Frank and Augustin opened the nets this morning and we joined later for first round around half five. The morning was quiet with only a few birds each round. It was nice to see an increase in black caps (munk). On16 birds were caught but everyone was able to ring a few each. Hopefully today will be more tomorrow for Frank’s last ringing session!

Due to a power cut yesterday, our wifi went down which explains the late blog entry. This also meant that we had two days of data to enter in today. The rest of the afternoon was spent napping, reading and walking by the beach. Augustin and Ulysse went out to check on the seal carcass. In the late afternoon, Frank opened the nets downstairs and so far we have caught one great tit (musvit). As it was Frank’s last evening, we all decided to go out for diner by the harbour at one of the fish huts and then had ice cream in town.

Ringmærkninge – Kabeltrommlen

Tornsanger – 3

Munk – 5

Musvit – 1

Rørsanger – 1

Gærdesanger – 1

Kærsanger – 1

Ringmærkninge – Fyrhaven

Musvit – 1

Total - 13

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre, Sander Knud Pedersen og Augustin Sticksel.

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

We had another usual day at Kabeltromlen all the volunteers from the station went out ringing today. Mathilde and Ulysses opened the nets, and we began our ringing with some help from Knud. We caught some more willow warblers (Løvsanger) and chifchafs (Gransanger) than usual. Erik, Fleming, Thomas and Pia were also at Kabeltromlen. The surprise of the day was found in the nets at 9 o’clock by Frank, a male juvenile bluethroat (Blåhals)! It’s the first one I ever saw so definitely the highlight of my day and I’m hoping to see some more of these beautiful birds in the next three months at the fuglestation.

In the afternoon me and Ulysses went for a swim in the see behind the lighthouse and found dead harbor seal floating towards the shore. Sander prepared some delicious Pasta for the volunteers on his last evening here and we played a round of wingspan, a board game about birds, in the evening.  

Ringmærkninge – Kabeltrommlen

Tornsanger – 6

Munk – 2

Blåhals – 1

Gulspurv – 1

Musvit – 2

Gærdesanger – 2

Bogfinke – 3

Løvesanger - 5

Kærsanger – 2

Gransanger – 5

Total 29

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre, Sander Knud Pedersen og Augustin.

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

For another sunny day, Mathilde, Augustin, and Sander opened the nets at Kabeltrolen whilst Ulysse and Frank settled on the dunes for morning observations. The observations did not lead to any particularly rare species: 2 common guillemots (lomvie), a razorbill (alk) and a velvet scoter (fløjlsand) floating amongst more than 1400 hundred common scoters (sortand).

Augustin rung his first bird here in Skagen: a Yellowhammer (gulspurv). A lucky start: let’s hope it continues like that for the next three months he’ll be staying at the lighthouse. The rare bird of the day came in one of the later round: a juvenile Thrush Nightingale (Nattergal), a first for all the volunteers. In the final round we captured our first juvenile marsh warbler (kærsanger) of the year, safe travels to it. The entire ringing session was calm with the birds spread evenly throughout the ongoing morning, a total of 26 over 5 hours.

Unfortunately, the juvenile kestrel (Tårnfalk) rescued after being hit by a car yesterday did not survive the night.

NocMig recorder sadly stopped working in the middle of last night and only caught one migrating birds’ call: a golden plover (hjejle).

Tonight, Augustin and Frank will try and look for the eiders (ederfugl) this evening and figure out their complex schedule for a future night catching session.

Dinner consisted of a deliciously cooked salmon with potatoes and cream prepared by our guests Thomas and Pia: the whole team (except Frank and Augustin of course) is ready to recover from our early morning with an early slumber.

Tomorrow we will all go ringing with Knud and hope for a bird-full day.

Ringmærkninge – Kabeltrolen

Tornsanger – 7

Munk – 2

Nattergal – 1

Gulspurv – 1

Musvit - 1

Gærdesanger – 3

Rørsanger – 7

Kærsanger – 1

Gransanger – 1

Havesanger – 2

Total - 26

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre, Sander og Augustin.

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

A busy day today! Me and Ulysse opened the nets at Kabeltrolen whilst Mathilde, Augustin and sander joined Knud up on the dunes for the morning observations, Simon and Lisa then joined us, and whilst Lisa stayed for the ringing, We had decided to try with the whoosh net out on Grenen to try and catch some waders mainly sanderlings (sandløber) and the dunlin (Almindelig Ryle) that persist I the water accumulated on the beach. Simon and Augustin then had the job of the whoosh net and although they had one or two near misses nothing came of it but the near misses give us hope for other days after some more heavy rain.

For Ulysse’s first ringing session here in Skagen it was eventful with one round bringing around 15 birds and the others then nicely spread out for some talk through the data we take with Ulysse but also the visitors we had including Thomas and Pia from the apartment. Thomas got to hold and see his favorite bird, the Wren (gærdesmutte), some other nice birds and highlights from the morning would be the local bred Icterine Warbler (Gulbug) and the Yellowhammer (gulspurv) but the definite highlight being the Rosefinch (Karmindompap) the first for the year and Lisa’s first in the hand.

After Juvenile kestrel (Tårnfalk) rescue No. 1 yesterday we had another call from a member of the public that had unfortunately struck another with their car this afternoon, currently resting in the Lab, it doesn’t look too good for the poor youngster so we will keep an eye on it tomorrow and decide on the next course of action to keep it out of suffering. We then went shopping for the now fuller team and Augustin made a great dinner where we were joined by Thomas and Pia. After dinner, I then went out to Grenen to set up tonights NocMig recorder and survey whether any birds were roosting out on the beach which turned out to be quite a pleasant walk with a hedgehog and all the juvenile plovers we rung a week or so back so was glad to see they’re doing okay.

Tomorrow we will swap teams with me and Ulysse on Observation duties and the others ringing so hopefully we will bring some good birds on both ends!

Ringmærkning – Kabeltrolen

Tornsanger – 7

Munk – 2

Solsort – 2

Gulspurv – 1

Gulbug – 1

Gærdesmutte – 2

Gærdesanger – 3

Rørsanger – 2

Kærsanger – 1

Løvsanger – 2

Karmindompap – 1

Gransanger – 1

Havesanger – 1

Total - 26

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Lisa Vergin, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse, Sander og Augustin.

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

Last night, me and Frank went night catching around the point. We had big hopes of many birds although we were warned that birds were rarely caught. The conditions were ideal: wind and rain. We approached a few common ringed plovers (stor præsterkrave) but they were too fast for us. We saw both natterjack toads and seal pups which were very adorable. We also got lucky and Frank caught what we thought was a common tern (fjordterne) Once we got back to the station, we realized that we had actually caught a artic tern (havterne). Only the second ringed of the station ever! It was a very nice start to the day.

In the morning, Frank, Augustin and Sander went out to do morning observations. However, they got caught in heavy rain and the visibly became very low which meant they came back. All of us were able to get our sleep in. Once we woke up, we went to look at our guest in the lab. The juvenile kestrel was very reactive this morning, eating and drinking a good portion of food. He didn’t need the animal care and was instead ringed and released. I got the lucky task of ringing it, the first in the stations history!

In the late afternoon, after of swim, we opened the garden nets and got 1 house sparrow (gråspurv). A noisy yellowhammer continuously refused to land in the nets even with sound. Ulysse cooked us diner and all the guys went out to try out the woosh net with Simon in preparation for tomorrow.

Ringmærkninge – Nightcatching

Havterne 1

Ringmærkninge – Fyrhaven

Tårnvalk 1

Gråspurv 1

Total - 3

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse, Sander og Augustin.

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

Observations this morning were eventful as hoped for with the current winds, as me and Mathilde approached the tip we saw the new water that has accumulated on the beach, this we like to see as it creates good foraging places for the waders and roosting for most of the birds we see on the beach which we will try and take advantage of tonight with some night catching and as its my last week im in need of some good luck ! overall  the main birds seen were the usual Common Scoters (Sortand), Gannets (Sule) and the migrating Auks (Alkefugle). A few nice birds of the Manx Shearwater (Almindelig Skråpe) and a few Great Skua (Storkjove) and the rest can be seen in DOFbasen using the link.

After observations we said vi ses too Kirsten, but she will be back very soon, and we did a full clean of the apartment ready for our new volunteers joining us today all on the same day; Sander, Ulysse, and Augustin. We also welcomed the new guests to the apartment Pia and Thomas. Other than that, the day consisted of naps, data entry and data checking which we are now up to date with.

This evening however Simon joined for the evening meeting and to welcome Sander but also after I spotted a suspicious kestrel (Tårnfalk) sat outside the lighthouse, ran out after it and caught the juvenile. Unfortunately, this means it can’t be in very good physical health so we will be keeping an eye on it throughout the night and trying to feed and water it till the morning, where Simon will take it too a wildlife rehabilitation Centre if it pulls through.

No ringing

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse, Augustine.

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

Ringing at Kabeltrommlen this morning. Sadly the opening was delayed slightly by rain but, by 6, we were ready to do rounds. The morning was quiet in terms of birds caught. I ringed my first redpoll (lille gråsisken) which was nice otherwise only common birds of the past few weeks were ringed. However, observations were more active. As we were arriving to open, Frank caught sights of a long eared owl (skovhornugle). Simon was very happy to see a manx’s shearwater (almindelig skråpe) from Kabeltrommlen for the first time! As we were closing, Simon and Frank also saw a flock of penduline tits (pungmejse).

The rest of the morning was spent napping and entering the morning’s data. After lunch, around 2, Simon came back to bring me and Frank to Jerup strand to look for waders. We stopped off to pick up Lisa and headed out. The start was quiet and looked as if the trip would not be very fruitful but we ended up finding quite a few species: dunlin (almindelig ryle), oystercatcher (strandskade), crane (trane), curlew sandpiper (krumnæbbet ryle)… I was a bit distracted by the enormous amounts of shells covering the whole beach especially the pelican foot. On the way back, we stopped at Råbjerg mile which was very impressive.

In the evening, Frank made delicious seafood pasta. While eating, it was time for a net check in the garden where we found two birds: a common whitethroat (tornsanger) and a great tit (musvit). Kitrsten was able to do the whole process of extracting, ringing and releasing by herself which she was delighted about. The birds concluded the end of a very nice day.

Ringmærkninge – Kabeltrommlen

Tornsanger 4

Kærsanger 2

Gransanger 2

Munk 1

Havesanger 1

Lille Gråsisken 1

Musvit 1

Ringmærkninge – Fyrhaven

Tornsanger 1

Total 13

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg , Kirsten, Lisa Vergin og Simon S Christiansen

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

Me and Mathilde went out for some trækfugletælling this morning along Grenen, with high winds there were hopes for some nice birds but after three hours and moving to shelter near the bunker during the small rain shower we had, we left with some good counts of the usual birds including over 130 Gannets (Sule) fishing offshore and the roosting eiders. We ten came home and napped as is the usual daily routine and woke up tog et on with some chores around the station. I went to the nets at Kabletromlen with a hedge trimmer and did some maintenance around the nets to keep them clear and did some archive updating on the computer. Mathilde made pancakes for the mornings ringing and cleaned the stairs. We also opened the nets in the fyrhavn this evening to try and catch the local wagtails (Vipstjerts) and new black redstart juveniles (Husrødstjert) we had some good success compared to previous attempts using these nets with one retrap Hvidvipstjert and 2 new juvenile Husrødstjert and whilst closing the nets had a really nice surprise of a juvenile Barn Swallow (Landsvale) which was really nice to see. I helped Kirsten with some aging of birds using our picture archive and she joined us for the ringing of the birds caught downstairs and was happy to release them with their new accessories.

Ringing tomorrow with Simon hopes for Arctic warbler so hopefully we update with one of those tomorrow !

Ringmærkning – fyrhaven:

Husrødstjert 2

Landsvale 1

Total 3

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg , Kirsten

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

Ringing was delayed this morning due to the rain and wind. This meant an extra hour of sleep for us which I thoroughly enjoyed and needed. In the end, the nets were opened by 7. The few rounds we did today brought us a great diversity of birds ad finally a decrease in common whitethroats (tornsanger). The first exciting bird was a sedge warbler (sivsanger) which Frank had been wanting to ring since he arrived at Skagen. On the next round, I got to ring the more elusive wood warbler (skovsanger). The rest of the birds were the usual species captured which you can see in the list below. While ringing, half a dozen red kites where flying on the thermal currents above us.

Once back from ringing, I joined my parents for lunch as it was their last day in Skagen before they headed for Aarhus. In the meantime, Frank napped and entered the ringing data. We had the evening a little earlier, at 3, as Simon has his mother and grandmother visiting as well as assisting to a talk on the lighthouse history. For diner, all the staff from the lighthouse and Blink came together for the monthly diner which was prepared by the lighthouse staff. Very good lasagna!

Tomorrow strong wind means no ringing but hopefully interesting observations.

Ringmærkninge:

Gransanger 1

Rørsanger 1

Sivsanger 1

Gulbug 1

Gærdesanger 1

Skovsanger 1

Munk 3

Tornsanger 5

Total 14

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg , Kirsten og Simon S Christiansen

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

Ringing this morning was relatively slow, but Kirsten managed to get some good practice in with bird extraction and ringing. The birds were slow and it was looking like a short session due to the incoming rain so we decided to close the following round. We closed together and the birds seemed to wake up as we were doing so with double the amount of birds we had all morning in one round and a lot more diversity, with a new species in Skagen and ringing for me and Mathilde in the shape of Bearded tits or readings (skægmejse) and a nice fresh new icterine warbler (Gulbug) possibly from the pair we recatch regularly near Kabletromlen. Back at the station we entered some data from the morning and at 12:30 began preparing for the open freezer event we had down outside the Lab. After the rain we had expected little people but a decent turnout for Simon arrived to hear the talk about the different birds we have in the freezer at the moment, their stories and what is to become of them.

Mathilde then went out for the rest of the afternoon with her parents who are taking the opportunity to visit and explore Skagen who have also kindly offered to prepare dinner for everyone this evening so we look forward to that!

rinngmærkning:

Gransanger 3

Gulbug 1

Gærdesanger 2

Skægmejse 2

Munk 1

Tornsanger 15

Solsort 1

Total 25

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Lisa Vergin, Kirsten og Simon S Christiansen

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