Today it’s only me and Frederik at the station. Because we were only 2 and because the weather was not very good, we did not go out ringing. We used the time we had to complete other tasks, such as cleaning, entering data and other office work. 
Frederik went bird watching during the afternoon and saw a female Greta Reed Warbler while I stayed at the station and worked on the computer. I also went to visit the lighthouse exhibition  and then climbed up the lighthouse tower for the first time since I arrived. The views on Skagen peninsula from there are wonderful.

Frederik R. Johansen and Amandine Doré

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

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Today, Frederik, Fanny and I went out ringing at the Cable Drum. As migration period is reaching an end, the number of birds caught in the nets is slowing down. Moreover, today was very windy and we decided to close the nets earlier. Only 5 birds were caught.

Later in the morning, Fanny and I went out to the Cormorants’ Colonies, to do a survey of the nests and chicks. There are about 30 active nests in this colony, and today we saw that a large part of the nests had chicks, usually between 2 and 3. We could see the parents regurgitating food to their nestlings, and some of them were already big. We also saw several females incubating but couldn’t know for sure if there were chicks or still eggs.

In the afternoon, Fanny and I decided to try to catch adult Common Ringed Plovers, after ringing the chicks yesterday, while Frederik decided to go and look for a Rock Thrush that had been seen these previous days. We tried to trap the adult plovers, but unfortunately this was not successful. We however, found a nest, which was very well camouflaged among the rocks ! Common Ringed Plover lay their eggs directly on the ground, in open and bare habitat, relying on camouflage to protect their nest, eggs and young chicks.

Can you find the nest ?

We ended up the day by a nice dinner in the Café Blink at the Lighthouse, which was celebrating its reopening today.  The food was really good and we enjoyed this relaxing time after a very busy day.

Fanny :

It is time for me to say goodbye to Skagen, after 3 amazing months who past just like 3  weeks, I am leaving with my mind  full of all great memories and plenty of new birds ! Skagen is truly an amazing place to go birding with such a great spirit around all the birders, who are happy to share their sitting and spend time together, that also make such a special place! I was looking so forward to see the sort-eared owl and Pallid harrier for so long in France and I needed only one month here to have just amazing setting of them. The ringing was so various, with so many species and passionate teacher always happy to give advice, big thanks you to Simon for that and his truth on us  ! Honestly, for anybody who still don’t now where to go, Skagen is the place to be in Spring ! Great observation, amazing bird in the nets and so kind birder everywhere, the volunteers, the locals and the also visitor. Thanks you, all of you that I meet here, visitor for some days, volunteers, or local for many years, you made my stay special in Skagen and I won’t forget it! I post my favourite picture of my time in Skagen, not the best picture but such a special moment for me that I won’t forget, thanks to Frederik who spot the bird from the observatory windows…

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet)

Lille gråsisken – 1
Rødhals – 1
Gærdesanger – 1
Bogfinke – 1
Munk - 1

Simon S. Christiansen, Fanny Rey, Frederik R. Johansen and Amandine Doré

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

 Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

This morning, Frederik and I went opening the nets and Fanny joined us some time later for the first round. The weather was lightly cloudy and quite windy. We caught very few birds in the first rounds, and even less in the last rounds, maybe because of the wind. We caught two Bullfinches (Dompap), one male and one female, probably a breeding pair. We saw flocks of Common crossbills (Lille korsnæb) flying around. Lars did observations and counts of the species seen while we were ringing.
 

Bullfinch (Dompap)

After the ringing session, Fanny and I went to check if eggs of previously known Common ringed plovers’ (Stor præstekrave) nests in Grenen beach had hatched, and we saw indeed some very young chicks running around with their parents. We decided to come back a bit later in the afternoon to catch the chicks and ring them. While ringing, the parents of the chicks were feigning having a broken wing (distraction display). This is a common strategy used by plovers to distract predators from attacking their chicks.  We ringed two clutches of ringed plover, the first one with 3 chicks, the second one with 2.

Female covering the chicks

A very young chick


Weighing of the chicks

We ended the day by a nice dinner in a restaurant of Skagen, and then some bird watching in the fields around the town. We were looking for Rosy’s starlings (Rosenstær) but only saw Common starlings (Stær).

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet & Grenen beach):

Bogfinke - 1
Dompap, Lille (ssp. europaea) - 1
Tornsanger - 2
Havesanger - 1
Munk - 2
Gærdesmutte - 2
Rørsanger- 1
Gulbug - 1
Rødhals - 2
Gærdesanger - 1
Kærsanger - 2
Stor Præstekrave – 5

Lars Bo Jacobsen, Simon S. Christiansen, Fanny Rey, Frederik R. Johansen and Amandine Doré

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

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Yesterday evening, we all went for some night-catching in Sandmiten, hoping to catch some Nightjars (Natravn). While setting up the nets, we started to hear some males singing, and saw at least three of them flying. 

The weather conditions were good to catch nightjars – sky slightly cloudy and no wind – but unfortunately, after long hours waiting in the cold night and several rounds to the nets, no bird was caught… But we will probably try again soon!
During the night we also saw and heard several woodcocks flying over us. Other interesting fact, there was some faeces on the road, probably belonging to a wolf !

As the sun rose, we came back to the the Bird Observatory and Esben and I went out opening the nets at the Cable Drum Shrubbery. Fanny joined us some some time later, with some coffee that was definitely needed after this long night. The morning was very sunny and warm. Not many birds were caught, but we got a Reed Bunting (Rørspurv) and, in the last round, a young Crested tit (Topmejse)! Its an anually thing that the young Crested tits do dispersal here in June away from the breeding area while the adult stays.

While waiting for the nets, we saw a Bittern (Rørdrum) flying around, heard and saw several Common Snipes (Dobbeltbekkasin).

Today was last day for Esben’s in the Observatory and he left after the ringing in the morning. 

After dinner we went to the comorant lake in the evening, we did'nt see the Little Bittern but a nice Kingfisher was showing.

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet):

Gærdesmutte: 1
Rødstjert: 1
Kærsanger: 5
Rørsanger: 4
Gulbug: 1
Tornsanger: 3
Havesanger: 2
Munk: 4
Gransanger: 1
Topmejse: 1
Bogfinke: 2

Total: 24

Esben E. Hansen,  Lars Bo Jacobsen,Simon S. Christiansen, Fanny Rey, Frederik R. Johansen, Pernille Roed and Amandine Doré

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

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

I dag tog vi alle til Kabeltromlen for at ringmærke. Det var en fin dag med massere af Rørsangere og Kærsangere. Til sidst var vi så heldige at fange en Bjergvipstjert!! Den var bare vildt fed!

Vi tog tidligt hjem for at slappe af og lave arbejdet færdigt for i dag. For senere skal vi ud og fange Natravne, og det bliver bare vildt spændende at se, om vi kan fange noget! 

Mærkning (Kabeltromlen):

Skovpiber - 1

Bjergvipstjert - 1

Rødhals - 6

Vindrossel - 1

Kærsanger - 9

Rørsanger - 11

Gulbug - 1

Gærdesanger - 2

Tornsanger - 5

Havesanger - 2

Munk - 8

Gransanger - 2

Løvsanger - 1

Bogfinke - 1

Lille Gråsisken - 1

Sum: 52

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Esben E. Hansen, Fanny Rey, Amandine Dore og Frederik R. Johansen

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

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Today Frederik, Esben and I went ringing at Kabeltromlen. Simon joind us for the second round. The two first round where very nice with a lot of birds and then it went very slow just in 30 minutes which was very surprising ! With all this bird we had some very nice surprise, in the same round we get, a Crested tit (Topmejse) and Water rail (Vandrikse) and a Greenish warbler (Lundsanger)!!!

The Greenish warbler it the first caught for this species for Skagen bird observatory.

Frederik get to ring his first Jay (Skovskade) today, he will remember of the bite ! We also had the visit of Athena and her very cute dogs, she was volunteers here during the first year of the observatory. We haven’t so much time to observe migration with all this bird today but we still saw Hen Harrier (Blå kærhøg), a Oriole (Pirol) was seem in Ellekratette. The Little Bittern (Dværghejre) was still observe at the Cormorant colony today.

During the afternoon we all had all a good nap after this good morning and then work on the computer.

This evening a new volunteer came, Amandine from France which is going to be there until end of August.

Esben made a very nice Barbecue for all of us and frieds tonight with a special dessert form Denmark that I forget the name of course but was very nice !

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

                Gransanger        1                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Bogfinke              2                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Havesanger        3                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Tornsanger         5                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Munk                    14                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                Rødstjert             1                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Gærdesanger    1                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Sivsanger             1                                                                                                                                                                            

                Kærsanger          10                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                Rørsanger           11                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                Topmejse            1                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Lundsanger        1                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Solsort                  1                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Sangdrossel        1                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Vindrossel           1                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Skovskade          1                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Vandrikse            1             

Sum:                      56

Folk: Esben E. Hansen, Simon S. Christiansen, Frederik Johansen, Athena Valentin Jensen, Amandine Dore, Fanny Rey

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

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Vækkeuret ringede 02.30 hvor vi skulle ud og åbne net, denne gang blev det Martina og Anders. Vi andre kunne sove en time længere.  Første runde var god og sådan var det resten af dagen indtil vi lukkede net kl. 12, hele 81 nye ringmærkede fugle. Hvoriblandt 2 karmindompap.

 Kl 11.00 sprang jeg fra, for jeg skulle hjælpe Niels med en guidet tur rundt i reservatet.

Highlights fra morgenobs var, Rosenstær, pirol og Sortstrubet lom.

Om eftermiddagen blev der tjekket ringmærkningsdata og lavet andre praktiske ting lige indtil der blev meldt en dværghejre ved Skarvsøen, som vi skulle ud at prøve at se.

Rødstjert                2

Sivsanger               2

Kærsanger             9

Rørsanger              8

Gulbug                  10

Tornsanger             6

Havesanger           6

Munk                     19

Gransanger           1

Løvsanger              2

Bogfinke                 5

Grønsisken             2

Karmindompap       2

Dompap                  2

Rørspurv                 1

Gærdesmutte          3

Gærdesanger          1

Sum:                      81

Folk: Martina Hillbrand, Esben E. Hansen, Lars Bo Jacobsen, Anders Brinkmann, Simon S. Christiansen, Niels Eriksen, Fanny Rey, Rune Sø Neergaard.

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

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

This morning we all went ringing again. The migration count is now being done from Kabeltrommeln, so we could all stay together and help in the ringing. Anders is here over the weekend and also helped in the ringing to increase his experience. The morning was not all too exciting for ringed birds. It was not bad but no uncommon species. The only exception was the Eurasian Siskin (grønsisken).

Also a nice surprise in the early morning were two baby blackbirds (solsort) that are probably only just learning to fly and immediately ended up in a net. And then later in the morning again in another one. But it is good to know they are alive and healthy and they are the first birds born this year that we got to ring (apart from the tit chicks we ringed in the nest box).

Raptor migration was a bit more interesting with again a large number of honey bussards (hvepsevåge) and a white-tailed eagle (havørn). A couple red kites (rød glente) and, of course, the by now obligatory steppe eagle (steppeørn) – probably the same that has been here yesterday.

More down to earth there was again a greenish warbler (lundsanger) at ellekrattet this morning, which, this time is most likely really a greenish warbler. Fanny got a very good picture of it.

The board of the bird observatory held a meeting today at the lighthouse.

Ringing at Kabeltrommeln:

Tornsanger – Common Whitethroat – 5

Gransanger – Chiffchaff – 3

Bogfinke – Chaffinch – 2

Havesanger – Garden Warbler – 6

Munk – Blackcap – 7

Sivsanger – Sedge Warbler – 1

Kærsanger – Marsh Warbler – 1

Løvsanger – Willow Warbler – 13

Grønsisken – Eurasian Siskin – 1

Rødhals – Robin – 1

Rørsanger – Reed Warbler- 3

Gærdesanger – Lesser Whitethroat – 2

Gærdesmutte – Wren – 2

Sangdrossel – Songthrush – 1

Solsort – Blackbird – 2

Total: 50

People: Martina Hillbrand, Esben E. Hansen, Lars Bo Jacobsen, Anders Brinkmann, Simon S. Christiansen, Niels Eriksen, Mark Desholm, Fanny Rey, and the board of the observatory

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

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

This morning the weather was very windy and rainy so that means we could not open the nets and the birds won’t migrate as much. Thanks to that fact we had a nice long morning sleep all the three of us and a good rest!

During the morning we worked on the computer, Martina and Esben made movies for social media and I was listening to the sound recording of the night migration helped by Martina. You can find the result of the migration night of the 29 of May here: https://www.trektellen.nl/count/view/2601/20200530.

That was a quiet night compare to the other we had before, but we had a new species that we have heard before on night recording, a common Quail (Vagtel).

During the afternoon Martina and I tried to find the Citrine wagtail (Citronvipstjert) that Hans spotted on the morning. It was a female and he could get a nice picture of it. We unfortunately didn’t find her, next time maybe!

Then we went to the Cormorant colony to do the following of the breeding. Today we saw several chicks and parents who were feeding, it is not easy to see them because the nest is probably very deep but sometimes we see little beck pop up ! You can see on the picture we barely see the little chick! Also, there is still some bird who are incubating. We also heart and saw a Great Reed Warbler (Drosselrørsanger).

During the observation of the cormorant colony, Martina spotted a bird that land just near the border of the lake 20 meters from us and after some discussion and help by Peter an other birder they manage to identify that it was a Little Crake (Lille rørvagtel) ! Hans arrived sometimes after because we called him, we played the song of male and we found out it was a female because of her call when she answer the playing. Then she came out of the reef for some second and we manage to see her perfectly but she was very shy and hide very quickly.

Sometimes after the Zello message was made, many people from Skagen came to see her because it was a first observation for Skagen! The people manage to see her even if she was hiding behind the reef. While we were all looking to find the Crake a Steppe eagle (Steppeørn) flew just over our heads with three White-tail eagle (Havørn) !

We said goodbye to Hans and Birthe today, big thanks for Hans help once again ! We welcomed new guest who will stay at the observatory for the weekend.

People: Martina Hillbrandt, Esben E. Hansen, Mikael Ancher, Lars Bo Jacobsen, Peter Brodersen, Birthe and Hans Christophersen, Mark amd Malthe Desholm, Anders Brinkmann, Johanne, Rune sø Neergard, Mogens Neergaard, Simon S. Christiansen and Fanny Rey

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

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

I dag ringmærkede vi både ved Jennes Sø og Kabeltromlen. Fanny og Martina ude ved Jennes Sø til CES mærkning, her mærkede de 11 fugle heriblandt Skovskade og Topmejse.

Jeg åbnede net før Lars og Troels havde lovet at komme ud at hjælpe med ringmærkningen. vi fik Ringmærket 28 nye fugle.
Hans var også ude imorges, Hvor han fandt en Buskrørsanger som nok er nr. 3 i skagen i år.
Senere var han på rovfugle obs ved pælebakkeklit, her var et stort træk at Mursejler.
Vi så under ringmærkning 3 Rosenstærer. Mens Hans så 6 Ved Batterivej.

Skovpiber

Efter Frokost har den stået på rengøring. Fanny og Martina var ude at hente data fra radiomodtagen, fra rødhalse projektet.

Ringmærkning: (Kabeltromlekrattet+Jennes Sø)

Sivsanger         1 
Kærsanger       5 
Rørsanger        4 
Havesanger     3 
Gærdesanger  2 
Tornsanger      5 
Løvsanger        1 
Munk                15
Skovpiber         1
Skovskade       1
Topmejse         1 

Sum: 39

Folk: Martina Hillbrand, Fanny Rey, Esben E. Hansen, Lars Bo Jacobsen, Troels Esk Ortvad, Hans Christophersen og Knud Pedersen

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

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen