It was another very very soggy day today at the bird station but, because of how much we love birds, we all decided to venture outside into the tail end of Storm Amy to see what species we could find. Sarah, Miles and Florian headed to Worlds End 3 where, during an hour and a half of seawatching, they spotted some nice birds: lots of Little Gulls (Dværgmåge), Great Crested Grebes (Toppet Lappedykker), both Arctic (Almindelig Kjove) and Great Skua (Storkjove), and some lovely Goldeneye (Hvinand). They tried to cycle back to the lighthouse quickly before the heavy rain started but got caught out and had to take shelter under at tree at Kabeltromlen for a while.

Observers at Worlds End 3 staying positive through the heavy rain

Meanwhile Gabriel headed into Skagen town centre to do some food shopping whilst I headed on a walk past Jennes Sø and towards Nordstrand. Kitted out in full waterproofs and wellies, the rain didn’t bother me too much, and in the area around the old lighthouse I was rewarded with lots of passerines and some beautiful rainbows. My highlight was seeing the Northern European subspecies of the Long-tailed Tit / Aegithalus caudatus (Halemejse) for the first time. I’m from the UK so I’m used to seeing the British subspecies (Aegithalos rosaceus) which has the distinct black stripes on its crown, so seeing the birds here with a full snowy white head was super cool!

I also took some time to notice the lovely plants, fungi and lichens along the walk. I love the species shown in the picture below because in English we call it the Fairy Cup lichen (Cladonia sp.), so it always makes me feel like I’m walking through a magical forest when I see it. Lichens (lav) are actually not a single organism, but a partnership between a fungus and an algae or bacteria. They are really useful indicators of air quality and help with soil formation and soil nutrient cycling too. So, respect the lichens; they’re just as important as the birds in our ecosystems, and deserve more attention!

Lichen (lav) + rainbow

We all spent the rest of the day catching up on admin tasks, and then some napped whilst others did yoga or went running. It was also lovely to welcome back Lars Bo to the station that we asked to come and help in the field this week. But, of course, the highlight of our afternoon was when Matilde and Maciek from Blink restaurant came round to drop off some MUCH-needed lemon cake, and some lovely looking fish, salad and tomatoes too. Thank you! Let’s see what I can cook for dinner tomorrow night using these ingredients. I don't think there will be any cake left for tomorrow though, it's already almost all eaten! Now we're all about to sit down together for a delicious Swedish soup dinner cooked by Gabriel using a recipe from his Grandma; can't wait to try it!

Gabriel studying ALL the bird books in preparation for his presentation to us next week

Highlights from Worlds End 3 (1.5hrs):

Little Gulls (Dværgmåge) 23

Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) 1

Great Skua (Storkjove) 1

Great Crested Grebes (Toppet Lappedykker) 5

Today's observations from the area can be seen here.

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Simon S. Christiansen and Lars Bo Jacobsen.

After a cozy family movie night last night while the storm raged outside (we saw Howl’s Moving Castle—a fantastic film!), we all had a delicious lie-in this morning as it was still too stormy for the migration count. We had a nice lazy breakfast together, said goodbye to Otto, and then cleaned up the flat before lunch.

All of us went up the lighthouse tower together around midday to play in the wind and see if we can see some birds. It was windy and a little wet, but had already calmed down quite a bit from the morning. There were even the brave marathon runners out, who we cheered on from the tower but most of them couldn’t hear us over the wind.

Today was also EuroBirdwatch day! Organised by BirdLife International, this is a day for everyone in Europe to go out and count migrants, to raise awareness for migratory birds and their habitats, and to create a full-continent picture of European bird migration. Although we could not do our standardized count this morning, the five us still went out in the afternoon to record migrants. We split up after lunch; Amira, Miles and I walked down to Grenen while Florian and Gabriel carried their scopes up to the lighthouse tower to count from the small bit of shelter on one side of the glass (where they dilignetly counted 2,800 Scoters (Sortand)). Then Miles walked to Nordstrand where he saw a short-eared owl (Mosehornugle)! Although he called it out straight away, Amira and I couldn’t see it from where we stood at Kabeltromlen.

Hyperopolus lanceolatus (identified by Lille Simon)

Dedicated observer counting Sortand

We walked to Ellekrattet to search for some passerines, where we ran into Florian and Gabriel who had tired of standing on the tower in the wind. They had just spotted a great grey shrike (Stor tornskade), which we followed but also failed to see. Alas, we missed the most exciting birds today, but we still saw plenty to be happy about. Great grey shrikes are famous for their habit of impaling their killed prey on thorns for safekeeping, which is also the origin of the Latin genus name, Lanius, meaning butcher or executioner. Shrikes were featured across Medieval  British and Scandinavian folklore, known in various dialects as “suffocating angels” or “poison angels,” and the thorns that held their prey were avoided as poisonous.

In other bird news, after much analysis and consulting of our team of international experts, Florian is able to confirm that his sound recording from yesterday is from a Little Bunting (Dværgværling)! Very exciting news for us, although we were not able to lay eyes on it (yet).

After returning home cold and tired, we now compile our observations from today and look forward to a tasty pie that Miles is cooking.

Today's observations from the area can be seen here. 

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering,  Michael Ancher, Simon S. Christiansen.

Today there were strong southwesterly winds, over 10 m/s. Because of that we didn’t do any ringing, and instead the whole volunteer team did migration counts from World’s End III. Knud was there too for the first few hours. Migration was rather slow today, not much movement overall. Even the passerines were scarce in the wind. Still, we did spot two migrating Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) in the distance, which was our first of the season. There was also good movement of alcids, and besides the Razorbills (Alk) and Guillemots (Lomvie), several Black Guillemots (Tejst) were on the move as well, which was nice.

From this morning's migration count at World's End III

An hour before the standardised migration count was finished, Sarah and Amira left to bike to Jennes Sø, where Michael Ancher was ringing today.

After the standardised count, Florian, Miles and I (Gabriel) searched through the sea buckthorn bushes next to World’s End III, trying to locate an alternative “Tick Bunting” that might have been heard during the count. Unfortunately, nothing more exciting than a few Reed Buntings (Rørspurver) sheltering in the buckthorn turned up. A small flock of migrating Greater White-fronted Geese (Blisgæs) was also noted shortly after the day’s count, another first of the season for us.

Sea Aster (Strandaster)

After lunch, Sarah, Amira and Miles went with Simon into Skagen By, where they recycled the bottles and cans from the station. With the deposit money they bought a cake, which they brought back for us. After running some more errands in Skagen, Sarah, Miles and Simon did some birding there, while Amira took the chance to visit the local bathhouse and go down the waterslide.

This evening Otto (this week’s guest) came by with a gift of goodies he had bought for us. Tusind tak Otto!

Right now Sarah is cooking a “Storm Soup” with red lentils. Smells delicious!!!

This morning Sarah and I (Miles) headed to Worlds End 3 for the migration count. Winds from the southeast have not brought much migration in recent days, but we did see a Common Shelduck (Gravand), Black Guillemot (Tejst), 1392 Common Scoters (Sortand) and 164 Blue Tits. While observers at Worlds End 1 and Kabeltromlen have been noting large flocks of Blue Tits, not as a many make it all the way to Worlds End 3.

The large flocks of Blue Tits at the migration count translated into a huge day at the ringing. Amira, Gabriel and Simon caught a whooping 55 Blue Tits today! Yesterday was a great day for Blue Tits, and yet they still managed to catch 17 more today. Another highlight was a Yellowhammer (Gulspurv). It was a recapture, but it is always cool to see such a colorful bird in the hand.

Yellowhammer (Gulspurv) recaptured at Kabeltromlen this morning

Florian got some extra rest this morning, then went out to Jennes Sø and Skarvsøen. There were many warblers in the bushes at Skarvsøen, but a Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) continues to elude us. He did see a Hawfinch (Kernebider) and 2 Jack Snipe (Enkeltbekkasin), which are both notable. We may try to catch the Jack Snipe after the storm passes on Saturday. Florian also spotted a kingfisher (Isfugl) while at Skarvsøen (he truly has a knack for manifesting them). He looked carefully at the legs to see if there was a ring and indeed there was! This is almost certainly the bird we captured and ringed last Thursday (25/09), so it is interesting to know it is still in the area.

After ringing finished, the whole crew helped sew holes in the nets. Sarah was a great motivator for this and helped keep moral high! Simon was somewhat stunned that we were able to repair all the nets in one day. I also sawed off some low roots and branches to reduce tripping hazards in the net lanes.

The crew sewing mist nets together

We had a late lunch around 4 pm, but Mette brought us some leftover cake from the café, which caused much jubilation. For dinner, Florian cooked us some delicious Swiss rösti and we learned about Swedish idioms from Gabriel. I think, “To slide in on a shrimp sandwich,” meaning to achieve something with little effort, is a new favorite for everyone.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Blue Tit (Blåmejse) 55

Song Thrush (Sangdrossel) 1

Eurasian Wren (Gærdesmutte) 6

Coal Tit (Sortmejse) 2

Dunnock (Jernspurv) 1

European Robin (Rødhals) 1

Eurasian Blackcap (Munk) 13

Reed Bunting (Rørspurv) 6

Eurasian Bullfinch (Dompap) 1

Eurasian Bullfinch (Eurasian) (Lille Dompap) 3

Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger) 4

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) 5

Total: 98

Highlights from today’s observations at Worlds End 3:

Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) 4

Common Scoter (Sortand) 1392

Black Guillemot (Tejst) 1

Blue Tit (Blåmejse) 164

Today’s observations from the area can be found here.

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Knud Pedersen, Simon S. Christiansen and our guest Otto Clemmensen.

Despite the 38 Blue Tits (Blåmejse) we caught, today was one of the best days for me and Sarah because we caught a Crested Tit (Topmejse) this morning! These are one of our favourite birds so we were extremely excited. I hadn’t noticed until now how blood red their eyes were, it was beautiful. We also had the first Redwing (Vindrossel) of the Autumn in the nets, a lovely adult bird, and then I had a strange sighting of a Water rail (Vandrikse) sitting at the top of a Willow tree!

Crested Tit (Topmejse)

After the very windy weather over the last few days, it was great to have all the nets open again today and we were rewarded with 111 birds in total, a busy morning! It was nice to see the birds with a lot more body fat than they’ve had recently, so hopefully the bad weather has given them time to stop and re-fuel before they continue their Autumn migration.

Redwing (Vindrossel)

The observers (Florian and Gabriel) had a slower morning but still saw some impressive numbers of birds, with over 1600 gulls resting on the beach, and amongst them they impressively managed to pick out a single juvenile Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge). There was also over 1000 Common Scoter (Sortand) on the sea and 300 Starlings (Stær) migrating past. The observers also managed to read several gull colour rings despite the wind making it quite shaky through the scope. It will be exciting to find out where these colour-ringed birds have come from!

After a quick lunch, Sarah, Gabriel and I were kindly invited by Sabine to help carve some pumpkins. Of course, we all chose bird-themed designs but none of us were brave enough to attempt the Skagen logo bird, the Pallid Harrier. I’m very proud of all the carvings we produced; we had a Raven, a Tawny Owl, some Sanderling and a Pigeon. If you’re passing by the lighthouse, come and check them out, they’re in the main courtyard outside the shop!

Pumpkin carving

The rest of the afternoon was spent having a group swim and then trying to catchup on entering all our data from such a bird-filled morning of ringing and observations!

A very cute Treecreeper (Træløber)

 

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Vindrossel 1

Topmejse 1

Blåmejse 38

Sangdrossel 6

Musvit 3

Rørspurv 1

Lille Gråsisken 1

Fuglekonge 15

Træløber 1

Gærdesmutte 7

Rødhals 4

Sortmejse 2

Jernspurv 1

Munk 6

Gransanger 7

Total new birds: 94

 

Highlights from today's observations at Worlds End 3:

Gull sp. 1600+

Caspian Gull 1

Common Scoter 1000+

 

Today’s observations from the area can be found here.

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Simon S. Christiansen and our guest Otto Clemmensen.