Hello everyone!

Ill start with the successes from last night. At around 10pm, Me, Solenn, Max and Diana decided that we will try mist-netting for shorebirds at skarvsøen again and try our luck at improving on the last two attempts with 13 & 9 birds. This was the first time that Solenn and Diana had attempted night catching shorebirds with mist-nets so they were excited regardless. Once we arrived we put out two nets and were already very optimistic due to thew number of birds we could see on the lake with the thermal scope. Whilst putting up the two nets, a Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle) had already flown into one so this also filled us with hope for the night ahead.

For the first round we had caught 16 birds which had already surpassed our first night catcing at skarvsøen so we were already happy. The night then continued in this was with good numbers of Dunlins and Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin) throughout the night. At around 5am however, we decided to take a walk around the lake and see if we could catch any birds with torch and net. There were plenty of Water Rails (Vandriske), but there were too flighty and ran off into the reed beds. We also saw multiple Ruff (Brushane) and a Little Ringed-Plover (Lille Præstekrave) but success came in the form of a Little Grebe (Lille Lappedykker). It was a first for me, Solenn and Dianna in the hand and first seen for Max so we were all pretty happy. Lisa also came to see the little guy. So, in the end, we ended up with 40 birds, so a good success and a good effort made by everyone. We will very likely be exploiting the low water levels at Skarvsøen at the moment so hopefully we bring you more storys of wader-filled nights and maybe some more species.

Lille Lappedykker (Little Grebe Juv.)

Also during the morning Hanelie and Simon went ringing at Kabeltromlen. Although not as eventful as our night, some birds kept the morning going including the Redstarts (Rødstjert) and Willow Warblers (Løvsanger). Once we had packed up and got back from Skarvsaøen, Solenn decided she wasn’t tired (Somehow), likely from the night of excitement, so also joined the others at Kabeltromlen.

Dobbeltbekasin (Common Snipe Ad.)

During the day, after data entry and other housekeeping, most of us slept until early afternoon.

We then enjoyed a great dinner outside in the Blink Courtyard prepared by Jette and her Husband staying with us in the apartment this week.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Rødstjert: 5

Løvsanger: 3

Rørsanger: 1

Gransanger: 2

Jernspurv: 1

Sangdrossel: 1

Gærdesanger: 2

Lile Gråsisken: 1

Ringing (Skarvsøen)

Dobbelbekkasin: 19

Almindelig Ryle: 20

Lille Lappedykker: 1

Total: 56

Todays Observations from the area on DOFBasen

People: Max Laubstein, Simon Christiansen, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Solenn Boucher, Lisa Vergin, Diana Sciandra and our Guests Jette og Anders

Hello everybody!

I am experiencing my first days here at the observatory, and I already had some wonderful experiences.

Tonight Solenn and Frank went night catching, but it wasn’t a very productive night for birds. They observed instead other very cool things at the beach like many seals resting and bioluminescent algae.

In the morning sadly we had to say goodbye to Elena, which returned at home, in Austria.

Today I went observing birds with Max in Grenen and I saw my first Velvet Scoters (Fløjlsand)! They are quite elegant birds and in this period it is possible to see some flocks migrating towards South, often paired with some Common Scoters (Sortand), which are migrating too (we observed approximately 200 of them). It is possible to recognize the two species from afar just observing if there is a white window on the wings: when lacking you are observing a Common Scoter.

The males of Velvet Scoter especially have a very bright white window which catches the eye immediately.

In the sea we observed as well a Brant Goose (Knortegås), Gannets (Sule) and other seabirds. At the beach we were able to read three rings on gulls despite the tricky wind. One of these was quite interesting: a black ring on a Great Black-backed Gull (Svartbag), which we discovered in the afternoon it was put when the individual was a chick and it was ringed in Norway in 2014. Reading colored rings on birds always excites me, because you can learn some wonderful stories sending the data and receiving the info back; you just need a little bit of patience and a good telescope!

The afternoon has been very cool too: we had a fantastic dinner at the Blink restaurant with the community of people who work near the lighthouse. I had the opportunity to begin to know the people which will become my neighbors and family for the next months.

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Solenn Boucher, Diana Sciandra

Local observations of the day in DOFBasen

Hey everybody,

Today was my last day at the bird observatory. It’s sad for me to leave as there are so many things I still want to do, so many things I still want to see or observe. But on the other hand, I started to fall ill and it’s good to have time to reenergize again and to hopefully come back at another time, fully regenerated and open to experience much more exciting moments.

Well, how have I spent my last day?

As I have wanted to gain again more experience in ringing birds, I decided to join the ringing team today. Unfortunately, the birds didn’t want to say goodbye to me… We caught only 9 birds in total and closed soon again. Too windy and too beautiful weather conditions with wrong wind directions might be the reason for this low number. The birds are probably using these good conditions and are not landing during their migration, or they are not migrating at all because of the nice weather or they are just not passing by, taking another route. As you can see, there can be a couple of reasons for the low catching and probably, nobody knows for sure.

Our little highlight was a juvenile Yellowhammer (Gulspurv) and a beautiful male adult Redstart (Rødstjert).

Hanelie and Solenn went for watching migration at worlds end 3. Unfortunately, there wasn’t quite a lot to observe as well, but it was enjoyable anyway. Besides the big flock of gulls (måge), in which eight color rings could have been read and the migrating Common Scoters (Sortand) , some Red Throated Loons (Rødstrubet Lom) and Velvet Scoters (Fløjlsand) were seen.

In addition, 4 seals, including two puppies, were resting at Grenen, which is always a nice sight. Unfortunately, they could not detect the orca, which was sighted at Nordstrand this morning.

We spent the afternoon cleaning the apartment, napping, data entry, playing bird memory and Hanelie started to analyze the Nocmig data. (The Nocmig is a microphone, which is placed outside during the night. The recordings give you an insight into which birds are around during this time.)

The past week Simon has been writing two articles to Netfugl.dk. Read them on these links:

Ringing of Quails

Color-ringed Red-footed Falcons

Finally, on the occasion of my last day, we went eating in Skagen at one of the harbor restaurants, which was extremely nice and such a beautiful goodbye (which makes it even a bit harder to leave).

All in all, I want to say THANK YOU to the Skagen Bird Observatory for all the experiences, for all the new things I have learned and for all the beautiful moments you enabled me to have. 

I will definitely come back!

See you then!!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Løvsanger: 4

Rødstjert: 2

Gulspurv: 1

Tornsanger: 1

Blåmejse: 1

Total: 9

Local DOFbasen observations

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Solenn Boucher, Diana Sciandra

Good evening everyone,

I will start with this blog in the last hours of yesterday as some of us were nightactive again last night. Simon drove Frank, Solenn and me to Aalbourg yesterday evening. First we went to Simons mums place and learned to know the house he grew up in to meet Lisa there. Then the five of us went to Simons dad and his wife and we had a delicious barbecue. Tak for mad!

Afterwards we went to the fields around Lindenborg as the goal of this night was catching Great snipes (Tredækker)! Simons dad joined us for the first hours of nightchatching and also Oluf joined us at Lindenborg. On the first round on the field we caught a Common Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin).

Ringing Common Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin)

Common Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin)

After we ringed it, we went on the fields again but we just had four Skylarks (Sanglærke). We didn´t see any Great Snipes (Tredækker) and decided to leave earlier than in the last nights around 2.30. Simon and Lisa went to Simons familys summerhouse after nightcatching, Frank, Solenn and I had to take the train back to Skagen. While waiting we sat an hour at the train station in Aalborg, doing bird quizzes on the phone.  I managed to sleep in the train after two nightshifts in the last three days. When we arrived at Skagen, it was soon time to leave to the morning observations for Max. He joined Knud this morning, but came a bit later, so he missed the Mediteranian Gull „Sorthovedet måge” Knud observed at sunrise. But later they had a Caspian Gull (Kaspisk måge), and also the young Pallid Harrier (Steppehøg) showed up, that has been around the last few days.

Caspian Gull (Kaspisk måge) in a flock of Gulls

While Frank Solenn an I were still sleeping, Elena went to town today, as she will leave Skagen soon and wanted to discouver it a bit more. She had a look at a few shops, that were open today to buy souvenirs for firnds and family, visited the harbour and Ankers house. Also, she had a nice fish in a restaurant. Max went to town today as well to enjoy a Faxe Kondi wihile enjoing the sight of a swinging picnic tabele full of gull shit.

Later in the afternoon, our new volunteer, Diana from Italy arrived. She had been visiting Copenhagen with her family bevore and had a long journey with Flixbus and train to Skagen today. Jørgen picked her up at he trainstation, Diana will be volunteering at the bird observatory until the end of the season at the 7^th of December. Now Max is cooking dinner for the six of us, tommorrow, we´ll all be in the field again for ringing and observations! See you then!

Hanelie

Ringing (Lindenborg):

Sanglærke: 4

Dobbeltbekassin: 1

Total: 5

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

People: People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Solenn Boucher, Diana Sciandra, Simon Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Jørgen Kabel, Knud Pedersen, Oluf Lou, Gunnar Simonsen

God Aften,

In the morning it was quite windy when Solenn and Elena went to open the nets. Never-the-less, they prevailed and opened as many nets as they could but left hose most exposed closed. As expected with the higher winds in the morning, ringing was again slow following the recent trend of the past few mornings. With peaks of 2 birds per round every round we made the decision to close early and head home for a few hours rest before this evening of another attempt at catching the Great snipes (tredækker) near Aalborg.

Whilst at the ringing the Pallid Harrier (Steppehøg) was seen again quite close to Kabeltromlen along with a could Marsh Harriers (Rørhøg) and a Peregrine Falcon (Vandrefalk). Hanelie was also out Observing and also saw the Pallid and Marsh Harriers but apart from the resting sanderlings (sandløber) and Dunlins (Almindelig Ryle) there was nothing else of note or in noteworthy numbers. A Rosy Starling (Rosenstær) was also seen near Kabeltrolen after we had closed the nets so Max had rushed out to see if and got to see his first Rosy Starling. 

Simon came and took me Hanelie and Solenn to his mother’s house where we met Lisa who had been at home for a while. After this we went to Simons fathers place where he had very kindly offered to cook a BBQ for us as sustenance for the night ahead. From there we went to lindenborg, Simons father joined us for the first few hours and we met Oluf there. The rest I will leave to the blog writer to write about of partial success.

Pallid Harrier: Erik Christophersen

Rosy Starling - Erik Christophersen

You can see more of Eriks Pictures of the birdson his blog.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Rødstjert: 2

Havesanger: 2

Rødhals: 1

Rørsanger: 2

Total 7

Local DOFbasen observations

People: Max Laubstein, Simon Christiansen, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Solenn Boucher, Lisa Vergin og Oluf Lou

Hello everybody !

Yesterday was my first volunteering day at Skagen Bird Observatory, which was quite busy : sincere apologies for the late update on the blog !

Sadly no storm-petrel (Stormsvale) decided to visit us in the night from Thursday 1st to Friday 2^nd ; however Hanelie, who was on nightwatch, woke us up at 5am for she had found a new Nightjar (Natravn) attracted in the nets by some audio lures. What a great start of the day !

Frank and I then headed to Kabeltromlen, where Elena and Max later joined us until midday, while Hanelie went for a well deserved resting time. We got several different species, mostly redstarts (Rødstjert) ; but also a willow warbler (Løvsanger) subspecies, P. t. ssp acredula. We also got visited by a pallid harrier (Steppehøg), hovering above Kabeltromlen, as well as a goshawk (Duehøg) hunting around – although none of them visited the nets !

Pallid Harrier (Steppehøg) Photo by Erik Christophersen (https://ecskagen.blogspot.com/)

After a good lunch and some more naps, Simon and Henrik took us and Karin for bird watching on Jerup beach at 4pm, much to Elena’s delight : there she managed to see her very first oytercatcher (Strandskade), sandwich terns (Splitterne), turnstones (Stenvender), curlew sandpiper (Krumnæbbet Ryle) and little stint (Dværgryle)!

We stayed there until 6pm and counted individuals of the 13 wader species observed there. Simon then gave a final lift to Karin to the train station, where she started « migrating home ». Safe travels and thank you for joining us these past 2 weeks !

There was no night shift that night : instead, we celebrated Hanelie’s birthday around a well-appreciated barbecue (the first one that happened since June) under the stars. Happy birthday again !

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Solenn Boucher, Simon Christiansen, Michael Ancher, Karin, and our guest Henrik

Local observations of the day in DOFBasen

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge): 1

Robin (Rødhals): 1

Redstart (Rødstjert): 9

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken): 1

Willow Warbler (Løvsanger): 3

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger): 1

Chaffinch (Bogfinke): 1

Blackcap (Munk): 1

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger): 1

Garden Warbler (Havesanger): 1

Total: 20

Ringing (Nordstjernevej)

Blackbird (Solsort): 1

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger): 1

Chiffchaff (Gransanger): 2

Coal Tit (Sortmejse): 1

Blue Tit (Blåmejse): 1

Great Tit (Musvit): 4

Siskin (Grønsisken): 1

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken): 7

Total: 18

Ringing (Fyrhaverne)

Nightjar (Natravn): 1

 Total: 39

Hej!

After our success with a Leach's Storm-Petrel the night of Aug. 29/30, we decided to try catching storm petrels again last night.  I had nightwatching duties, while the rest got some sleep.

I'll quell your anticipation now: we did not catch any storm-petrels.

However, after putting on some audio lures for shorebirds in the early hours in the morning, we caught a single Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle) juvenile.  Additionally, while it was still dark, I had seen some nightjars circling above the nightjar nets.  When I went to do the final net check & close just at sunrise, I found one nightjar (natravn) caught in the net!  

A knot and a nightjar may not be Leach's Storm Petrel, but they're timelessly pleasant birds nonetheless, so all-in-all it was a successful night!

Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle)

Worldwide, there are several subspecies of Red Knot, Calidris canutus, all breeding in high latitudes of the northern hemisphere.  Here in Denmark, two subspecies occur on migration: canutus, which breeds in central Siberia, and islandica, which breeds on islands in extreme northern Canada and northern Greenland.  These two subspecies appear highly similar, and only show subtle morphological differences (with much overlap).  While we likely can't identify this bird to subspecies, it's fascinating to think that it was born just a few weeks ago in a place as far away as the Canadian arctic, Greenland, or Siberia.

In the morning, Hanelie and Simon went to Kabeltromlen to ring, catching a Jay (skovskade) as a highlight, and some more goldcrests (fuglekonge).  

Frank and Elena went to World's End 3 for a brief seawatch as well, and heard a spotted redshank (sortklire) flying over.

Two of our guests, Pia and Jan left today in the afternoon.  It was lovely having them here.

In the evening we welcomed our new volunteer Solenn, who will be staying here until December.  We'll be attempting to catch storm-petrels again tonight, so hopefully we succeed and can give Solenn a warm storm-petrel welcome to Skagen!

Have a good night!

Max

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Solenn Boucher, Simon Christiansen, Karin, and our guests Henrik, Pia, and Jan.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge): 3

Chiffchaff (Gransanger): 1

Redstart (Rødstjert): 7

Lesser whitethroat (Gærdesanger): 1

Marsh warbler (Kærsanger): 1

Common whitethroat (Tornsanger): 1

Eurasian Jay (Skovskade): 1

Ringing (Stranden, Det Grå Fyr):

Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle) 1

Ringing (Fyrhaverne)

European Nightjar (Natravn) 1

Total: 17

Observations of the day in DOFBasen from observers in the area

Hej out there!

The night from Tuesday to Wednesday, we set up the nets to catch Storm Petrels (Lille Stormsvale) and Nightjars (Natravn) again. It was my first night shift here at the Bird Observatory in Skagen and I was really looking forward to it. Checking nets at the beach at night, while the stars are glowing above you and the light tower throws its light on the beach is just extremely special and beautiful.

We set up three nets at the beach and positioned a speaker at each of them. Two speakers played Storm Petrel's sounds while one produced a mixed sound selection of Storm Petrel, Leach's Storm Petrel and Swinhoe's Storm Petrel (Mørkrygget Stormsvale)

To one of the two Nightjar nets there was also a speaker added, which played Nightjar sounds

My shift started at 10 PM. For the first hours our guests Pia, Henrik and Jan joined us. Unfortunately, this period only provided us empty nets. Karin, Hanelie's mother was a bit more persistent, but after the net round at 1:15AM she left as well. What a pity!! Because at around 2 AM the first bird was caught! It all started with a juvenile Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle) I was extremely happy as I haven't had too many waders in my hand yet. Nevertheless, I decided not to change one sound file into wader sounds yet to give the Storm Petrels a bit more time.

I rang Frank we rang the Dunlin and Frank could lay down again. However, he couldn't rest for long because an hour later another bird in the nets at the beach was caught.

I was very excited and thought we finally caught a European Storm-petrel. I have just seen a black bird with webbed feet. I immediately called Frank again who ran down at the beach in a few minutes. That's the point where everything started: the bird seemed too big for a European Storm-Petrel. It was too big for a European indeed, because it wasn't one...  It was a Leach's Storm-Petrel!

Extremely excited we rang Simon. He must have jumped out of his bed really fast when he got the message.

Leach's Storm Petrels were only ringed 6 times in Denmark prior to this record, but the previously ringed birds were all individuals brought in by ships or found accidentaly on land. Read more about these in this article (in danish).

The European breeding colonies are limited to a few small islands, like Ireland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the West coast of Great Britain.  They are only coming to the land to breed, the rest of their life they spent over the oceans.

Its the 54th Leach's Storm Petrel observed in Skagen, but the first time ever in Denmark that a bird is caught in a mistnet.  

What a great success to catch it here at the bird observatory! A few birders of Skagen were informed and were joining the ringing and photo session of this wonderful bird.

At 5 AM, when I was actually out to close the nets, we trapped a Nightjar. And on the beach in the Storm-petrel nets, a Common Ringed Plover (Stor Præstekrave) was caught.

In addition, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. What an impressive, beautiful and successful nightshift!

While I was going to sleep, the rest of the gang went ringing. All in all ringing was slow. The highlights were a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte), a few Redstarts (Rødstjert) and the first two juvenile Goldcrests (Fuglekonge) of the autumn season! 

Migration count was slow as well. Common scoters  (Sortand), Velvet Scoters (Fløjlsand), Yellow Wagtails (Gul Vipstjert), Tree Pipits (Skovpiber) and some shorebirds were observed.

Today night, we will set up Storm Petrel and Nightjar nets again. Stay tuned- maybe there is a Swinhoe's Storm Petrel in the net;)

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Stor Flagspætte: 1

Rødstjert: 2

Grå Fluesnapper: 2

Løvsanger: 1

Munk: 1

Tornsanger: 1

Havesunger: 1

Fuglekonge: 2

Ringing (Grenen):

Almindelig Ryle: 1

Stor Stormsvale: 1

Natravn: 1

Stor Præstekrave: 1

Total: 15

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

People: Max Laubenstein, Hanelie Sidhu, Frank Osterberg, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen, Karin, Pia, Jan, Henrik.

Hi everyone!

As you know us night active volunteers already there was no thought of going to bed yesterday evening. I was at the cormorant lake yesterday morning and Frank in the afternoon and there are still a lot of waders that are not ringed so far! After our sucessfull first try catching waders at the cormorant Lake, Max, Frank and I were keen on trying it again! Elena stayed at home for a good night sleep to be fit for ringing with Simon the next morning.This time we had the luxury to be driven to Nordstrand by Simon which was much more comfortable than carrying everything on our bikes. As we were not so well organised as last time, Simon was also so kind to bring us stuff that we realized we had forgotten when we were at the lake. This evening also Karin joined us, at least for the first round in which we caught a Common Snipe. It was a quite good night, nine birds caught in the wader nets, two with flashlight and net. We we were hoping for a spotted Redshank or a Ruff, as we observed these species during the day, but therefore we had no luck. Nevertheless, three Dunlins, seven Common Snipes and one Redshank.

Common Snipe "Dobbeltbekkasin"

Dunlin "Almindelig Ryle"

Redshank "Rødben"

That is not bad and a good opportunity for Max and me to train ringing with steel rings and measuring some waders, supervised by Frank. Unless the last night, in which we were sweating at the cormorant lake, it got quite cold in the first hours of the day. So the warm bodys of the waders and the coffee were very welcome. At five thirty in the morning, Simon came to pick us. I was still full of energy due to to much coffee and would not have been able to sleep. So I joined Simon and Elena for ringing at Kabletromlen.

Simon observed a Merlin and a juvenal Hen Hen Harrier during the ringing. The first round was quite good, but then it slowed down a lot. We got some Robins and Redstarts wich was nice.

Redstart "Rødstjert"

My energy also slowed down and when we came back to the station, I was very tired and fell in bed immediatly. Max and Frank tidyd up the lab today and changed the nightjar nets, Elena did the data entry. Tonight, there will be a nightshift again, which Elena will take. We will try to catch storm petrels and nightjars! And we will ceep you updated in the next blog of course. Now, Karin is cooking for us and we are looking forward to a nice meal and an exciting night.

See you tomorrow, take care!

Hanelie

Ringing (Skarvsøen):

Dobbeltbekassin: 7

Rødben: 1

Almindelig Ryle: 3

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gransanger: 2

Løvsanger: 5

Rødstjert: 6

Rørsanger: 1

Gærsanger: 1

Rødhals: 4

Tornsanger: 3

Havesanger: 1

Blåmejse: 1

Total: 35

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Hanelie Sidhu, Frank Osterberg, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen, Karin, Pia, Jan, Henrik.

First of all, apologies for the late update.

Overall the day was rather slow, in the morning the planned ringing was canceled due to high winds and the others took to Worlds End 3 for morning observations while I went straight back to bed, which, was much needed and enjoyable. In the morning, observations were also slow, excluding the expected movements of Common Scoter (Sortand), a few shorebirds such as Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle), Red Knot (Islansk Ryle) and Sanderlings (Sandløber) down on the pond, as well as some barnacle geese (Bramgås) were the highlights of the morning.

In the afternoon, Me, Hanelie and Simon took our PANT into town and did some shopping with our payback. Hanelie took a trip to Skarvsøen to see how many shorebirds there were and how many there were to see if it was worth catching them in the night as we did previously. With the Spotted Redshank (Sortklire), Ruff (Brushane) and a few other species we decided to go and try our luck once again in the hope of plenty more Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin) but also, particularly for the Spotted Redshanks and Ruff. I also took a trip out to Skarvsøen in the evening taking the path through Jenne Sø and saw good numbers of Spotted Flycatchers (Grå Fluesnapper), Whinchat (bynkefugl) and our 3 resident juvenile Red-Footed Falcons (Aftenfalk).

https://dofbasen.dk/search/result.php?design=table&soeg=soeg&periode=dato&dato=29-08-2022&omraade=stor&stor=588&obstype=observationer&species=alle&sortering=dato

People: Max Laubstein, Simon Christiansen, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Karin og our guests Henrik, Pia og Jan.