Today Alice, Robbe, Manuel and me went to laser shooting at Worldsend 2 again. This time Rasmus found the birds on the radar for us. We split up that two of us observed and the other two managed the laser shooting. We were able to shoot some raptors and divers. While observing we were able to hear a Grasshopper Warbler.

The Highlights at the observations were a Short-eared Owl, a Pallid Harrier and the first Red- backed Shrike. At 8:00 I was replaced by Hanelie because I had an job interview, which went really good. :)

When the others came back from laser shooting and observations we finished the Wingspan game. Alice won!

In the Afternoon we had a raptor lecture (røvfugle) by Knud Pedersen. For the lecture our guests Lisbeth and Vilhelm, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen and Jan came over. We learned a lot about the identification, ageing and sexing of different buzzards, kites and harriers. The presentation was with a lot of good pictures of different ages and sexes so we could see really well the different features and characteristics of each species.

Raptor lecture with Knud

In the evening Lisbeth and Vilhelm cooked a nice dinner for us and we were invited over to their apartment.

After not being in Skagen for a few days, Manuel was even more looking forward to the observations on Nordstrand this morning. Beautiful sunny weather somewhat concealed the fact that ice was still visible on the bicycle saddle in the early morning.

Together with Knud and later Robbe, the keen birders enjoyed the just arrived and intensely singing Common Whitetroats Tornsanger in the dunes at Nordstrand. The migration was slow, but at least there were two Great Northern Divers Islom to marvel at. They are on the move to their breeding grounds in Island (and maybe North America?). It is really strange to see this large divers migrate with their beaks wide open. A phenomenon you rarely see in the similar Black-throated Divers Sortstrubet Lom and almost never in Red-throated Divers Rødstrubet Lom.

As the morning wore on, the raptors took off, especially Common Buzzards Musvåge and some Red Kites Rød Glente soaring high. There were already hopes as to whether a rare guest might mingle with the common species today. A somewhat atypical 2. CY Hobby Lærkefalk briefly put us all into some excitement already as it's a good time for Red-footed Falcon Aftonfalk...

Meanwhile, Leona and Hanelie opened the nets around Kabeltromlen at dawn. Together with Oluv and Alice they were able to get a Sparrowhawk Spurvehøg out of the net as one of the first birds. Very exciting. Otherwise it went well too and the nets stayed open all morning. At the end of the session they got no less then 85 birds out of the nets, a really good number. Among them no extraordinary rarities but Redstart Rødstjert, some Flycatchers Grå Fluesnapper and Wheatear Stenpikker are not daily catches and beautiful to watch them from close.

While we were preparing lunch, the rumour of the morning became reality: an immature Steppe Eagle Steppeørn was on its way towards the tip. A great species and a lifer for most of us. We sped off in all directions, Hanelie and Robbe had excellent views of the bird at Saftevandsbakken together with many other birdwatchers; Leona, Alice and Manuel managed to connect with the bird briefly afterwards. At least a short sighting. In the afternoon the bird hasn't been relocated, probably went southwards again. Maybe we will see it back with the next migration attempt the upcoming days?! This bird counts as the 11^th record for Skagen!

Picture: Knud Pedersen

Skagen continues to live up to its reputation as a paradise for rarities (and their followers ;-)

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i DOFbasen af observatører i området (Today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area)

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into DOFbasen the same day

Ringmærket fugle ved Kabeltromlen (Today's ringed birds at Kabeltromlen):

Spurvehøg 1
Sangdrossel 1
Solsort 1
Stenpikker 1
Bogfinke 2
Munk 7
Jernspurv 1
Tornsanger 2
Rørspurv 4
Gransanger 5
Broget Fluesnapper 1
Rødstjert 4
Rødhals 5
Løvsanger 22
Gærdesmutte 1
Gærdesanger 18

Total: 85

People: Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Robbe Cool, Leona Gottschalkson, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Oluv Lou, Lisbeth Drassech, Vilhelm Michelsen

Today, I sacrificed myself to do the morning observations while the others could sleep a bit longer after the long barbecue evening we had yesterday. Surprisingly, I arrived 10 minutes before sunrise at Nordstrand. I had to start the morning observations alone, but Jorgen Hulbaek and Hanelie came to rescue me. Hanelie was still in here sleeping mood: apparently, she was still wearing her pyjamas when she arrived. We saw more birds than the last days with some thousand meadow pipits "engpiber" and nice observations of black-throated divers "sortstrubet lom". Big numbers of gannets "sule" were passing by as well.

Brun Sandspringer

We stayed a bit longer to enjoy the birds without having the pressure to count them and continued our day in Batteriskoven. There, we found many flycatchers, for Hanelie the first spotted flycatchers "grå fluesnapper" she saw. Earlier in the morning an Ortolan bunting "hortulan"  was found and Hanelie tried to see it. Unfortunately the bird was only present for some minutes so by the time she arrived, the bunting left already. Once I came back, I took a nap and went through the nocturnal flight call recordings, but there are still a lot of mysterysounds the analyze whereby Manuel will help me. Before I could answer all the data, Leona called me because a red-breasted flycatcher "lille fluesnapper"  was found in Batteriskoven, a new species for us all. And this showbird made us all happy.

Leona was also happy to see the wood warblers "skovsanger" there. Alice spent her day on writing applications and taking care of the recorder for the soundscape project. In the evening, we were happy to welcome our new guests Lisbeth and Vilhelm.

Let’s hope that we can break the curse of the slow migration tomorrow!

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into DOFbasen the same day

People:  Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Robbe Cool, Leona Gottschalkson, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Lisbeth Drassech, Vilhelm Michelsen

Today there was no ringing due to the strong wind.  We joined Gustav and Hanelie on the seawatch at Worldend 3. We had a White Wagtail, White Wagtail ssp. yarrellii, a Yellow Wagtail and a Yellow Wagtail ssp. thunbergi.

Morning observations at Worldend 3 - Photo by Raya Mathiak

After the observation I was finally able to go check out the town with my friend Raya. I bought Puffin and Herring Gull Socks!

Haneli, Robbe and Gustav went to Batteriskoven to see a Wood Warbler, which was a lifer for Hanelie. Also they saw a Pied Flycatcher. After checking out some other places for birdwatching Haneli went back to check if the nets were still in good condition because of the strong wind. Meanwhile Alice send out some applications for universities and cleaned the birdbags.

In the afternoon we cleaned the station bikes and put oil on the bike chains.

Robbe decided to cook with natural ingredients today, so he collected nettles and dandelions. We then ate chips while extracting dandelion petals.

Extracting the dandelion petals while eating chips - Photo by Leona Gottschalkson

The finished Nettle- Dandelion Risotto - Photo by Robbe Cool

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

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into DOFbasen the same day

Persons at the station:  Simon S. Christiansen, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Robbe Cool, Leona Gottschalkson, Raya Mathiak, Gustav Nyberg, Carsten Math Iversen, Lisbet Harms Lavsew

Dagen bød på endnu en ringmærkningsdag. En dag fuglefolkene havde store forhåbninger til efter gårdagens massefangster i nettene og observationer af store grupper af småfugle i de levende hegn, men fuglene havde andre planer. De pjækkede fra ringmærkningen og smuttede i storcenteret. I nettene var de I hvert fald ikke og tilbage stod Alice, Robbe, Leona, Raya og Simon og trillede tommelfingre.

På trods af det, holdte Raya sin første fugl. Det blev en Løvsanger. Det var hun vældig glad for, og hun nyder at få lov til at se fuglene helt tæt på.

Imens de andre ringmærkede, skød Hanelie og jeg med laser ved Verdens ende 2. Vi håbede på nogle store flokke af rovfugle, vi kunne skyde og som samtidig ville dukke op på radaren. Det er ikke altid, de to ting lige spiller sammen. Det viste sig at være vanskeligt, da trækket mod nord kun præsterede enelige spurvehøge, der fløj uden for radarens rækkevidde.

Foto: Erik Christophersen

Senere tog jeg til Batteriskoven I håbet om, at der skulle være en Hvidhalset- eller Lille fluesnapper. Heldet var ikke med mig denne gang, men det skal nok ske. One day.

Til slut kan jeg dufte Alice’s mad. Det skal nok blive fremragende. Tak for I dag og velbekomme.

Ringmærket fugle ved Kabeltromlen:

Gransanger - 1

Løvsanger - 2

Munk - 9

Rørspurv - 1

Bogfinke - 1

Sangdrossel - 1

Total: 15

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

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into DOFbasen the same day

Personer ved stationen:  Jesper Pedersen, Simon S. Christiansen, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Oluf Lou, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Robbe Cool, Leona Gottschalkson, Raya Mathiak, Gustav Nyberg, Carsten Math Iversen, Lisbet Harms Lavsew.

Today we were able to ring again. Haneli, Raya and me opened the nets at Kabletromle and weren't disappointed. The nets were full of Willow Warblers (Løvsanger) and Lesser White Throats (Gærdesanger). The Highlight of today was 2 new species. We had the first Tree Pipits (Skovpiber) and the first Common Whitethroats.

First Common Whitethroat of the season

First Tree Pipit of the season

While ringing we could hear the Cuckoo (Gøg) which was singing between Kabletromle and World End 2. It is really early this year.

Manuel and Carsten joined the observations on Nordstrand. After that he left us because he will visit Hamburg to meet his family and for the upcoming Birdrace. Because Manuel had to leave earlier Knud took over the counting.

Robbe and Alice went to World end 2 to laser shoot.They could see a flock of 40 Buzzards. We still need to adjust but every day we're making a bit of progress. It is still hard sometimes to find the birds on the radar due to technical settings that need to be refined. With the laser binocular we get better at following the birds. Robbe and Alice were able to follow a Buzzard for 4 km today.

On the way back from the laser shooting Haneli and Robbe saw a Little Ringed Plover.

Later right after our Moult lecture with Simon, Gustav arrived. He will stay here until Saturday. He took a 4 hour walk and saw a lot of Pied Flycatchers (Broget Fluesnapper), Willow Warblers (Løvsanger) and Wood Warblers (Skovsanger).

Lisbeth and Carsten were a great help today because they did the groceries and cooked a delicious meal for us.

People:  Jesper Pedersen, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Manuel Tacke, Robbe Cool, Leona Gottschalkson, Raya Mathiak, Carsten Math Iversen, Lisbet Harms Lavsew

Today's observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into DOFbasen the same day

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into DOFbasen the same day

People:  Jesper Pedersen, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Manuel Tacke, Robbe Cool, Leona Gottschalkson, Raya Mathiak, Carsten Math Iversen, Lisbet Harms Lavsew

Early in the morning, Leona (who joined the station's team the day before yesterday) and Manuel stood in the wind on the northern beach. Together with our guest Carsten and some other observers, we enjoyed the stormy sea and the Gannets Sule flying close to the beach. Also quite some Fulmars Mallemuk could be observed. Otherwise, there was very little going on. This was quite convenient for us, because afterwards Hanelie and I wanted to head to Grenen for our laser project and stand at World's End 2 from 9h.

Together with Aarhus University, the exact migration routes of the birds are to be studied. For this purpose, a radar has been set up in the garden of the lighthouse and we have been equipped with high-tech laser binoculars. These can measure, among other things, the height of birds in the air and the distance to the observer. Together with Jesper, who sits at the lighthouse in front of the radar image and is supposed to find migrating birds, we started from the dunes at 9am, looking into the distance. We quickly found some migrating marsh harriers. Unlike the buzzards, which came a little later, the harriers actually made the strenuous journey across the sea, the buzzards in fact returned from the tip.

Therefore, we were able to "shoot" the harriers and transmit the data via Bluetooth from the binoculars to an app on a phone. This is really next-level-birding, isn't it? In the course of the morning, the wind died down and it became really summery. The many Barn Swallows Landsvale fund few Sand Martin Digesvale flying around did their part. Very beautiful!

While Robbe enjoyed some free time in Aarhus, Alice worked on her (exciting but busy) online courses and Leona picked up a friend and joined for a laser shoot, afterwards they spent some time on the beach. Lisbeth and Carsten took advantage of the sun later in the day for short walks around Grenen and in the town. There is something for everyone up here ;-)

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i DOFbasen af observatører i området (Today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area)

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into DOFbasen the same day