While the night catching that Mathilde and I went on was sadly unfruitful, we caught a lot of birds this morning for our short but intense ringing session. It included my first redstart (rødjstert) of my stay and numerous willow warblers (løvsanger). We, unfortunately, had to stop early as Simon had to leave early.

In the afternoon we had a small quiz about bird identification and watched a video on moult and aging in local passerines. A very useful insight from Simon for the upcoming migration in autumn. We also learned about a new aging technique regarding the skull of juvenile birds.

Today we also welcome our new volunteer, Rosalina who will stay with us for a few months: she will be mentored by Augustin for the first week so that she can learn what she needs.

Kærsanger – 1

Gærdesanger – 5

Løvsanger – 10

Rørsanger – 4

Munk – 3

Tornsanger – 6

Rødstjert – 1

Rørspurv – 2

Total 32

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen og Kirsten Bregn.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Last night two of my friends from my hometown arrived here and we went night catching but unfortunately didn’t catch anything, we only saw a seal pup on the beach. They joined us this morning when we went out observing, after that we went grocery shopping and took a nap. After our early evening meeting, we cleaned the apartment and I went out to the beach with my friends, they left before dinner to catch their ferry to Sweden where they will go canoeing for ten days.

Simon went to the beach to record some videos for youtube with Pernille Roed and her three children. In the afternoon Kirsten, our new guest in the apartment arrived she will be joining us in the ringing during her stay at the station and I prepared some spinach lasagna for us.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre,  Augustin Sticksel og Kirsten Bregn.

Last night’s night catching wasn’t able to take place because of the great weather: cloudless and windless night. This changed in the morning where the wind was strong and rain clouds were coming in. The bad weather meant we all got to sleep in. The rest of the morning was filled with admin work: sorting out the picture archive, analysing the sound recording and sorting out data inputting errors. Saturday also meant cleaning day: the lab and flat. Augustin and Ulysse went out each to cut the reed and shrubs around the nets and paths at Jennes Sø and Kabeltrommlen. I went out to the tip to try and photograph some of the waders present.

In the evening, Augustin and I went out to see if we could find some lesser black-backed gulls. We tried to see  if any of them had rings but most were sitting or the flowers blocked the view. We did manage to catch one of the previous ringed plover chicks. It was nice to see them doing well. While we were out, Ulysses prepared dinner: pizzas. Two of Augustin's friends arrived to stay the night.

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre og Augustin Sticksel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Today we… went ringing again!! Augustin and Mathilde opened the nets, and we all found a beautiful surprise in the first rounds: a juvenile barred warbler (høgesanger), the first of the season. Sadly, even though the cloudy weather was supposedly very adequate, the ringing was very slow placed: only 14 birds found their way to our nets.  

Simon animated a ringing tour for 2 families in the beginning of the afternoon to demonstrate and explain ringing techniques to the public. The nets of the old Lighthouse Garden were opened, and a single whitethroat (tornsanger) was ringed over the hour.

It rained for most of the afternoon, so we were not able to go out to Kabeltromlen to trim the growing vegetation around some of the mist nets and make way for a new net in the reed area.

If the weather doesn’t clear too much, Augustin and I will probably go night-catching around the tip of Grenen, looking for waders (vadefugle) or terns (terner).

Ringmærkninge – Kabeltrommlen

Høgesanger – 1

Tornsanger – 3

Munk – 1

Rørsanger – 3

Løvsanger – 5

Kærsanger – 1

Solsort – 1

Gærdesanger – 1

Ringmærkning - Fyrhaven

Tornsanger - 1

Total – 17

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre og Augustin Sticksel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen 

The day started slightly later for Augustin and me as Ulysse volunteered to open all the nets by himself. The morning started off well with half a dozen birds at each round but it was sadly cut short because of rain coming in. No special birds but the first pied flycatcher (broget fluesnapper) was seen close to the nets! We also got very excited about a Norwegian ringed reed warbler (rørsanger).

As it was raining, this meant nap time for us! The after was spent entering data, analysing the night recording, checking data and sorting out the photo archive. In the evening we opened the nets and so far have had 3 birds. The guests were kind enough to make us diner: corn on the cob, tortilla and pancakes.

Ringmærkninge – Kabeltrommlen

Havesanger – 2

Tornsanger – 6

Munk – 2

Rørsanger – 2

Løsanger – 4

Kærsanger – 4

Gærdesmutte – 1

Gulspurv – 1

Ringmærkninge – Fyrhaven

Tornsanger – 2

Gulspurv – 1

Total – 25

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre og Augustin Sticksel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

All the volunteers went out observing with Simon today. On our way to worlds end 2 we saw a spotted flycatcher (Grå Fleusnapper) we heard it yesterday but couldn’t see it. So Simon quickly set up his scope and we were able to take a look at this beautiful bird before it leaves Grenen and flies off to Afrika. We set our observing post at worlds end 2 for the first hour so we could get a better look at the marsh fields and take a better look at some passerines, but we weren’t too lucky with that. At the end of the first hour Simon saw a Orca and we decided to move nearer to the shore so we could get a better look at it. This tuned out to be a perfect place to see a harbour porpoise (Marsvin) near the shoreline. We continued our observations until 9:30 o’clock after that we returned and entered the data from this morning.

In the afternoon me and Mathilde went to skagen to do some grocery shopping and some birdwatching at the harbor while Ulysses was catching up on some sleep. After that i helped Simon with a ringing tour in the old lighthouse garden, unfortunately, we didn't catch any birds.

Havfugletælling – Grenen, Worlds End 1&2

Total 3046

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre og Augustin Sticksel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Today was a good day for ringing, with the northern winds and the recent rains, we caught several Willow warblers (løvsanger) and chiffchaffs (gransanger). Mathilde and Augustin opened the nets for a first round around 5h30. The threat of rain sadly cut our session short around 9h30. This left us plenty of time to catch up on sleep, clean around the flat and log in data.

Simon held an open freezer presentation, showing off the impressive collection of birds that we accumulate over the years (falcons, owls, blackbirds, finches, etc./falk, ugler, solsort, finke, etc.). A small crowd gathered in the courtyard of the lighthouse for over 45 minutes.

We welcome Niels Eriksen, head of the board of the Skagen Bird Observatory, who will join us until tomorrow to attend a Friends of the Observatory meeting here in Skagen.

Ringmærkninge – Kabeltrommlen

Tornsanger – 5

Gærdesanger – 3

Kærsanger – 1

Gransanger – 2

Munk – 2

Løvsanger – 5

Rørsanger – 3

Gulbug – 1                                         

Total - 22

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre og Augustin Sticksel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Ulysse and I headed to Jennes Sø for a CES (Constant effort site) ringing session. This meant an early morning with the nets to be opened by 4:45. The mosquitos were also very present. However, although we only caught 12 birds, we did catch quite a few different species. I was able to ring my first robin (rødhals) and Ulysse was lucky to ringed the bird of the session: a greater spotted woodpecker (stor flagspætte).

While we were ringing, Augustin got to sleep in a bit more, until 5! He went to world’s end 3 to observe with Knud. There were the usual species such as the hundreds of common scoters (sortand). Kestrels were out in numbers today. Notable species seen were the manx’s shearwater (almindelig skråpe), the red backed shrike (rødrygget tornskade) and the spotted redshank (sortklire). They also spotted a grey seal (grå sæl) out at sea.

After ringing and observations, we came back to the lighthouse for a short break before going out to open the nets in the old lighthouse garden. This was for the ringing tour organized in the context of the Kattegat week. When we thought the tour would be empty, the last net had a yellowhammer (gulspurv). The rest of the day was spent doing admin and shopping.

Ringmærkninge – Jennes Sø

Tornsanger – 2

Gærdesanger – 1

Kærsanger – 1

Solsort – 1

Gransanger – 3

Rørspurv – 1

Rødhals – 1

Gærdesmutte – 1

Stor Flagspætte – 1

Ringmærkninge – Fyrhaven

Gulspurv – 1

Total - 13

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre og Augustin Sticksel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

We have been able to go ringing at Kabeltromlen today again fortunately. Me an Ulysses opened the nets at half past 4. We were joined by Simon, Erik, Oluf and Fleming. We caught a Rørspurv today, we didn’t catch one of these for a while.

It’s Ulysses birthday today so Mathilde made some delicious peanutbutter chocolate cookies. In the afternoon we did some cleaning at the station and took a nap. The guests of last week, Thomas and Pia, sadly had to leave today in the morning you will be missed it was great having you here. Bodile and Ole, our new guests joined our evening meeting today, and they will join our CES ringing at Jennes Sø tomorrow as well.                 

Ringmærkninge – Kabeltrommlen

Tornsanger – 10

Munk – 1

Musvit – 1

Rørsanger – 3

Gærdesanger – 2

Kærsanger – 3

Gulbug – 1

Gransanger – 1

Rørspurv – 1

Total - 23

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre og Augustin Sticksel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Today was a quiet day. It was too windy to go ringing with over 12 m/s for the maximum velocity. Saturday is the day for cleaning, data entry checking and catching up on any unfinished tasks. It was also an emotional goodbye for Frank, we wish him the best for his upcoming degree in Plymouth. The afternoon was calm, and the three of us left, Augustin, Mathilde and I (Ulysse), went for observations. We counted more than a thousand gulls (svartbag, sildemåge & sølvmåge) with a few black-headed gulls (hættemåge) and sanderlings amongst the roosting birds.

We also welcome our new guests staying with us for a week (they arrived a bit early!) : Bodile and Ole.

We could sadly not open the nets in the courtyard as the rain started and the clouds did not seem to want to leave, even with the strong winds.

Let’s hope for better conditions tomorrow.

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre og Augustin Sticksel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen