Today was the first really nice, busy day for the migration count in quite a while. Miles and Florian headed out to Worlds End 3 where the north-westerly winds seemed to be pushing all the birds closer to the shore, leading to nice views of three Sooty Shearwaters (Sodfarvet Skråpe). Even the ringers at Kabeltromlen managed to see them pass by. There were also more Fulmars (Mallemuk) than usual, at least 500 over the morning, and both Arctic and Great Skuas (Kjoves) too! A highlight was also 8 Purple Sandpiper (Sortgrå ryle), a species which we have been seeing more and more in the last week, and we all love so much!

Observers counting lots of birds this morning!

Over at the ringing station at Kabeltromlen, we had a windy start to the morning, so we didn’t have most of the nets open at first but then opened more up as the morning went on and caught 57 new birds in the end. It was lovely to have a Norwegian photographer, Hilde, and her family, join us and take some photographs as part of her upcoming project focused on birds, bird ringing and current environmental issues (link to her website is here). We were also visited by Linda and Jeppe who hold a ringing licence so helped Sarah, Gabriel, Simon, Esben, Florian and I with the ringing this morning.

Although we didn’t catch any rare species today, it was nice to have so many retrapped birds (22 in total), including a gorgeous Crested Tit (Topmejse) which Sarah and I caught 10 days ago. Since then, it has increased in body fat but decreased in weight by 0.1g which I find quite confusing.

Once we got back to the lighthouse, Sarah, Florian, Miles, Esben and I had a refreshing dip in the sea, much to the shock of the many many tourists which were sat in their coats and woolly hats clutching hot drinks whilst we walked past them in just our swimsuits. The sun was out and the water was probably the warmest it has been since I arrived here in September.

This afternoon we said goodbye to Lars Bo and Esben who have helped us so much this week and I know we’re all extremely grateful for all the knowledge and funny stories they’ve shared with us! Lars Bo is a terrific ornithologist and specialist on Little Owls (Kirkeugle) in Denmark and has just yesterday been interviewed on TV about the project; you can find out more about it here!

Gabriel is sadly also leaving us tomorrow but it’s his birthday in a few days, so Miles and I baked him a secret surprise chocolate torte whilst he went out birding with Sarah and Florian for the quarterly waterbird counts. They visited Skarvsøen (Cormorant Lake), North Strand, and then did the final count from the top of the lighthouse at sunset. They did have to almost run up the 210 steps to make it before it got too dark to count birds! Their highlights from the waterbird counts were lots of Great Crested Grebes (Toppet Lappedykker) from Northstrand, some Purple Sandpipers (Sortgrå ryle) and a Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade) on their bike ride between count locations!

Florian, Sarah and Gabriel completing the final waterbird count of the day, from the top of the lighthouse, as the sun sets.

After a delicious dinner of Chilli and homemade Cornbread made my Miles, Gabriel gave us an interesting presentation on the identification of Scotor (Melanitta) species. I definitely learnt a lot from it; I had no idea that there were 6 different species globally. We then surprised Gabriel with his birthday chocolate cake which we decorated with powdered sugar in the shape of a traditional Swedish Shrimp. We’ll all miss him so much, but we wish him lots of luck as he returns to Sweden to finish writing his master’s thesis on Hummingbirds and carry out lots more wildlife surveys this Autumn!

Chocolate Torte with a Shrimp decoration for Gabriel's birthday

Then, just as we sat down on the sofa finally ready to relax, Miles sent us a message saying that the Northern Lights were visible. We all sprinted outside as fast as we could and we could see the green glow, wow! As we watched it for a while, we listened to the tseep tseep calls of Redwings (Vindrossel) as they migrated above us under a sky full of stars. What a fantastic end to a great day!

Northern Lights / Aurora Borealis from the Lighthouse Garden

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Vindrossel 3

Sangdrossel 2

Grønirisk 2

Musvit 1

Gærdesmutte 12

Rødhals 3

Dompap 1

Stor Dompap 3

Lille Dompap 3

Kvækerfinke 10

Bogfinke 3

Blåmejse 3

Munk 2

Fuglekonge 9

Ringing (Jennes Sø):

Gærdesmutte 3

Rødhals 2

Fuglekonge 7

Sortmejse 1

Blåmejse 6

Musvit 2

Træløber 1

Grønirisk 1

Lille Gråsisken 11

Stor Dompap 2

Total new birds: 93

Highlights from Worlds End 3:

Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe) 3

Fulmar (Mallemuk) 500+

Purple Sandpiper (Sortgrå ryle) 8

Today’s observations from the area can be found here

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Michael Ancher, Simon S. Christiansen, Lars Bo Jacobsen, Esben Hansen, and our guests Linda and Jeppe.

It has been quite windy the last few days, so there has not been ringing. This morning, the crew took a family outing to World’s End 3 for the migration count. There have not been a lot of particularly special species the last few days, but there has been decent movement of some species. There have been many Alcids (Alkefugle) and we have been getting large flocks of geese (gås sp.). The geese tend to arrive later in the morning, which is nice because numbers of other species have often dwindled by then. Today we had 117 Pink-footed Geese (Kortnæbbet Gås) and 165 Graylag Geese (Grågås), plus 88 unidentified gray geese (Grå Gås sp). The alcid total was over 200 birds, with most (180) being unidentified Guillemots/Razorbills (Lomvies/Alks), along with 17 Razorbills and 9 Guillemots. Many have been migrating far out and they are difficult to identify, but I plan to do my session on their identification, so hopefully that will help us.

Hard at work counting gulls at the harbor. Photo by Gabriel

After returning from the count, Sarah cooked us a delicious lunch. Amira had returned early and had already finished most of the weekly cleaning, which was greatly appreciated and saved us all some time this afternoon! This weekend is Denmark’s national waterbird count (NOVANA), which we are participating in. It happens to coincide with eBird’s October Big Day, which is today! There are several sites we need to visit for the waterbird count, but today we got a ride from Lars Bo and birded the harbor. We mostly saw gulls (Måge sp.), including 324 European Herring Gulls (Sølvmåge) and 150 Great Black-backed Gulls (Svartbag), along with 396 Great Cormorants (Skarv) and 49 Common Eiders (Ederfugl).

Amira checking on the tofu delivery from the lighthouse. Where is Miles? Photo by Gabriel

After counting the roosting gulls, Lars Bo took us to Lidl so we could pick up some groceries. Unfortunately, just as we were arriving back at the lighthouse, Sarah and I realized we had forgotten the tofu and rice noodles that Amira had specifically requested (and we had confirmed we would get) for tonight’s dinner. Sarah and I rushed back to Lidl on our bikes to collect these items in time for dinner. Sometimes just one trip to Lidl is not enough, even in a single day. Amira cooked us a delicious stir fry for dinner, and we discussed the use of “I love you” in platonic friendships.

Now, Gabriel, Esben, and Lars Bo are out night catching. Last night they failed to capture anything, although they did see a Jack Snipe (Enkeltbekkasin). Maybe tonight they will catch something good!

Ringing (Jennes Sø):

Eurasian Wren (Gærdesmutte) 4

European Robin (Rødhals) 1

Eurasian Blackbird (Solsort) 1

Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger) 1

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) 3

Crested Tit (Topmejse) 1

Blue Tit (Blåmejse) 2

Great Tit (Musvit) 3

Eurasian Treecreeper (Træløber) 2

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) 2

Highlights from World’s End 3:

Pink-footed Goose (Kortnæbbet Gås) 117

Little Gull (Dværgmåge) 26

Horned Lark (Bjerglærke) 1

Today's observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area 

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Simon S. Christiansen, Lars Bo Jacobsen and Esben Hansen

Once again, the wind was too strong, so no ringing at Kabeltromlen today. But at Jennes Sø it was enough shelter for Michael to be out ringing. He caught in total 42 birds, among them a feisty Jay (Skovskade).

While Miles, Gabriel, and I went to the observation count, Esben, Sarah, and Amira went on a Fulmar Walk. This means that they walked about 10 km along the north beach in search of dead Fulmars (Mallemuk). These are collected for a project studying the amount of plastic in the environment. However, they only found two dead Guillemots (Lomvie) and, as a highlight, a fully alive Purple sandpiper (Sortgrå Ryle)! This bird was so cute and so round! You just have to love these guys! After this fantastic sighting and a few more alive Sanderlings (Sandløber), the fulmar walk ended at Grenen, where we all met again at World’s End III.

Dead Guillemot (Lomvie)

In the meantime, we had counted not as many birds as we hoped, but got still some good sightings. An Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) and a Horned Lark (Bjerglærke) were nice to see! As the activity gradually slowed down, we decided to celebrate also the common species more, which was really funny! Why not just call out a Teal (Krikand) or a Red-throated Diver (Rødstrubet Lom), as if you had just found a first record for the country?
A rainbow appeared in the sky, but it announced an approaching rain cloud. Fortunately, we were largely spared, and the last hour even brought a few more birds, including a arriving flock of Common Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb) and the first 33 Barnacle Geese (Bramgås) for us this season and 75 Pink-footed Geese (Kortnæbbet Gås) flying directly overhead!


Flock of Pink-footed Geese (Kortnæbbet Gås) flying over us

In the afternoon, some entered a lot of data, went for a swim, or searched for rare warblers. The latter, however, was unsuccessful. More successful will be the night catching hopefully! Gabriel, Esben and Lars Bo have just headed off.

Ringing (Jennes Sø):

I think Sarah, Gabriel and I were feeling slightly nervous but excited this morning as we arrived at Kabeltromlen, wondering if today would be just as busy with birds as on Monday. It was a little windier than expected but we could still have more than half of the nets open and had a "lagom" amount of birds, which we learnt from Gabriel means the perfect amount of something. There were not too many were retraps from Monday’s big day so it seems many of those birds have moved on and continued their migration perhaps. It was lovely and sunny but also the big (almost) full moon was lovely to see.

Fieldfare (Sjagger) - Adult male

My favourite bird of the day is definitely the Fieldfare (Sjagger), the first of the Autumn and a beautiful adult male! When I searched for a fact about Fieldfare to share with you, the following one stood out to me: When threatened by crows or birds of prey, fieldfares often mob the intruder as a flock and bomb it with droppings, as a defence strategy. They can aim quite well and their sticky poo can interfere with the predator’s feathers forcing it to retreat. How clever!

But the bird of the day overall has to be the Bullfinch (Dompap), of which we had individuals from both the Northern and Southern subspecies (Lille and Stor). It was a great learning opportunity for us comparing them side-by-side and we were all surprised by the much larger size of the Stor subspecies.

A young female Yellowhammer (Gulspurv) from this morning's ringing

The observers (Florian and Miles) also had a decent morning at World End 3, with lots of Alcids, 198 Guillemots (Lomvi)/Razorbills (Alk) in total! They spotted 5 Horned Lark (Bjerglærke) and a Grey Wagtail (Bjergvipstjert) on the beach, and had a nice group of 25 Twite (Bjergirisk) hanging around the dunes area. It was also nice to see lots of Geese flying over, mostly Pink-footed Geese (Kortnæbbet Gås), but also some Greylag (Grågås) and Brent Geese (Knortegås).

We all came home and then Sarah, Miles and I went for a quick dip in the sea where a Guillemot came swimming right past us only few metres away! Sarah and Gabriel then cooked us a lovely lunch of traditional Scottish Tatti Scones made from leftover potato mash from yesterday’s dinner, they looked smelled delicious. Fueled up by the potatoes, we all sat on the sofa and locked in for several hours of data entry. We have now finally finished entering all the ringing data from our big day on Monday (742 new birds!) and you can find the breakdown of the totals on Monday’s blog linked here.

Sunset from the lightouse before our nightcatching attempt.

We had a brilliant takeaway pizza dinner (thank you to Lars Bo!) and decided to try and go night catching again this evening. Gabriel, Sarah, Miles and I ventured out onto the dark beach but unfortunately all we could find was a Wheatear that kept running away from us, and some rabbits hopping about between the grass tufts. We then tried a marshy area near Ellekratet and spotted several Common Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin) but they're quite flighty birds compared to Jack Snipe (Enkeltbekkasin) so we weren't successful this time. Whilst we were scanning with the thermal we did spot a creature which, at first we thought was a pig, then maybe a wolf, then maybe a racoon dog, then perhaps a hyena, and then finally settled back to thinking it was a pig. We went though a rollercoaster of emotions whilst we looked through the thermal trying to figure it out! BUT, despite our failed mission, it was a very fun evening with the team, full of laughter, and I think we're all motivated to try some nightcatching again soon.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Sjagger 1

Vindrossel 3

Gulspurv 1

Gærdesmutte 24

Rødhals 9

Grønsisken 1

Kvækerfinke 4

Stor Dompap 6

Lille Dompap 1

Dompap 3

Blåmejse 7

Munk 5

Bogfinke 2

Træløber 3

Gransanger 5

Fuglekonge 22

Total new birds: 97

Highlights from today’s observations at Worlds End 3:

Long-tailed Duck 1

Caspian Gull 8

Pink-footed Goose 128

Hen Harrier 1

Horned Lark 5

Today’s observations from the area can be found here

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Simon S. Christiansen, Gunnar S. Simonsen, and Lars Bo Jacobsen.

This morning Amira, Gabriel and I woke up quite tired from yesterday but ready to head out to open nets again. We weren’t too sad that the radar showed heavy rain all morning so we decided not to open the nets and got to sleep longer instead. By the time I woke up, Florian and Miles had been to World's End 1 and come home again already, rained out after just 30 minutes of the standardized count. Still, they were able to see some migrating Ederfugl (Eiders) and a Blå Kærhøg (Hen harrier). Then we all had a nice lazy breakfast together.

Amira and I were hyped up to spend the morning entering our ringing data from yesterday, but the ringmærkning website was down for maintenance so we spent the morning relaxing instead. Feeling a little restless after a whole morning inside, we went out for a rainy swim since it was wet anyway. Then Simon cheered everyone up when he brought us a “half-Jew cake” (the meaning of this is not entirely clear to me but there is still much to learn about Danish culture). It was delicious anyways. Then we finally got to spend the afternoon entering data! Florian and Gabriel went out for some birdwatching after the rain stopped, and after we got too tired of reading numbers, Amira, Miles and I went to the shops to get dinner, and Amira stopped to mushroom watch on the way. We cooked up the fish that Matilde and Maciek brought us, which was delicious indeed.

This evening, Simon took Gabriel and LarsBo out to Elle Krattet to try to catch Jack Snipes (Enkeltbekkasin) in the dark. And they have already had some success! They are on their way back just now to ring the bird in the lab.

Jack Snipe (Enkeltbekkasin). Foto: Gabriel Axelsson

Highlights from World's End 1

Ederfugl

Blå Kærhøg

Today's observations from the area can be seen on DOFbasen.

Ringing (Storsig):

Enkeltbekkasin 1 

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Michael Ancher, Simon S. Christiansen, and Lars Bo Jacobsen.

What a day! This morning, Florian and I were leaving the lighthouse on our way to Worlds End 3 and Florian already noted several passerine species in the parking lot and that it could be a good day for migration. At the migration count activity was good for the first hour or two, though it did start to tail off. Passerine numbers were very good, with 647 bramblings (Kværkefinke) and 514 Redwings (Vindrossel) in total. We also had a European Shag (Topskarv) resting on the beach. It seemed to be a quite unusual behavior, and we were a bit concerned but eventually it walked over to the sea and swam off. While Knud was photographing the Shag and I was distracted by gulls, Florian spotted a large loon directly overhead, heading southeast. He quickly took a photo and upon review, was able to see it was a Great Northern Diver (Islom). Us Americans know this species as Common Loon, but it is quite a nice bird here. There were several flocks of Twite (Bjergirisk) around, with several landing on the dune directly in front of us, offering fantastic views. I have seen this species once before, but it was great to see these adorable finches up close.

European Shag (Topskarv) at the tip (Grenen). Photo by Knud Pedersen

At 10:04, Simon called me and asked me to come help with the ringing as they were having quite a busy day. I went back to the lighthouse to grab extra boxes and encountered a significant gnat hatch on the way. There were also SO MANY BIRDS. The vegetation was dripping with passerines and almost every single bush or tree had several birds in it. When I arrived at Kabeltromlen, Gabriel informed me that they had just returned from a net round with 200 birds. That did not quite compute, as it was double the total number of birds caught in a whole day while I’ve been here. That figure did start to sink in when I was scribing and filling multiple pages just with Goldcrests (Fuglekonge) from a single net run.

Box with Goldcrests (Fuglekonge). Photo by Gabriel

While these exorbitant net run totals did abate, there was still considerable activity all afternoon. We continued to get new birds, so we did not close the nets. At one point, a flock of Long-tailed Tits (Halemejse) flew by the banding table, which brought much excitement and clapping. Clapping causes passerines to drop down, often increasing the chances of catching them. We were all out on the following net run and got to share a moment of jubilation upon finding the entire flock in the first net. In total we ringed 36 Long-tailed Tits, including 1 of the northern subspecies (Nordlige Halemejse), which has a pure-white head.

Elation at finding the Long-tailed Tit (Halemejse) flock in the net. Photo by Gabriel

Later, while I was scribing for Simon, we noticed Gabriel and Florian hurrying back from a net run, and Gabriel was holding his face. A Eurasian Treecreeper (Træløber) had pooped directly in his eye while he was trying to extract it. Despite the circumstances, he remained in good humor while Sarah poured water in his eye to flush it. We were able to clean it well, and on the next net run Gabriel was first on the scene to extract a Great Gray Shrike (Stor Tornskade). Perhaps the treecreeper bequeathed him with special powers? We were very excited to catch a shrike and surprised by how large it was. It was definitely a highlight for me, even overshadowing the many Long-tailed Tits.

Gabriel rings the Great Gray Shrike (Stor Tornskade) under Lars Bo's watchful eye, while Simon releases a Eurasian Wren (Gærdesmutte). Photo by Miles

Stor Tornskade (Great Grey Shrike). Photo: Gabriel Axelsson

Night was falling when we finally closed the nets and we did not return to the station before 8 pm. Simon ordered us pizzas because there had not been time to cook dinner and his father Gunnar (who had arrived in town earlier in the day) brought it to us! It was a delicious treat after spending the whole day ringing! The crew put in a huge effort today and we greatly appreciated the help of Jeppe and Lars Bo.

Stor Dompap (Northern Bullfinch), the northern subspecies. Photo: Søren Skov

In total we ringed 742 birds at Kabeltromlen. Michael Ancher was also out ringing at Jennes Sø and caught an additional 129 birds until 1 pm. This makes a total of 871 birds today. The most ever ringed on a single day in Skagen.

The previous record day was 10 October 2010 when locals ringed 683 birds. The result of todays was also more than double the previous high for Skagen Bird Observatory (since it began in 2017), which was 372 birds on 28 March 2024. 

While we have not been able to start entering data as the Danish ringing database is currently offline for maintenance, we have counted that we caught 25 total species!

The ringing table and the team was lightening up when the last bird of the day was ringed. Photo: Florian Hatt

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Ringing (Jennes Sø):

Eurasian Wren (Gærdesmutte) 6

Dunnock (Jernspurv) 1

European Robin (Rødhals) 7

Song Thrush (Sangdrossel) 1

Eurasian Blackcap (Munk) 2

Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger) 10

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) 25

Crested Tit (Topmejse) 1

Blue Tit (Blåmejse) 2

Eurasian Treecreeper (Træløber) 4

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) 66

Total: 129

Highlights from today’s observations at Worlds End 3:

European Shag (Topskarv) 1

Great Northern Diver (Islom) 1

Twite (Bjergirisk) 9

Brambling (Kværkefinke) 647

Redwing (Vindrossel) 514

Today’s observations from the area can be found here

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Michael Ancher, Simon S. Christiansen, Gunnar S. Simonsen, Jeppe Madsen, and Lars Bo Jacobsen.

It was another very very soggy day today at the bird station but, because of how much we love birds, we all decided to venture outside into the tail end of Storm Amy to see what species we could find. Sarah, Miles and Florian headed to Worlds End 3 where, during an hour and a half of seawatching, they spotted some nice birds: lots of Little Gulls (Dværgmåge), Great Crested Grebes (Toppet Lappedykker), both Arctic (Almindelig Kjove) and Great Skua (Storkjove), and some lovely Goldeneye (Hvinand). They tried to cycle back to the lighthouse quickly before the heavy rain started but got caught out and had to take shelter under at tree at Kabeltromlen for a while.

Observers at Worlds End 3 staying positive through the heavy rain

Meanwhile Gabriel headed into Skagen town centre to do some food shopping whilst I headed on a walk past Jennes Sø and towards Nordstrand. Kitted out in full waterproofs and wellies, the rain didn’t bother me too much, and in the area around the old lighthouse I was rewarded with lots of passerines and some beautiful rainbows. My highlight was seeing the Northern European subspecies of the Long-tailed Tit / Aegithalus caudatus (Halemejse) for the first time. I’m from the UK so I’m used to seeing the British subspecies (Aegithalos rosaceus) which has the distinct black stripes on its crown, so seeing the birds here with a full snowy white head was super cool!

I also took some time to notice the lovely plants, fungi and lichens along the walk. I love the species shown in the picture below because in English we call it the Fairy Cup lichen (Cladonia sp.), so it always makes me feel like I’m walking through a magical forest when I see it. Lichens (lav) are actually not a single organism, but a partnership between a fungus and an algae or bacteria. They are really useful indicators of air quality and help with soil formation and soil nutrient cycling too. So, respect the lichens; they’re just as important as the birds in our ecosystems, and deserve more attention!

Lichen (lav) + rainbow

We all spent the rest of the day catching up on admin tasks, and then some napped whilst others did yoga or went running. It was also lovely to welcome back Lars Bo to the station that we asked to come and help in the field this week. But, of course, the highlight of our afternoon was when Matilde and Maciek from Blink restaurant came round to drop off some MUCH-needed lemon cake, and some lovely looking fish, salad and tomatoes too. Thank you! Let’s see what I can cook for dinner tomorrow night using these ingredients. I don't think there will be any cake left for tomorrow though, it's already almost all eaten! Now we're all about to sit down together for a delicious Swedish soup dinner cooked by Gabriel using a recipe from his Grandma; can't wait to try it!

Gabriel studying ALL the bird books in preparation for his presentation to us next week

Highlights from Worlds End 3 (1.5hrs):

Little Gulls (Dværgmåge) 23

Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) 1

Great Skua (Storkjove) 1

Great Crested Grebes (Toppet Lappedykker) 5

Today's observations from the area can be seen here.

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Simon S. Christiansen and Lars Bo Jacobsen.

After a cozy family movie night last night while the storm raged outside (we saw Howl’s Moving Castle—a fantastic film!), we all had a delicious lie-in this morning as it was still too stormy for the migration count. We had a nice lazy breakfast together, said goodbye to Otto, and then cleaned up the flat before lunch.

All of us went up the lighthouse tower together around midday to play in the wind and see if we can see some birds. It was windy and a little wet, but had already calmed down quite a bit from the morning. There were even the brave marathon runners out, who we cheered on from the tower but most of them couldn’t hear us over the wind.

Today was also EuroBirdwatch day! Organised by BirdLife International, this is a day for everyone in Europe to go out and count migrants, to raise awareness for migratory birds and their habitats, and to create a full-continent picture of European bird migration. Although we could not do our standardized count this morning, the five us still went out in the afternoon to record migrants. We split up after lunch; Amira, Miles and I walked down to Grenen while Florian and Gabriel carried their scopes up to the lighthouse tower to count from the small bit of shelter on one side of the glass (where they dilignetly counted 2,800 Scoters (Sortand)). Then Miles walked to Nordstrand where he saw a short-eared owl (Mosehornugle)! Although he called it out straight away, Amira and I couldn’t see it from where we stood at Kabeltromlen.

Hyperopolus lanceolatus (identified by Lille Simon)

Dedicated observer counting Sortand

We walked to Ellekrattet to search for some passerines, where we ran into Florian and Gabriel who had tired of standing on the tower in the wind. They had just spotted a great grey shrike (Stor tornskade), which we followed but also failed to see. Alas, we missed the most exciting birds today, but we still saw plenty to be happy about. Great grey shrikes are famous for their habit of impaling their killed prey on thorns for safekeeping, which is also the origin of the Latin genus name, Lanius, meaning butcher or executioner. Shrikes were featured across Medieval  British and Scandinavian folklore, known in various dialects as “suffocating angels” or “poison angels,” and the thorns that held their prey were avoided as poisonous.

In other bird news, after much analysis and consulting of our team of international experts, Florian is able to confirm that his sound recording from yesterday is from a Little Bunting (Dværgværling)! Very exciting news for us, although we were not able to lay eyes on it (yet).

After returning home cold and tired, we now compile our observations from today and look forward to a tasty pie that Miles is cooking.

Today's observations from the area can be seen here. 

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering,  Michael Ancher, Simon S. Christiansen.

Today there were strong southwesterly winds, over 10 m/s. Because of that we didn’t do any ringing, and instead the whole volunteer team did migration counts from World’s End III. Knud was there too for the first few hours. Migration was rather slow today, not much movement overall. Even the passerines were scarce in the wind. Still, we did spot two migrating Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) in the distance, which was our first of the season. There was also good movement of alcids, and besides the Razorbills (Alk) and Guillemots (Lomvie), several Black Guillemots (Tejst) were on the move as well, which was nice.

From this morning's migration count at World's End III

An hour before the standardised migration count was finished, Sarah and Amira left to bike to Jennes Sø, where Michael Ancher was ringing today.

After the standardised count, Florian, Miles and I (Gabriel) searched through the sea buckthorn bushes next to World’s End III, trying to locate an alternative “Tick Bunting” that might have been heard during the count. Unfortunately, nothing more exciting than a few Reed Buntings (Rørspurver) sheltering in the buckthorn turned up. A small flock of migrating Greater White-fronted Geese (Blisgæs) was also noted shortly after the day’s count, another first of the season for us.

Sea Aster (Strandaster)

After lunch, Sarah, Amira and Miles went with Simon into Skagen By, where they recycled the bottles and cans from the station. With the deposit money they bought a cake, which they brought back for us. After running some more errands in Skagen, Sarah, Miles and Simon did some birding there, while Amira took the chance to visit the local bathhouse and go down the waterslide.

This evening Otto (this week’s guest) came by with a gift of goodies he had bought for us. Tusind tak Otto!

Right now Sarah is cooking a “Storm Soup” with red lentils. Smells delicious!!!