Finally, the wind went down, so Laima, Michaëla and Jonas went ringing at Kabeltromlen this morning. Kristine, Martin and I went observing with Knud at Worlds End 3. The observation started quite nice with a roosting Merlin (Dværgfalk). It hunted successfully a Chaffinch (Bogfinke), which it was eating quite close from us on the beach. Just when we were enjoying this interesting observation, I got a call from Laima, that they caught a Water Rail (Vandrikse) in their first round. So, we left Knud alone and went into the ringing site to see this amazing bird. Actually, it was Laimas first Water Rail to see and not only hear and for all of us volunteers the first to see in hand. It was very exciting. It´s pretty amazing to realize how long their legs are and how beautiful their colours, especially because we caught an adult bird (3k+). Just in the moment we were about to release the bird, Simon spotted a Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) migrating North, another nice observation this morning.

Male, adult Water Rail

Unfortunately, not many birds followed after the Water Rail. The nets kept quite empty, although we had relatively many recaptured birds. They are interesting, because we get a lot of data from recaptures. Jonas was very happy to age a Blackcap (Munk) correctly. These ones are tricky birds to age sometimes, so we had a moult session on how to age these birds yesterday. Apparently, Laimas little presentation already helped us understanding their moult better and to know for what to look in these birds. Besides that, its also noteworthy that we have new waders now. It is very nice to be in the ringing area now without getting wet feet. After the Water Rail was released, I went back to Knud helping him counting some birds. A bit later also Simon, Kristine and Martin were joining us. It turned out to be a fairly good observation morning with quite some Fulmars (Mallemuk). Also, we had one lonely Snow Bunting (Snespurv) left on the beach, while the others already left to their breeding grounds. In the afternoon Michaëla took some pictures again with the station’s camera. She got some Eiders (Ederfugle) and a Great-spotted Woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte) in front of the lens. Jonas helped us by doing some of the less fun office tasks during the afternoon. In the evening Laima made Sushi. It turned out to be amazing, and the rolling of it was also really fun. It was a very lovely dinner! Unfortunately, Kristine and Martin needed to leave for Copenhagen this afternoon, but we hope they can come back soon.

Making Sushi

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gransanger - 1
Gærdesmutte - 3
Rødhals - 1
Bogfinke - 1
Vandrikse - 1

Sum = 7

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

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Kristine Rasmussen, Martin Bjerre Nielsen, Knud Pedersen, Michaëla Berdougo, Laima Bagdonaite, Jonas Pedersen og Daniel Bloche

Hi folks :)

I hope you all had a lovely first half of the week!

After a couple of windy days, we were finally able to open the nets today and activate the reed trap. Daniel and Laima went ringing, and were able to test their brand new, homemade photo lab which worked wonders! Dunnock (Jernspurv), with the really cool photolab background!

Something quite unexpected happened, and while you are all hoping for some cool bird stories, I apologise as this isn't one. It is, though, one of our many "living with Daniel" stories. For some unknown reason, Laima realised that Daniel had blood on his hands, on his waders, on his binoculars, on his jacket, and on the new photo lab. No harm here, he just had the tiniest unnoticeable cut on his little finger that resulted in more laughter than scare in the end. :)
Aside from that, they ringed 8 birds including Blackcaps (Munk) and Dunnocks (Jernspurv). They also caught an unusual-looking Great Tit (Musvit) that was very pale looking but with a lot of rusty wash. Unfortunately, it escaped from the weighing tube so we have no picture. Hoping we can catch it again to show it to you!
Laima and Daniel also witnessed a Water Rail (Vandrikse) walking right under the net... Such a shame hahaha.

Laima, Kristine and Martin, with a Goldcrest (Fuglekonge)

In the meantime, Jonas and I went observing and Verdens Ende 3 with Kristine and Martin. The sunrise was wonderful, it was less windy than expected, and as we set up on the dune, I saw two cormorant-like birds that I pointed out to Jonas. "They're probably just Cormorants (Skarv)", I said. Jonas nearly gave up in trying to look for them. Good thing he didn't, as they were our only Shags (Topskarv) for the day! It was a great day for Gannets (Sule), and we saw a Black Guillemot (Tejst), a Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet lom), a Northern Fulmar (Mallemuk), and a resting Merlin (Dværgfalk) right in front of us. Halfway in, our guests went to see the ringing and were super grateful to see birds up close! They came back for the last 10 minutes of observations and we then looked for the Great grey Shrike (Stor tornskade).

Jonas, Kristine and Martin, looking for the Great grey Shrike (Stor tornskade)

Laima and Daniel opened nets in the garden and set the whoosh net up in the hope of catching Magpies (Husskade), without success yet. Simon, who had lots of meeting today, was very sad that he wasn't able to come out with any of us.
After having had some lunch, our guests, Kristine and Martin, went shopping and went to the new harbour to try and see the Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge), some of us took a nap, Daniel studied for his marine mammal exam for next week, and Laima finished working on her presentation on ageing Blackcaps (Munk) and Dunnocks (Jernspurv) that she gave us at 3 pm. Blackcaps are actually harder to age than I imagined!

Laima teaching us about Blackcap (Munk) ageing

Kristine and Martin are now preparing us a curry that already smells incredible, and we will probably all fall asleep soon after.

White wagtail (Hvid vipstjert) feeding, on the way back from observation this morning

Wishing you all a good night, and talk to you soon! ?

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Musvit - 1
Rødhals - 1
Jernspurv - 2
Gærdesmutte - 1
Bogfinke - 1
Gransanger - 1
Fuglekonge - 1

Sum = 8

Så er påsken forbi, og som vi mærkede igår er kulden kommet. Igen idag var det koldt og blæsende, Michaela og jeg tog ud for at tælle morgentrækket og vores kære gæster tog med. Grundet den stærke vind forblev nettene lukket og Daniel og Laima sov længe. Morgenen var lidt mærkelig, i og med at der næsten ingen mærkværdige fugle var. Men til gengæld havde vi nogle fine tal. Første time gav rigtig mange suler og senere på morgenen kom et pludseligt ryk af rødstrubede lommer, formentlig fugle der blev skræmt op af et stort containerskib. Det blev også til lidt rider og på gåturen hjem havde vi en fin stor tornskade der rastede omkring sardinkrattet, Michaela tog senere på dagen ud for at fotografere den. 


Vores gæster, Kristine og Martin gik fra verdens ende 1 til nordstrand og de havde bla, Spurvehøg, tårnfalk, fjeldvåge og de fine ynglende traner. Derhjemme fik Daniel læst op til sin eksamen og han siger selv at han var meget produktiv her til morgen, dog fik han ikke klaret alt han ville. Til gengæld fik han lavet en fin citrontærte og han lagde et æg ud i haven, i håb om at lokke nogle husskader til. Laima, fik også sovet godt og lavede nogle dejlige bagels til når Michaela og jeg kom hjem. Udover det blev der gået en lille tur hvor der også blev taget billeder af sortstrubet bynkefugl og hun arbejde lidt på en kommende præsentation med aldersbestemmelse af nogle fugle i hånden.


Senere tog vi med Kristine og Martin ud til Skarvsøen for at tælle skarverne og vi gik derfra og hjem. Eftermiddagen blev brugt på at lege med Aslan, Kristinas hund og selvfølgelig på at lave aftensmad, dofbasen osv.
Alt i alt en fin dag og vi glæder os til imorgen!

(Der var tid til lidt løjer på turen hjem fra skarvsøen)

It was a very windy morning, but Jonas and Daniel got up early and braved the weather to go for the sea observation. They met up with Henrik and Nicole, and our new guests Kristine and Martin but, unfortunately, it was not so eventful. They did have some 30ish kittiwakes (Ride), a nice Peregrine falcon (Vandrefalk), but apart from that it was just freezing cold, so they headed back after 3 hours of observations.

Back at the station, Michaela and I got to sleep in a little. I went for a quick walk by the sea but soon realized it was too windy to keep walking. Then we worked on our laptops – Michaela was going through last week’s night recordings (link at the bottom of the blog post), and I was preparing a presentation on Dunnock (Jernspurv) ageing.

When the guys returned, I made pancakes and we all had a nice breakfast with lots of maple syrup, Nutella and peanut butter (sugar overdose!!!). Henrik and Nicole came by to say goodbyes! Thanks for your company here, and hope to see you soon again! Simon had some time off, therefore he … worked on rarity committee stuff, which he's been a part of for almost 10 years now! Then he also planned new activities for children and parents, and otherwise hasn’t seen any birds.

After we finished our weekly food shopping list, we went into town in Simon’s newly cleaned car (and this time made sure not to put sand all over the seats as we usually do..) for some grocery shopping. We always feel like we’re buying too much, but it never is! We also got some stuff for the outdoor photolab which we will work on tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll soon be able to take nicer photos of birds in hand for documentation and ageing purposes! Exhausted after shopping we had lunch at the station, and took well deserved naps.

Kristine and Martin who arrived yesterday had quite a nice morning, with a lovely walk to Vardens ende, where they had nice observations of many gannets (Sule). Then they were watching birds from outside the station with more shelter from the wind. They saw some red-throated divers (Rødstrubet lom), and even more gannets! Then they went for a walk and saw smaller passerines, a jacksnipe (Enkeltbekkasin), some raptors (Rovfugle). They also went to Hulsig and spent some time on the highest dune, but didn’t see that many birds!Then we all had dinner made by Jonas!

It was a weird weather day, lots of sun, wind, hail and even snow! Looking forward to less windy days, so we can open the nets and ring again!

Click here for the list of nightrecorded birds from April 2nd!  

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

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Henrik Böhmer, Nicole Böhmer, Kristine Rasmussen, Martin Bjerre Nielsen, Michaela Berdougo, Jonas Pedersen, Daniel Bloche, og Laima Bagdonaite. 

After the amazing observations of Orcas and great birds yesterday, the expectations of most our observers were quite high today. Of course, they couldn´t get satisfied by “just” seeing a migrating Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) and close raptors, like Hen Harrier (Blå Kærhøg), Peregrine Falcon (Vandrefalke), Merlin (Dærgfalke), Red Kites (Rød Glente), Common Buzzards (Musvåge) or Rough-legged Buzzards (Fjeldvåge) in beautiful light. While Mikkel, Jonas, Henrik and Nicole were disappointed from the morning observations, Laima and I really enjoyed the time up at Worlds End One. It was our first Glaucous Gull and also a really good observation to see it migrating. See our Instagram post for some more pictures!

Morning Observation from Worlds End One

I left earlier from the observation, because I helped Michaela cutting two new net lanes in our ringing site at Kabeltromlen. It was very successful, we managed to finish these two net lanes and also cut a small shortcut though the dunes. The next times we will be able to put up more nets and have faster rounds to walk, which is really nice. Also, to cut of the shrubs was actually quite fun.

Michaela cutting free a net lane

Unfortunately, Mikkel left today to spend some time with a friend in North Jutland before he goes back to Copenhagen studying for his exam. However, he left with a new nickname: after showing high motivation spotting Stock Doves (Huldue) in flocks of Wood Pigeons (Ringdue) he got the name Pigeon Boy (Duedreng).

The Pigeon Boy (Duedreng)

Jonas had an exciting noon: During the last bit of the morning observation he got a phone call to go to Nordstrand were he was interviewed about the Orca observation yesterday. Simon is a bit disappointed that he missed the Orcas here in Skagen again. He was spending the Easter-weekend with his family at his summerhouse. While we needed to keep the nets closed, due to the strong wind up in the dunes, Michael was able to ring some birds at Jenne Sø. Among others this beautiful male Siskin (Grønsisken).

Siskin (Grønsisken)

Ringmærkning (Jennes sø):

Gransanger – 4

Fuglekonge – 2

Rødhals – 1

Bogfinke – 2

Lille Gråsisken – 3

Grønsisken – 1

Sum: 13

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

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Michael Ancher, Henrik Böhmer, Nicole Böhmer, Michaela Berdougo, Laima Bagdonaite, Jonas Pedersen, Mikkel Friborg Mortensen og Daniel Bloche.

Hej alle sammen, i dag har været en fantastisk dag! 

Vi startede som altid tidligt, med Jonas, Daniel og Michaela ude og åbne net en time før solopgang og Mikkel ude og observere sammen med Henrik Böhmer og hans kone Nicole Böhmer omkring solopgang. Laima havde morgenen fri om kunne sove længe.

Det blæste en del i morges, men der var gang i finketrækket idag. Desværre var der ikke mange fugle i nettene, så der blev lavet lidt forskellige øvelser af de frivillige sådan at de kunne holde sig varme imens at de ventede.

Finkerne betød at vi var så heldige ude på træktællingen at finde et hvidvinget korsnæb, som Henrik hørte på kaldet, fik optaget og derefter bestemt ved spektogram:

(Fotoet viser lydoptagelsen af et hvidvinget korsnæb fra www.xenocanto.com, øverst, og vores optagelse af hvidvinget korsnæb, nederst, frekvensen og længden af den "runde lydfil" viser at det er hvidvinget korsnæb) Mega fedt! 

For at det ikke skulle være vildt nok så kom dagens store overraskelse og fantastiske observation, da 6-7 Spækhuggere i flere timer svømmede rundt og jagede fiskstimer tæt på kysten fra ca. kl. 9:30, først fra Norstranden, så hen forbi Grenen og tilbage mod Nordstranden igen (foto)

Billedet er taget af Erik Christophersen i dag på Nordstranden. Det han har fanget på billedet er en af de 6-7 spækhuggere som man kunne være så heldig at se rimelig tæt på kysten i dag i Skagen og det er ikke hvilken som helst, det er nemlig den store han som virkelig skilte sig ud fra de andre med en rygfinne ca. 1-1,5m høj og halvt så bred! Et fantastisk flot dyr og super spændende at se både han, hunner og en mulig unge på samme tid! 

Næsten alle frivillige fik set de flotte dyr, Jonas, Daniel og Michaela skyndte sig og på cyklerne og cyklede mod Nordstranden så snart meldingen kom (Jonas nåede endda ikke at tage Wadersne af, det fortrød han lidt senere..) De så dem heldigvis rigtig fint! Der mødte de Knud Pedersen og var også så heldige at Jørgen og Agnete Kabel og deres hund Igor  som også var på Nordstranden for at se spækhuggere, så fik de også lige hilst på dem. Jeg selv valgte at blive på Grenen med Henrik og Nicole og blev også belønnet med det fantastike syn af spækhuggerne! 

(Sådan ser man ud når man lige har set Spækhuggere!)

Efterfølglende tog Jonas, Daniel og Michaela til Skarvsøen for at tæælle ynglefugle og reder, der var kommet flere skarver og flere reder var besat siden vi sidst var der, for bare to dage siden! De fandt også en Hugorm (foto)

Som der virkelig er begyndte at komme flere og flere af ude i klitterne! Mega fedt! 

Ude på trækobsen, som var blevet forhindret lidt i en times tid pga. de spændende Spækhuggere, havde vejret virkelig begyndt at være forårsvejr der lugtede lidt af sommer! Et par rovfugle, bl.a. en adult fjeldvåge havde besluttet sig for at trække ud over Grenen. Derfor besluttede Henrik, Nicole og jeg at tage til Flagbakken i håb om at der ville trække rovfugle forbi. Jonas ville gerne med, så efter træktællingne var slut kørte vi afsted! 

Det viste sig at være en helt igennem god ide! Der trak nemlig over 100 spurvehøge, 13 Røde glenter, 3 Vandrefalke og eftermiddagens helt store hit en 2k Kongeørn forbi! (foto)Så alt i alt en fantastisk Forårsdag i start April! 

Tilbage på stationen satte Daniel, Michaela og Laima nettene op i haven og lå og hyggede i solen. Der gik ikke længe før de havde en fugl i nettet, sørme om det ikke var det samme Topmejse de selv havde ringmærket få dage forinden ude ved kabeltromlen?! Vildt! (foto)

Derefter spiste vi aftensmad med Henrik og Nicole og snakkede om alle de fede naturoplevelser i dag! I morgne tager vi alle på trækobs. sammen i morgen tidlig og håber at vi kan få bare en halvt så god dag som i dagen i dag (det bliver nok svært!) Men der sker nok noget spændende, det gør der tit heroppe! Tak for i dag. 

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

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Henrik Böhmer, Nicole Böhmer, Daniel Bloche, Michaela Berdougo, Laima Bagdonaite, Jonas Pedersen, Knud Pedersen, Erik Christophersen, Jørgen Kabel, Agnete Kabel, Igor og Mikkel Friborg Mortensen.

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):

Gærdesmutte 1

Blåmejse 1

Ringmærkning (Jennes sø):

Blåmejse 1

Musvit 3

Gransanger 3

Fuglekonge 2

Gærdesmutte 1

Solsort 1

Nordlig gråsisken 1

Lille gråsisken 5

Ringmærkning (Nordstjernevej):

Blåmejse 2

Musvit 6

Skovspurv 1

Bogfinke 2

Grønirisk 1

The day started quite early, Daniel, Mikkel and I got up at 5 and went out to open the nets and activate the reed trap by 6:15am. Unfortunately, it was quite windy so we couldn’t open all the nets. It was also too cold to stay up on Kabeltromlen, so we took shelter down the hill from there and ringed there the whole morning. The rounds were quite slow and there were not so many birds, but we did have a couple of exciting captures! A nice adult female sparrowhawk (Spurvehøg), and later an adult male Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) with a ring from Germany! It’s always super exciting to catch birds with foreign rings!

Photos with sparrowhawk: Marienne

Even though we didn’t have many birds, Mikkel got to practice handling birds and taking wing measurements, he also extracted his 3 first birds from the net! We also had quite a few people staying with us throughout the morning; a nice family from Copenhagen, Jørgen and Igor, Erik Christophersen, Søren Skov, and Marianne just to name a few!

Foto: Søren Skov

Meanwhile, Jonas went out observing at Verdens ende 1 together with Henrik and Nicole Böhmer, Alex Sand Frich, and they were also joined by Erik Christophersen. They had quite a nice first hour of observations with a lot of auks (Alkefugle), a couple of great skuas (Storkjove), a handful of fulmars (Mallemuk) and 6 European shags (Topskarv). Jonas stayed for an extra hour to enjoy the raptor migration, they counted around 150 common buzzards (Musvåge), two merlins (Dværgfalk), and many sparrowhawks (Spurvehøg).

Back at the observatory, Michaela, Mikkel, Daniel and I went for a fun but cold swim in the sea and the did some yoga in the living room. That’s where Jonas found us when he came back. After lunch we all took quick 10 minute naps. During that time Simon prepared for the Easter fun afternoon. Apparently The Easter bunny visited the garden and laid 10 chocolate eggs there which we had to find! The hunt was successful (not for me though, as I found none.), all 10 eggs were found and shared among us! After that Simon made us go up to the attic because we had to find and catch the bats that started living there. We put on gloves and started checking all the corners with flashlights, but soon we realized it was actually April fool’s prank!

After that, our Easter fun continued and we blew and painted some eggs! Everyone went with the bird theme which resulted in a nice collection of painted eggs that are now hanging in the observatory garden if anyone wants to see them! We had an early omelet dinner, and went swimming after it again!  

Overall, it was a lovely sunny day with lots of fun and laughter!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Spurvehøg - 1
Gærdesmutte - 2
Jernspurv - 2
Rødhals - 2
Solsort - 2
Gransanger - 1
Fuglekonge - 1
Musvit - 1
Bogfinke - 1
Dompap, Lille (ssp. europaea) - 1

Sum: 14

Michael Ancher was also ringing in Nordstjernevej and Jennes Sø
Ringing (Nordstjernevej):

Rødhals - 2
Bogfinke - 2
Gulspurv -2

Sum: 6

Ringing ( Jennes Sø):

Rødhals - 1
Solsort -1
Nordlig Gråsisken - 1
Lille Gråsisken - 1

Total: 4

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

Folk: 

Hey folks :)

Since it was to windy for ringing, we all started together observing with Knud at Worlds End 3 this morning. It was a very windy day, so even though the temperatures were quite high, it felt very cold. Though, it was definitely worth it to go out on migration count today! We had many early arrivals: A Great Skua (Storkjove), Marsh Harrier (Rørhøg), Merlin (Dværgfalk) and Common Tern (Fjordterne). Knud was very excited especially about the early Common Tern. While the others started observing, Laima and I put up the newly build Woosh net, trying to catch the last Snow Buntings (Snespurv) before they are all gone to their northern breeding grounds. Unfortunately, it was a very disappointing experience. There were still four Snow Buntings left on the beach at Grenen, however, they behaved much more scared and suspicious then the bigger floks used to behave the weeks before. That the Woosh net was moving in the strong wind, wasn´t helping. In the end we didn´t caught any, we tried two times to catch birds, though. The first time a stick in the sand blocked the net from correctly unfolding and the second time we weren´t fast enough/the birds wasn´t close enough. After getting too frustrated with this, I switched with Michaela to counting Corvids and had two nice observation hours with many close Red-throated Divers (Rødstrubet Lom) in winter and summer plumage, which was very nice to see. A small bandage on the Snow Bunting catch failure was also the visit from Jørgen and Igor, its always nice to see them. In the afternoon, there was a open freezer tour. Four families joined with some really motivated kids. It was nice to show and dissect some of the dead birds we collect for scientific purposes. It was interesting to also look through some Barn Owl (Slørugle) pallets and see skulls and bones of rodents.

Open-freezer tour

Also Simons dad Gunnar arrived and brought delicious cake with him. After the open-freezer tour Laima and I made some Swedish Kanelbullar. Meanwhile, Jonas and Mikkel went to the new harbour, where Mikkel found his first Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge). Later in the afternoon we also prepared the visits to the Cormorant (Skarv) colony, which we will conduct from tomorrow on two times a week.

Kanelbullar

Glaucous Gull

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

Folk:  Simon S Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Kabel, Igor, Michaela Berdougo, Laima Bagdonaite, Jonas Pedersen, Mikkel Friborg Mortensen, Trine, Jeppe and Daniel Bloche.