call (a dry trill reminiscent of snow bunting) Picture: Leon Pedersen

Meanwhile at Kabeltromlen a rare subspecies of Chiffchaff, Siberian Chiffchaff (Sibirisk Gransanger), was caught and ringed. It is notoriously difficult to identify this subspecies, especially without it calling. It looks very similar to our Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger) and due to the range of the two subspecies overlapping in western foothills of the Ural Mountains there is a possibility that they interbreed and create hybrids. 2 Bearded Tits (Skægmejse) were also ringed, making Christina hurry back to Kabeltromlen from the station and a Northern Nutcracker (Nøddekrige) was also seen sitting in a tree, then flying high and back towards Skagen town.

Siberian Chiffchaff (Sibirisk Gransanger) as you can see very similar to a normal Chiffchaff just a little paler and less green/yellow. Picture: Mio Brix

After the count me, Christina and Mio set out on a 10km+ walk all the way from Gammel Skagen, around Grenen and back to the station looking for dead seabirds. Although the only dead bird we found on the entire trip was a 1k Greater Black Backed Gull (Svartbag), we did see some common beach birds along the way. For example, Razorbill (Alk), Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge), Sanderlings (Sandløber) and Common Eider (Ederfugl). We were of course hoping to find a rare wheatear like Desert or Isabelline (Ørken- eller Isabellastenpikker) but we unfortunately didn’t see any species of wheatear whatsoever. The best part of this walk was, however, not a beach bird at all. At one point on the walk a construction site forced us to change course inland for a few hundred meters. Here we walked past a group of pine trees which we mobganged for a few minutes, to our surprise a Common Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge) came out of the trees briefly.

Sanderlings (Sandløber) sleeping close to Nordstrand. Picture:  Leon Pedersen

Highlights from the observation:
Hvidbrynet Løvsanger-1
Havlit - 1
Lapværling - 2
Mosehornugle - 1
Kaspisk måge - 2

Ringing Kabeltrommen:
Rødhals - 2
Gransanger, Sibirisk (ssp. trists) - 1
Skægmejse - 2
Blåmejse - 2
Bogfinke - 1
Dompap - 4

Total: 34

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

The strong winds from yesterday have died down, and this morning we had a beautiful sunrise with good conditions for counting and ringing. Louis joined Youri, Sophie, Simon and Páll at Kabeltromlen for ringing, while Christina, Sarah, Leon, Mio and I headed to the migration count. Today was a good auk day, with nice numbers of razorbills (alk), and we got great views of a little auk (søkonge), which is the first seen this year! In honor of this sighting, we would like to shout-out Luis Q. Langfeld, who spent a long time in search of ‘the golden snitch’ (nicknamed for its flitty flight pattern).

Another highlight was a vocal Richard’s pipit (storpiber), flying alongside a water pipit (bjergpiber) for a nice comparison. It obligingly circled back, and Leon with his lightning reflexes and great camera got some good photos of it, along with shots of the little auk (søkonge), a pair of long-tailed ducks (havlit) and an arctic redpoll (hvidsisken). I also saw some harbor porpoise (marsvin) close to shore, which is always a nice sight.

Richard’s pipit (storpiber) – this species is distinguishable by its ‘tshrep tshrep’ call and its longer body and tail relative to the water pipit (bjergpiber), which it was flying alongside. Foto: Leon Pedersen.

Throughout the count we kept an eye on a large flock of snow buntings (snevpurv), which have been moving around the sand dunes over the past few days. We were hopeful we could catch some, so we set up a net with some birdseed at one of their regular spots. Our efforts felt like they were going to be in vain as we waited around an hour without them showing any interest in the seed, but just as we went to take the nets down, we flushed one and it went straight into the net! This was a very exciting moment, and everyone enjoyed getting a great view of this beautiful bird.

Snow bunting (snevpurv) in hand – this was a juvenile male, which we could age by the unmoulted greater coverts, which are quite tan with dark centers, and a pointier tail compared to the adults.  Foto: Mio Brix.

The ringing team had a better morning than yesterday, with 29 birds in total – highlights included two meadow pipits (engpiber), two bearded reedlings (Skægmejse) and some more redpoll (gråsisken) starting to come through. Louis, who had sacrificed himself staying at the migration count when everyone else went to see the yellow-browed warbler (hvidbrynet løvsanger) caught several days ago, was rewarded as it was hanging around Kabeltromlen this morning and calling. A journalist also came by to take photos of Sophie doing some ringing for a newspaper, so luckily the birds showed up!

After success with the snow bunting, we headed back for a late lunch and Sarah and I decided to go for a quick sea swim which was quite icy but very fresh! Mio opened the nets in the garden and was successful in catching some mealy redpoll (stor gråsisken), some of which had lovely rosy color on their throat and chest, which is indicative of adult males. Leon also saw a black redstart (husrødstjert) in the garden which unfortunately didn’t go into the net.

After we closed the nets, we cycled to the bakery and I tried a delicious høj snegl pastry while we did some work, and then went shopping, which is quite an endeavor now that there are six of us eating! This evening, we have a busy schedule as Mio, Leon and Youri will go night trapping for woodcock (skovsneppe) while the rest of us continue the attempt to catch a Tengmalm’s owls (perleugle). Hopefully, we won’t come back empty-handed!

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Simon Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Christiansen, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Leon Pedersen, Youri Van der horst, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Páll Vang Kjærbo og Sophie Booker.

This morning, the northerly winds pushed the counting team to Nordstrand to seek shelter… Unfortunately, it seemed that the birds had also found a place to rest because the migration was surprisingly slow during all four hours of the count.

We still managed to enjoyed nice observation of Long-tailed ducks (Havlit) a Great Northern diver (Islom) and several flock of Whooper swans (Sangsvane) or Canada geese (Canadagås).

The counting team counting in the wind. Foto : Louis-Marie Gourmelon

The nice advantage of Nordstand, compared to Grenen, is also that it gives us a way more up close view to the sea. That way we were able to appreciate nice observation of Razorbills (Alks) or Velvet scoters (Fløjsand).

We tried our luck again to catch Snowbuntings (Snespurv) because a flock of around 70 were flying and feeding almost at our feet ! They were not very shy at all.

Comparison in hand of Artcic redpoll (Hvidsisken) to the left and Common redpoll (Gråsisken) to the right. Foto : Simon S. Christiansen

The ringing team had also a very slow morning but one bird was enough to delight everyone (even the counting team) : they caugth an Arctic redpoll (Hvidsisken), a rare subspecies of the nominate Common redpoll species ! They mostly Breeds in tundra regions and are partially migratory. Some birds winter in Finnish Lapland, but the species can also regularly be seen in Southern Finland, though does not usually migrate as far south as Redpoll. Michael Ancher, who is ringing at Jennes sø for the station also caught, later in the morning, 3 Arctic redpolls !

Other picure of the Redpolls. Foto : Simon S. Christiansen

After all the standardised programs, the team decided to go back outside and went to Skagen along the beach and the harbour, mostly for some Gull watching ! We always hope to find some colour rings to read… But unfortunately none were find today.

Gull watching near the harbour. Foto : Simon S. Christiansen

Gull flocks are also interesting because you can always find a rare species in it ! We couldn’t find any today also but it could be more and more interesting in the coming days…

Sarah and I went to open the mist nets in Kabeltromlen this morning. Mio joined us for the second round, after accompanying Cora to the station, as she was leaving today (we will miss you, Cora! Hope I’ll run into you again sometime!). He came with Simon, who brought us a really nice cake to celebrate his 10th work anniversary (10 years without getting fired!).

Simon looking really happy with its cake (01/11/2026)

The ringing session was a bit slow today, but quite diverse. We caught some Blackbirds (Solsort) (one male had particularly stunning black plumage), a Goldcrest (Fuglekonge), numerous Bullfinches (Dompap)... and the highlight of the day: we were lucky enough to catch a Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger)!

Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) (01/11/2026)

The Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) is a rare species here in Skagen, and we have only caught one other individual this season. They breed across the eastern Palearctic and winter in South and Southeast Asia, from India to southeastern China. However, some individuals, especially juveniles, can become vagrants in western Europe, sometimes as a result of strong winds. This could have been the case with the Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) that found its way into our nets today. I had never seen one before, and although one might think 'it's just another warbler', you cannot help thinking about the long journey it has already made to end up here, and the even longer journey that still lies ahead before reaching its wintering grounds. I hope it makes it there safely.

A stunning adult male blackbird! (01/11/2026)

During ringing, we also saw some breathtaking flocks of Waxwings (Silkehale). They are quite common in Skagen, but that doesn't make them any less special. What a view!

Meanwhile, Louis was on migration count with our new volunteer, Rosie, who had arrived at the station the previous evening (welcome, Rosie!). Although the count was also a bit slow, flocks of Pink-footed Geese (Kortnæbbet Gås) and Long-tailed Ducks (Havlit) certainly spiced things up. Rosie had a great time experiencing her first migration count. We also need to take a moment to acknowledge Louis's great sacrifice for the group: while everyone else went to see the Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger), he stayed behind at the count with all the telescopes. Truly, a great sacrifice for a great cause.

After coming back from the field, Sarah and I changed the mist net in the lighthouse garden, hoping to catch some Waxwings (Silkehale). No luck today, but maybe we'll get them another day. We are also getting ready to catch Water Pipits (Bjergpiber) this week... stay tuned for news!

I think the evening meeting had the biggest turnout I've seen since I arrived the previous week. There were nine of us, including some new faces: our new intern, Lion; our new volunteer, Rosie; Youri, who also joined us for the last ringing rounds and will be staying for a week; and our new guest in the apartment, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen. Welcome, everyone!

Today's movie recommendation is 'Practical Magic'. Sarah, Rosie and I watched it yesterday as a little Halloween celebration. It's a goofy, completely unhinged movie, perfect if you feel like having a good laugh!

That's all for today's blog, hope you also had a great day reader!

Link to today's observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Simon Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Christiansen, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Leon Pedersen, Youri Van der horst, Knud Pedersen og Jørgen Hulbæk