Hi everyone!

Yesterday the weather forecast wasn’t that good looking for today, but luckily the morning turned out to be quite a good one! Dante went observing at Verdens Ende 1. The highlight today were the 47 Bewick’s Swans (Tundra Swan; Sangsvane), a record! We also had 1086 Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) migrating. This morning seemed to be a morning of big numbers, there were also thousands of Common Scoters (Sortand) migrating south-east and Dante also counted 7046 Chaffinches (Bogfinke).

At the same time, Lauren, Yehonatan and Simon were out ringing at Kabletrommeln. They had 21 birds in total. Their highlight was a Northern Bullfinch (Stor Dompap; ssp. pyrrhula). You can see the details in the end of this blogpost.

Unfortunately, two of our lovely guests, Lotte and Anne drove back home today. We were very glad to welcome you here at Skagen Fuglestation! And of course thank you for your help and interest in our work!

In the afternoon the sun came out a little bit. Yehonatan went to Ellekrattet, where he spotted a Sparrowhawk catching a blackbird right in front of him! Another event of this afternoon was our new Kabeltrommeln arriving. Unfortunately, the old one broke (we were using it as our ringing-table), so Simon ordered a new one. The next step is to get this new one up to Kabltrommeln… If you are someone who owns a trailer and would be so kind to help us out with transporting the Kabeltrommeln maybe to the parking lot at Grenen, we would be very glad if you could let us know. That would be amazing!

Dante and Lauren prepared a lovely dinner for us this evening. God nat fra det Grå Fyr!

Today's observations of observers in the area

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

Ringing: 

2 Jernspurv (Dunnock)

2 Rødhals (Robin)

1 Solsort (Backbird)

1 Sangdrossel (Song Thrush)

3 Blåmejse (Blue Tit)

8 Musvit (Great Tit)

1 Bogfinke (Chaffinch)

1 Dompap (Bullfinch)

1 Stor Dompap (Northern Bullfinch)

1 Rørspurv (Reed Bunting)

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia, Britta, Lotte and Anne

With more fog over Skagen and rain in the forecast, Johanna, Yehonatan and Simon managed a short ringing session at Kabeltromlen before the weather took a turn for the worse and they had to close the nets.

Lauren and I headed to Verdens Endes 1 for morning observations and, despite the poor visibility, there was still small numbers of passerines moving including 79 Mistle Thrush (Misteldrossel), 787 Chaffinches (Bogfinke) and 15 White Wagtails (Hvid Vipsjert). There was also a variety of duck species passing out to sea including 3 Pintail (Spidsand), 27 Wigeon (Pibeand), 8 Goldeneye (Hvinand) and thousands of Common Scoter (Sortand). The highlight of the morning was an adult, dark morph Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove).

After entering all our ringing data and observations, Yehonatan birded Ellekrattet whilst I headed to Nordstrand to check the large flock of gulls lingering on the beach. Johanna baked a cake which we thoroughly enjoyed with our guests Bretta, Lotte and Anna after their delicious cooking that evening.

Treecreeper (Træløber) at Ellekrattet- Yehonatan.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Johanna Veentjer, Yehonatan Ben aroia, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Bretta, Lotte & Anna.

Kabeltromlen Ringing Totals:

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge)- 1

Rødhals (Robin)- 1

Bogfinke (Chaffinch)- 1

Musvit (Great Tit)- 2

Solsort (Blackbird)- 2

Total: 7

Yehonatan, Johanna, Simon and I awoke early, excited for the much-anticipated first ringing session of the year at Kabeltromlen. Despite more fog over Skagen, we had a good catch of 42 new birds, including 4 Blackcaps (Munk), and plenty of migrants full of fat (see full ringing list below). The undoubted highlight was a Norwegian ringed Blue Tit (Blåmejse) and we look forward to receiving the recovery information on this individual. It was also lovely to have our guests, Bretta and Lotte, join us for a while at the ringing site.

Norwegian-ringed Blue Tit (Blåmejse).

Ringing at Kabeltromlen, photo: Lotte.

Meanwhile Dante headed off for morning observations, despite the fog. A brief relapse in the poor visibility produced 1 White-tailed Eagle (Havørn), 1 Goshawk (Duehøg), 1 Marsh Harrier (Rørhøg), 146 Buzzards (Musvåge), 30 Sparrowhawks (Spurvehøg) and 3 Stonechat (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl), proving it’s worth going out in any weather!

After entering the morning’s ringing and observation data, Johanna headed into town, whilst Dante and I went out with the hope of photographing the local Treecreepers (Træløber). The subspecies (ssp. familiaris) found here and elsewhere in Scandinavia are very rare in the UK (only 23 British records). They differ from the subspecies macrodactyla, which are common breeders in the UK, most noticeably by having a more ‘frosty’ appearance and whiter underparts.

Bretta and Lotte welcomed Lotte’s sister Anna who will be staying with us for a few days and in the afternoon they braved the rain and headed out to Grenen.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Johanna Veentjer, Yehonatan Ben aroia, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Bretta, Lotte & Anna.

Kabeltromlen Ringing Totals:

Blue Tit (Blåmejse)- 6

Great Tit (Musvit)- 9

Blackcap (Munk)- 4

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge)- 1

Wren (Gærdesmutte)- 1

Robin (Rødhals)- 4

Blackbird (Solsort)- 9

Dunnock (Jernspurv)- 7

Bullfinch (Lille Dompap)- 2

Total- 43

Morning strated with all of us (Lauren, Dante, Yehonatan, Johana,  Lotte, Bretta) went out counting bird at worlds end 1. In the first 2 hours we had non stop activity with bird flying around non stop.

Highlights were a Green woodpecker (Grønspætte), Peregrine falcon (Vanderfalk), 2 Iceland gulls (Hvidvinget Måge), Shag (Topskarv) and many others.

After heading back to the station to have lunch, we went out to Kabeltromlen  to cut down some trees and prepare the ringing site for spring ringing season.

In the evening Simon came back from his trip and we all prepared the ringing equipment aswell for the season.

Later Lotte and Bretta made us a lovely dinner to finish the day with a full stomach and smiling faces.

Yet again we were up early for morning observations, and yet again the heavy fog persisted over Skagen. A slightly shorter observation today produced 3 Woodcock (Skovsneppe), 60 Oystercatcher (Strandskade), 109 Skylark (Sanglærke) and 2 Goosander (Stor Skallesluger) among others.

Dante in the fog leading to Ellekrattet- Lauren Evans.

Det Grå Fyr in the fog- Johanna Veentjer.

Yehonatan and Lauren headed back to the ringing site at Kabeltromlen to do a bit of pruning along the net rides. Johanna headed to the Cormorant Lake to check on the breeding colony and found 26 individuals present, including some obvious pairs and some occupied nests. She also found some amber on the beach at Nordstrand!

We are also delighted to welcome our new guests to the Skagen Fuglestation apartment, Lotte, and Bretta, who will be staying with us for the week.

Skagen Fuglestation: Johanna Veentjer, Yehonatan Ben arioa, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Lotte & Bretta.

After the Danish record for the number of migrating Mistle Thrush (Misteldrossel) was set yesterday, expectations were high for today’s morning observation. As a result, all 4 of us (Johanna, Yehonatan, Dante and myself) were at Verdens Endes 1 for sunrise at 6.25am. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the sunrise, or the sea, or many birds for that matter as the whole of Skagen peninsula was covered in extremely heavy fog!!!

Throughout the day the fog cleared marginally although never enough for proper observation and the passerine migration had largely ground to a halt. Dante, alongside Rolf, lasted the longest- an impressive 9 hours birding in the fog! Highlights from today included: 51 Great Crested Grebes (Toppet Lappedykker), 1 Hen Harrier (Blå Kærhøg), 1 Stonechat (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl), 12 Water Pipits (Bjergpiber), 24 Rock Pipits (Skærpiber) and 7 Grey Wagtails (Bjergvipstjert).

Meanwhile, Johanna, Yehonatan and I had a productive afternoon and set up 10 nets in a variety of habitats at Kabeltromlen ready for the season’s ringing to commence next week. Simon had a very successful afternoon in South Jutland where he caught a Buzzard (Musvåge) which was fitted with a GPS tag as part of a project in collaboration with Aarhus University. We’re looking forward to hopefully catching some more migrating raptors in Skagen this year.

We also said goodbye to Lars and Anette this afternoon, our guests who have been staying with us for the week. Thank you for driving our many net poles to the ringing site today and for the wonderful presentation on your Svalbard trip!

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Johanna Veentjer, Yehonatan Ben aroia, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans

Hi everyone!

Today was another very slow day. The weather was very stormy and rainy as well, so we decided to not do the usual morning observations. But there is also always something to do at the station as well.

However there were hundreds of Mistle Thrushes (Misteldrossel) migrating today, Erik and our guest Lars entered their numbers on Dofbasen, just klick on the link below.

In the afternoon Dante and Lauren went to the harbour. The juvenile Caspian Gull (Levantmåge) is still there. I went in town as well. In the evening we had a really good dinner, made by Dante and Lauren. Hopefully we will have a little more to write about in the next days. Looking forward!

Today's observations of observers in the area

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

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia

Today we started the day with morning observations at worlds end 1. after a few slow days, today we started to have some birds moving around, with some good number of passerins and sea birds, but the highlight of the day was defenetly a Humpback whale (Pukkelhval) that dante found, and we all (Yehonatan. Lauren, Dante, Joana) watched it several times goes up and diving back down.

 Whooper swans (Sangsvane) flying over,  Yehonatan ben aroia

More and more Blue tits (Blåmejse) every day now

other highlights from today are a immature Golden eagle, (Kongeørn) Great northen diver (Islom), 9 Shags (Topskarv), 120 Mislte thrushes (Misteldrossel), Caspian gull (Kaspisk Måge) and many other great birds.

When we arriven back to the station, the weather started to change after a the calm morning. the wind got very strong with some rain, so we all stayed at the station doing indoor tasks for the rest of the day.

As usual, the day started with Dante, Yehonatan and I heading out for morning observations from Verdens Endes 1. Our highlights from our 4 hour watch included 103 Skylark (Sanglærke), 1 Carrion Crow (Sortkrage), 1 Goosander (Stor Skallesluger) and 27 Fulmar (Mallemuk).

After joining us at Verdens Endes 1, Lars birded the local area and saw 3 adder (Hugorm) and a female Goshawk (Duehøg). Later in the day, 2 Golden Eagle (Kongeørn), a White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) and a Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge) were spotted from Verdens Endes 1 by Ragnar Smith. Johanna and Simon began preparing the netting site for the season’s ringing which will start very soon.

Cormorant on a nest and Adder by Lars.

In the afternoon, Yehonatan set about mending some pyramid traps whilst Johanna and I headed off to conduct a Fulmar (Mallemuk) survey. Throughout the year, we are walking a number of 10km transect around the Skagen coastline to collect dead seabirds, with a particular focus on Fulmars. These birds are sent to Aarhus University who are investigating plastic pollution and contents in the stomach. Johanna and I also used the opportunity to do a beach-clean and we managed to collect 4 bags of rubbish on our way around as well as 2 Fulmars for the study.

Johanna with two bags of rubbish collected from the Skagen coastline.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan, Dante, Johanna, Lauren, Lars & Anette

With sunrise creeping ever earlier, Johanna, Lauren and I started our morning observation at 6:30am. Luckily, yesterday’s heavy rain has melted most of the snow although it still felt like winter up at Verdens Endes 1. Our highlights of the morning were 6 Buzzards (Musvåge), 3 Red Kite (Rød Glente) (hopefully representing the start of the raptor migration), the first White Wagtail (Hvid Vipsjert) of the year, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Sildemåge) (also the first of the year) and 31 Mistle Thrush (Misteldrossel).

Red Kite and gulls by Lars

Meanwhile Yehonatan headed to the harbour to collect some bait for the raptor project we are undertaking here at Skagen Fuglestation. Back at the station, Simon hosted the board of the bird observatory for a productive meeting. 

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia, Lars, Anette

Today's observations by observers in the area