What a lovely day we had again today ! As usual, Amelie, Angus and Simon took the first round at the ringing station. As the weather was calm and wind-less, plenty of birds were wainting to be ringed ! Christina had then to back them up to help them extract the birds and ring them. Although it was a summery day, the 2 most captured species today has an autumn smell : 13 Wrens (Gærdesmutte) and 18 Robins (Rødhals). Some other nice species ended up their way in the nets today: a Northern Wheatear (Stenpikker), a Meadow Pipit (Engpiber) and a 2 Bramblings (Kvæverfinke) !

Gulspurv - yellowhammer

Meadow Pipit - Engpiber

Stor flagspaette - Great Spotted Woodpecker

Gulspurv Yellowhammer

Rorsanger - reed Warbler

Christina and I were at World’s End 1 today for migration counting. Since the wind was really slow, I didn’t really expect seabird migration to be entertaining and I focused then on passerines. I enjoyed a lovely morning then with a good numbers of Coal, Blue and Great tits flocks (Blåmejse, Sortmejse, Musvit), a few Jays (Skovskade) and some scarce species for Skagen such as Hawfinch (Kernebider) or Woodlark (Hedelærke) including one singing individual!

Nothing really special to share with you about our afternoon, dedicated to our daily tasks such as data entry, sheet checking, holy nap time, …

In the evening, the love couple Amelie and Augustin spent their time in town skateboarding and eating, enjoying the last night of Augustin’s stay which is unfortunately ending tomorrow already… Time flies fast !

Ringmærkning (Kabbeltromlen):

Stor Flagspaette - Great Spotted Woodpecker : 2

Blamejse - Blue tit: 4

Musvit - Great Tit: 3

Rørsanger - Reed Warbler: 5

Lovsanger - Willow Warbler: 2

Gransanger - Common chiffchaff: 5

Munk - Eurasian blackcap: 5

Gæ­rdesmutte - Eurasian wren: 13

Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 4

Rødhals - European robin: 18

Stenpikker - Wheatear : 1

Jernspurv - Dunnock : 6

Engpiber - Meadow Pipit : 1

Bogfinke - Chaffinch : 1

Dvaerkefinke - Brambling : 2

Lille Gråsisken - Lesser redpoll: 2

Gulspurv - Yellowhammer : 1

Rorspurv - Reed bunting : 7

Total: 82

Ringmærkning (Jennes Sø):

Blamejse - Blue tit: 1

Musvit - Great Tit: 1

Gransanger - Common chiffchaff: 2

Gæ­rdesmutte - Eurasian wren: 4

Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 5

Rødhals - European robin: 2

Jernspurv - Dunnock : 2

Lille Gråsisken - Lesser redpoll: 16

Stor Gråsisken - Mealy redpoll: 2

Total: 35

Daily Total: 117

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Martin Grienenberger, Amelie Zeller, Angus Barnett, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Augustin Stickse, Michael Ancher, Grethe and Stig , Eric Christophersen, Michael Ancher

Today, Amelie and Angus went bird ringing at Jennes Sø together with Simon and Michael. There weren’t nearly as many birds in the nets as expected, but it was still an exciting ringing day because they caught a Lesser redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) from Norway!

It is always quite rewarding to catch a bird that has been mist-netted and/or ringed elsewhere. It shows us how far these birds can and do travel.

During the morning at Jennes Sø, they were visited by a group of university students who will become teachers. The students received a tour and a lecture from Simon about ringing. Amelie and Angus played a migratory bird game with them, in which each person was assigned a bird species. Everyone then had to walk to different “stations” that represented the various regions of the world to show which migration route “their” species takes throughout the year. Everybody had a lot of fun, and the students are looking forward to playing the game with their pupils to teach them about migratory birds.

After the group left, Amelie and Angus went to repair a few of the damaged nets – such maintenance tasks are necessary to keep our catching method with the mist nets effective and safe.

Amelie and Angus also saw a Taiga or Tundra bean goose (Sædgås eller Tundrasædgås) and caught 4 Crested tits (Topmejse), which I thought was very exciting. I wasn’t at Jennes Sø with them today and have never ringed a Crested tit before, so I look forward to catching some in the coming weeks.

I spent a sunny morning at World’s End 3 with Martin for the daily migratory bird counts. It was a quiet day with only very little movement over the water. Grethe and Stig came to visit us, and I practiced my seabird identification skills, and Martin even began to teach me the bird calls of passerines (and a few non-passerines) flying by overhead. I must admit that I find learning the bird calls much more difficult than identifying them by sight. Martin has been a patient teacher, so I am sure that I will improve – one species at a time.

Our afternoon was busy with the usual data entry and administrative tasks that are just as important as the field work (although not always quite as fun). We will be ringing at Kabeltromlen again tomorrow – who knows, perhaps we will get another recapture from abroad?

Ringmærkning (Jennes Sø):

Topmejse - European crested tit: 4

Musvit - Great tit: 3

Rørsanger - Eurasian reed warbler: 2

Gransanger - Common chiffchaff: 3

Munk - Eurasian blackcap: 1

Tornsanger - Common whitethroat: 1

Gæ­rdesmutte - Eurasian wren: 2

Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 1

Rødhals - European robin: 4

Lille Gråsisken - Lesser redpoll: 15

Total: 36

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Martin Grienenberger, Amelie Zeller, Angus Barnett, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Augustin Stickse, Michael Ancher, Grethe and Stig 

What a nice and sunny day! We really enjoyed having some sun in our faces today, even though it was quite chilly in the morning. Martin had a nice counting session at the Kattegat Bunker with a lot of Razorbills (Alk) and Guillemots, 250 in total!

In the meantime, Christina, Angus, Augustin, Simon and I had a good ringing session. Christina was very escited to ring her first Common Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin) today. Also, our guests and Jorgen and Igor joined us at Kabeltromlen.

Later in the morning Augustin joined Martin and was happy to learn new species with Martin as a good teacher. They took some nice pictures through the scope at World’s End 3.

At the ringing station in Kabeltromlen we had some visitors today. A group of biology students from Aalborg came and enjoyed watching us ring. They will be doing a university project about Robins (Rødhals) and their migration habits, so they were lucky to see some Robins in hand today.

In the afternoon Martin, Angus and Augustin had a little boys’ trip to Jennes Sø to put up some mist nets there. Meanwhile, I started to sew some of the holes in the nets at Kabeltromlen. It is important to maintain the nets, so they can be used for a long time.

In the evening all of us went to Jerup to do some Birdwatching there. We had a good evening with Brant Geese (Knortegås), Tundra Bean Geese (Tundrasædgås), some Kestrels (Tårnfalk), a Red Kite (Rød Glente) and some nice flocks of Greylag Geese (Grågås). From a distance we could observe a Greater Blackbacked Gull (Svartbag) killing a Blackheaded Gull (Hættemåge).

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):

Blåmejse – Blue Tit – 3

Dobbeltnekkasin – Common Snipe – 1

Fugelkonge – Goldcrest – 6

Gærdesmutte – Wren – 8

Gransanger – Chiffchaff – 3

Gårsisken – Redpoll – 1

Jernspurv – Dunnock – 10

Løvsanger – Willow Warbler – 1

Munk – Blackcap – 3

Musvit – Great Tit – 2

Rødhals – Robin – 2

Rødstjert – Common Redstart – 1

Rørsanger – Reed Warbler – 1

Rørspurv – Reed Bunting – 4

Sortmejse – Coal Tit - 11

Total: 57

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Martin Grienenberger, Amelie Zeller, Angus Barnett, Simon S. Christiansen, Augustin Sticksel, Grethe and Stig, Jørgen & Igor

We woke up this morning with a nice and not too windy weather. Two teams as usual then : Christina, Angus, , Simon, Amelie and her boyfriend Augustin went for ringing and I joined Knud at World’s End 3 for counting migratory birds.

The highlight of the ringing morning is by far this recapture from Holland ! A Blackcap (Munk) found its way to our nets and we’re glad it did ! We don’t have the life history from this bird and we will keep you updated as soon as we hear from Holland.

Speaking of ring recovery, I told you about a Greylag Goose neckband which was found at Nordstand. We received an email from the ringer ! The bird was caught and ringed in Norway in Tennsundet, Herøy in 2012. This place is situated 950 km north of Skagen. This bird was seen during winters in Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and in Holland, and ack in Norway to breed.

The migration counting was back on an average day today, with quite small numbers for most of the species here. But we were still entertained with a great diversity ! We counted no less than 47 different species including a few new life birds for me : Lapland Bunting (Lapværling) and Twite (Bjergirisk) ! The young Little Gulls were still present, mixing together with the Tern flock.

During the afternoon, most of us went a really nice walk around the area to enjoy the sun. Amelie and Augustin went to the Tip of Denmark to admire the big waves coming from the north and colliding into the Kattegat waters. They found 2 beauties of nature on their way : a lizard and a shark eggshell. Christina and I went around the north Skagen area from the lighthouse to the pencil, Nordstrand and the way back to the lighthouse by Skarvsoen and Grenen. We had the chance to cross our path with 2 vipers ! One very tiny young was crossing the road while a bigger adult was sunbathing.

During the day, I also went through the night recordings from the 2 previous days. The night before yesterday was unexpectedly quiet with only a few birds, although the weather was really perfect for night migration. Yesterday was different, and I put the recorder here at the Lighthouse since the fog was really dense, and it proved to be a good idea ! The light generated by the lighthouse is attracting birds blinded by the fog. Therefore they came with really good numbers ! The night started with a flock of Greylag Geese (Grågås), quickly followed by some crazy flocks of Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle), including one which spent 3 minutes circling around the lighthouse and giving no less than 280 calls ! Crazy ! The cherry on top was that Barn Owl (Slørugle) which only called once. This species is very rare here and it could be only the second or third record for Skagen ! You can see more of the results on the link below.

Ringing Totals:

Chiffchaff - Gransanger:  8
Dunnock - Jernspurv:  4
Willow warbler - Løvsanger:  1
Blackcap - Munk:  16
Robin - Rødhals: 4
Coal tit - Sortmejse: 6

Total: 31

People: Martin Grienenberger, Amelie Zeller, Angus Barnett, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Augustin Stickse, Grethe and Stig

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Trektellen results

This morning was an eventful morning all round. I have spent the last two days learning from the guru of sea watching here that is Knud. He managed to find a black-throated diver (Sortstrubet Lom) and clearly explained how to separate them from the approximately 40 red-throated divers (Rødstrubet Lom) around today. It was nice to be accompanied for a while by our guests Grethe and Stig as we looked for skuas and divers. With less skuas passing at sea today we found our focus moving towards the gulls at the point. In fact, we recorded 8 species. One little gull (Dværgmåge) on the pool suddenly become three which was a nice start. Then about 09:00 Knud picked out a first year Mediterranean gull (Sorthovedet Måge) resting right at the tip but the real icing on the cake was a second calender year SABINES GULL (Sabinemåge) right next to it! It was also nice to observe one grey seal amongst the harbour seals and two smart bar-tailed godwits (Lille Kobbersneppe) nearby. Just as I was about to leave to see if the ringing team needed help a Lapland bunting (Lapværling) was spotted. Top birding!

Sabines Gull (Sabinemåge)

Photo: Knud Peterson

Bar-tailed godwit (Lille Kobbersneppe)

Harbour seal

They didn’t need help. But they were still catching birds. We were accompanied by Oluf, who will be assisting us in the ringing when Simon is away on leave in the coming weeks. After the session we received a short but handy tutorial from Simon on repairing mist nets – although it won’t be the most thrilling of activities we do here at Skagen. What is thrilling however is the trapping of waders at night, and boy have we been busy.

Last night we managed another first for the observatory – a grey plover. (Strandhjejle). Also in this session was a single dunlin (Almindelig Ryle) and common tern (Fjordterne). But with heavy fog rolling in today it was too tempting to go out a second night resulting in catching a second grey plover, a knot (Islandsk Ryle) and my first turnstone (Stenvender).

Grey Plover (Strandhjejle)

Common tern (Fjordterne)

Despite the fact we always seem to be chasing an endless list of tasks today we even found the time for some beach volleyball and a swim. No sun needed as the sea was a warm 15 degrees… (Still a bit too cold for me).

Ringing Totals:

Blue tit - Blåmejse:  10
Goldcrest - Fuglekonge: 1
Chiffchaff - Gransanger:  9
Siskin - Gråsisken:  1
Lesser redpoll - Gråsisken, Lille: 3
Dunnock - Jernspurv:  11
Willow warbler - Løvsanger:  1
Blackcap - Munk:  14
Robin - Rødhals: 17
Redstart - Rødstjert: 1
Reed warbler - Rørsanger: 5
Reed bunting - Rørspurv:  1
Blackbird - Solsort:  1
Coal tit - Sortmejse: 12
Whitethroat - Tornsanger: 1

Total: 88

People: Martin Grienenberger, Amelie Zeller, Angus Barnett, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Augustin Stickse, Oluf Lou, Grethe and Stig

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Martin and I opened the nets at Kabeltromlen on a very pleasant and surprisingly warm morning. A short while later, we were joined by Simon, Amelie and her boyfriend Augustin, who arrived late last night with Amelie’s parents. They will be in Denmark for an entire week. Augustin was a great help during our ringing session when he entered all of our ringing data.

We caught a beautiful male Chaffinch (Bogfink)!

Martin’s night recordings contained Mallard (Gråand) and Golden plover (Hjejlen) recordings, but not much else. He hopes that there will be more nocturnal flight calls on future recordings.

Angus joined Knud for the seabird migration count and saw a Little gull (Dværgmåge), a Razorbill (Alk), and a Snow bunting (Snespurv) apart from the usual migratory seabirds at World’s End 3. He also saw a Migrant hawker (Aeschna mixta), a beautiful species of dragonfly. Tonight, him, Amelie, and Augustin will be going night catching. Perhaps they will catch some waders?

Simon had a busy day as well. After going ringing at Kabeltromlen, he had meetings with two Swedish universities (Lund and Linnaeus) and other bird observatories. They discussed the Icarus project, which we will assist them with next month. Part of our job at Skagen Fuglestation will be to catch blackbirds (Solsort), tag them, and collect any ticks they might have. We will send the ticks to the lab for testing, and the results will provide us with lots of useful information on the disease ecology of blackbirds and ticks.

Our guests Stig and Grethe came to visit us for the ringing session at Kabeltromlen this morning, then went on to watch Northern Gannets and visited the exhibition and the lighthouse. On this beautiful sunny day, they had great views from the top. They also got to enjoy a walk around the dunes at Nordstrand.

Martin, Amelie, Augustin, and I enjoyed a late afternoon swim in the sea. The water was not as cold as expected, and with the sun slowly sinking towards the horizon, it was the perfect way to end another gorgeous day at Skagen Fuglestation.

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):

Sortmejse – Coal tit: 12

Gærdesmutte – Eurasian wren: 1

Rødhals – European robin: 7

Gransanger – Chiffchaff: 1

Jernspurv – Dunnock: 2

Munk – Blackcap: 5

Rødstjert – Redstart: 3

Blåmejse – Blue tit: 2

Rørsanger – Eurasian reed warbler: 5

Bogfinke – Chaffinch: 1

Total: 39

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Martin Grienenberger, Amelie Zeller, Angus Barnett, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Knud Pedersen, Augustin Stickse, Anders Oserby, Dorthe, Grethe and Stig 

Windy and kind of rainy day today. The ringing team was made of Amelie and Angus who opened the nets in the morning, joined later by Christina and Simon for a busy first round. Thirty birds were caught and ringed during this one ! Simon expects the next first rounds for the next days to be as such. The highlight of the day was a Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger), which could be the last one of the season ? Unfortunately, due to a strengthening wind, they had to close the nets after only 3 rounds and 42 birds ringed.

On the migration counting side, I was with Knud and Erik at World’s End 3. We enjoyed a nice and not too rainy morning with a nice passage of Northern Fulmars (Mallemuk) and Great Skuas (Stor Kjove). There was 3 young and still lovely Arctic Terns feeding at the tip.

The chairman of the Bird Observatory, Niels Eriksen, joined us last night and went out with us this morning. He first went to the ringing station before sharing nice views at migrating birds at WE3. He then ran a tour around Grenen for Norwegian people.

Michael Ancher was ringing at Jennes Sø this morning and the incredible chance to catch a Nightjar (Natravn) !! Erik took this gorgeous set of pictures of it :

Michael Ancher, again, found an interesting ring last Thursday while walking at North Beach. It is actually a neckband that is used on Geese and Swans and has the same purpose as the colour-rings put on terns and gulls. Angus searched for the project that this ring belongs to, and it appears that the bird could come from 2 different projects : Greylag Goose from Norway, or Bean Goose from Finland. We will keep you updated when we receive the answer from the ringers !

In early afternoon, a tour was organized by the Nature Family Club at the lighthouse. They built a lovely nest-shaped wicker and planted some plants and moss inside.

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen + Jennes Sø):

Natravn - Nightjar 1
Sortmejse - Coal Tit 1
Topmejse - Crested Tit 2
Blamejse - Blue Tit 2
Gærdesanger - Lesser Whitethroat 2
Gærdesmutte - Wren 2
Fuglekonge - Goldcrest 1
Gransanger - Chiffchaff 3
Lovsanger - Willow Warbler 3
Jernspurv - Dunnock 10
Kærsanger - Marsh Warbler 1
Munk - Blackcap 12
Rødhals - Robin 15
Rødstjert - Redstart 2
Rørsanger - Reed Warbler 4
Bogfinke - Chaffinch 1
Lille Grasisken - Lesser Redpoll 21

Total: 83

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Grienenberger, Christina Stinn, Angus Barnett, Amelie Zeller, Michael Ancher, Niels Eriksen, Knud Pedersen, Erik Christophersen, Grethe and Stig (our new guests)

This morning we were getting up at 5 to check if the weather is fine for ringing, but as it was predicted to rain all morning, we went to bed again to sleep another hour. Martin, Anders and Christina made their way to Kattegat Bunker at sunrise to count the migrating birds. Today, there weren’t so many birds in total, but it was the best day so far for Wigeons (Pibeand), as the team counted 53 individuals.

Then we also had some tasks at the station, like checking the ring series that have been used this year. In the afternoon us volunteers cleaned the station and the lab like we do every week. Meanwhile, the board of the Skagen Fuglestation had a meeting they have approximately 4-5 times a year. A main item on the agenda was how to prioritize Simon’s work in the future. He will be participating in new projects, but aside from that be the person that coordinates and helps all the volunteers working here. Another discussion that was talked about was the decision about the good counting method for seabirds. Knud had prepared a presentation on this topic and in the end, it was decided that interval methods shouldn’t be used, but mainly actual bird counting. The meeting took quite a long time, as it was led into the evening, but it was very productive.

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Grienenberger, Christina Stinn, Angus Barnett, Amelie Zeller, Michael Ancher, Anders Brinkmann, Niels Eriksen, Board Members

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

In the morning Amelie and Christina went with the sun to Jennes Sø. There was a consistant flow of birds thoughout the morning with the highlight of a tree pipit. The tapes were effective in attracting good numbers of redpolls. During the day I tried to twitch a shag in the harbour but with no luck. Martin, Amelie and Anders who was visiting tried again later with no luck either! Martin was very excited as he understood they were going to see a 'shark' rather than a shag but he was a little disapointed.

Ringing

Tree pipit - Skovpiber: 1
Wren - Gærdesmutte: 1
Dunnock - Jernspurv:1
Reed warbler - Rørsanger: 1
Blackcap - Munk: 2
Chiffchaff - Gransanger: 10
Willow warbler - Løvsanger: 3 
Goldcrest - Fuglekonge: 1
Blue tit - Blåmase: 4
Great tit - Musvit: 3
Lesser redpoll - Lille Gråsisken: 21

Totals: 48

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Grienenberger, Christina Stinn, Angus Barnett, Amelie Zeller, Michael Ancher, Anders Brinkmann,

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Another windy day in Skagen… So, all of us volunteers went for observing again today with Knud at World’s End 3. Angus and I were quite tired from another night of catching at the tip of Denmark last night. Unfortunately, we had some competition for the birds yesterday, as a fox was trying to hunt for a Common Tern (Fjordterne). Still, it was amazing to observe the fox.

This morning we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise. The birds seemed to like the weather, too, as we saw over 500 Northern Fulmars (Mallemuk) and 67 Great Skuas (Storkjove) migrating North-West. Highlights today were a really close Hen Harrier (Blå Kærhøg) and a Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe)! Sooty Shearwaters are rare here, because Skagen is a detour on their migratory route. They are spectacular long-distance migrants traveling north up the western side of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans at the end of the nesting season in March-May, reaching subarctic waters in June-July, where they cross from west to east, then return south down the eastern side of the oceans in September-October, reaching to the breeding colonies, mostly on small islands around New Zealand, in November.

Highlights for me were a Fulmar flying really close right in front of us and some close Great Skuas, as I’m still learning to identify them.

Later in the morning, Angus and I went for checking out a nice wetland spot near World’s End 3, where we might try putting up mist nets sometime. There, we saw a lot of White Wagtails (Hvid Vipstjert), some Dunlins (Almindelig Ryle), a Meadow Pipit (Engpiber) and a Curlew Sandpiper (Krumnæbbet ryle) just a few meters away from us!

After the migration count Martin went to see this area, as well and saw two metal ringed Dunlins. Maybe these are the birds Angus and I caught two nights ago.

In the afternoon we had to cut some vegetation at Kabeltromlen, so that the mist nets won’t be broken by branches hanging in the lanes. After that, the four of us went on a little trip to Jenne Sø and the cormorant lake to do some birdwatching. Angus saw his first Crested Tit (Topmejse) there! Also, Martin caught a Migrant Hawker.

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) at Skarv Sø:

Now, Angus will make dinner for us and we are going to enjoy a nice movie night together.

Michael Ancher is now out ringing again at Jennes Sø starting the autumn season here. We will join him tomorrow.

Ringing (Jennes Sø):

Stor Flagspætte - Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1

Blåmejse - Blue Tit - 1

Løvsanger - Willow Warbler - 2

Gransanger - Chiffchaff - 4

Fuglekonge - Goldcrest - 1

Gærdesmutte - Wren - 1

Rødhals - Robin - 5

Jernspurv - Dunnock - 2

Stor Gråsisken - Mealy Redpoll - 3

Lille Gråsisken - Lesser Redpoll - 8

Grønsisken - Siskin - 5

Total: 33

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Martin Grienenberger, Christina Stinn, Angus Barnett, Amelie Zeller, Michael Ancher

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området