Today, the 20th of June was the last day of standarised ringing at Skagen Fuglestation. While the windy weather did not allow ringing in the last days, we were lucky today, conditions were good to go to Kabeltromle and we also needed to do the CES at Skarvsøen. Andrew and I were the first being up to head to the CES, as it takes a while to bike and walk there. We had quite a nice morning with the first 1K Lesser Whitethroats "Tornsanger" in hand, the first 1K Blue Tit "Blåmejse", some first Calender year Chiffchaffs "Gransanger" and else mostly Reed Warblers "Rørsanger".

Bluetit "Blåmejse", 1K. Pictuere: Andrew Jacobs

There was also a surprise for us on the lake, Andrew found a immature male Mandarine Duck "Mandarin-and" on the lake! It is only the 4th record of Mandarine Duck in Skagen, last time, two individuals were recorded in 2018.

Mandarinduck "Manderin-and" at Skarvsøen. Picture: Andrew Jacobs.

There was also a family of Bearded Reedlings "Skægmejse" calling close to our ringing table for quite some time. Unfortunately they did not go into our nets.
In the meantime, Cora, Tue and Lucas had a nice last standarised ringing day at Kabeltromle. They too had mostly first calender-year birds in the nets mostly Chiffchaffs "Gransanger" and a notable number of ten Crested Tits "Topmejse". In the field close to the ringing site, the heated and saw a Grasshopper Warbler "Græshoppersanger".

Grasshopperwarbler "Græshoppesanger", Picture: Tue Baaner

Ringing Kabeltrommle
Munk 1
Tornsanger 5
Rørsanger 1
Kærsanger 2
Gransanger 6
Topmejse 10
Total: 25

CES Skarvsøen
Rørsanger 5
Gærdesanger 2
Blåmejse 1
Topmejse 1
Tornsanger 1
Munk 2
Solsort 1
Gransanger 3
Total 16

Highlights at Kabeltrommle
Grasshoppersanger

Highlights Skarvsøen
Manderin-and
Skægermejse

After ringing, I opened my moth trap, I had already checked the wall in the dark before leaving to Skarvsøen. I had 30 different species in the trap, two of them were new for me, Drepana falcataria "Birkeseglvinge" and Eulithis mellinata "Solbær-havemåler". The Hook tips are a group of moths I really like and Birkeseglvinge was my favourite moth of the day.

Drepana falcataria "Birkeseglvinge". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Eulithis mellinata "Solbær-havemåler". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Anne and Jesper had a nice walk in the morning and enjoyed some Honey Buzzards "Hvepsevåge" and other birds in the area.
In the evening, Andrew, Tue, Cora and I had a nice walk on the beach, the Swifts "Mursejler" were flying low and we saw some Red-breasted Mergensers "Toppet Skakalkeslugger".
Tomorrow we are leaving to the island of Hirsholmene, we will stay there for one night and will do a count of passerines on the island, so we also did some planning in the evening. Now we are exited for the Black Guillemots "Tjeist" tomorrow.

At the station: Tue Baaner, Cora Kørbele, Lucas Corneliussen, Andrew Jacobs, Hanelie Sidhu and our guests Anne and Jesper Sandfeld

Today was yet another windy day so ringing was cancelled and I decided to do a loop towards the beach going through Storsig, Ellekattet, and then Grenen to see what species would be around today. Around the forest there were many Common Chiffchaff, a couple Spotted Flycatcher and some Crested Tits. On the beach there was a large roosting flock of Common Terns and joining them some early returning Dunlin and Sanderling moving along the beach.

House Sparrow roosting on the roof photo Andrew Jacobs

Crested Tit foraging in the forest photo Andrew Jacobs

Sanderling strolling the shore photo Andrew Jacobs

The others went out a bit later towards the forest on the south side of Storsig and also had similar species of forest birds.

In the evening we went down to the beach where it has being blowing west for quite some time now a massive number of Common Terns and Sandwich Terns were swirling offshore by the hundreds with this we figured that it would likely attract some Skuas which it did bring in both two light morph and two dark morph Arctic Skuas which chased the terns quite a bit. A young Long-eared Owl was seen flying out very high over the terns and the water, dispersal in action.

Pair of Arctic Skua chasing a Sandwich Tern photo Andrew Jacobs

Now we prepare for CES ringing and the last day of standard spring season ringing!

Highlights:

Arctic Skua 4 Almindelig Kjove

Sanderling 2 Sandløber

Dunlin 2 Almindelig Ryle

Spotted Flycatcher 2 Gråflusnapper

Common Tern 690 Fjordterne

Long-eared Owl 1 Sovhornugle

Observations from today on DOFbasen

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Sidhu, Andrew Jacobs and our guests Anne and Jesper. 

Because we came home late after staying a little longer at Jerup Strand and it was too windy to open the nets, we used the opportunity to sleep in today. 

Lucas had the idea to go swimming to get really awake so we quickly went into the sea. It was very refreshing and much colder than the last time.

We started our day with some cleaning and Tue went to Skagen to meet a friend. 

Later the rest of us went out birding a bit in the wind. We first went to Ellekrattet the little “forest”. There we heard some Crested Tits. Afterwards we went out to the beach, where we saw some Common Ringed Plovers (Stor Præstekrave). We also looked if we could find any Plover chicks but we couldn't find any. There was also a big flock of Common Terns (Fjordterne) resting on the beach and we could get really close to them. That was nice.

 Common Terns (Fjordterne) 

On our way back to the station we saw a Honey Buzzard (Hvipsevåge) which was flying directly over our heads.

 Honey Buzzard (Hvipsevåge)

Out on our walk we also saw many caterpillars for some of them of the Dark Tussock (Hedenonne). Hanelie also caught an imago of this species. It is quite  interesting that you can see the imago and the caterpillar at once.

Dark Tussock (Hedenonne) Caterpillar

Dark Tussock (Hedenonne) imago

Later Hanelie cooked us a very nice dinner. And we are looking forward to doing some nice seawatching tomorrow to see which birds get blown over in this wind.

Highlights from the observations:

Honey Buzzard (Hvipsevåge) 

very close Common Terns (Fjordterne) 

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Sidhu, Andrew Jacobs and our guests Anne and Jesper. 

Hejsa folkens

I dag startede vi med at tjekke om vejret var godt nok til at ringmærke, men dsv blæste det for meget i den tidlige morgen. Heldigvis blev vinden lidt bedere, så vi endte med at kunne åbne nogle af nettene ved 7 tiden. Vi havde ikke så mange fugle i nettene, men det var godt vi tog ud, for i den første runde havde vi både en skovskade, bjerg vipstjert og en gransanger aflæsning fra Italien. Så det endte alt i alt med at være en super spændende morgen, med en masse sjov.

Skovskade 

Mens Cora, Hanelie og jeg ringmærkede, var Andrew og Lucas, gået ud for at kigge efter lidt fugle. Andrew fandt en Rovterne på stranden, og Lucas så både hedehøg, brushaner og en gulirisk, så det var to meget succesfulde ture som de havde.

Rovterne 

Efter vi alle var kommet hjem tog andre og Lucas også til flagbakken for at kigge lidt på rovfugle. Der var fint gang i både våger, gelenter og ørne. Dog ikke noget ud over det sædvanlige. Dog kom der en Hortulan flyvende forbi, så det var jo noget af en vild overraskelse for dem.

Om aftenen havde vi en aftale om at vi skulle kigge på en redekasse med tårnfalke, for at vurdere om de kunne ringmærkes. Andrew og jeg tog tog lige forbi mine forældres hus på vejen, for at se om vi kunne finde en grønspætte. Den fandt vi dog ikke, men vi så en masse spætmejser, Skovpiber og nattergal.

Lidt efter mødtes vi med de andre ude ved redekassen. Her snakkede ved med Martin, som ejede grunden, og satte en stige op for at se ungernes størrelse. Efter vi kom op kunne vi vurdere, at ungerne stadig skal have lidt tid inden de er klar til at få ring på. Vi glæder os til at vende tilbage.

Tårnfalke unger i reddekasse 

På vej hjem fra tårnfalkene stoppede vi ved Jerup strand for at se om vi kunne find lidt fugle. Her så vi den mest bedårende præstekrave unge sammen med dens forældre. Derudover så vi både klyder og Skestorke, samt en del andre vadefugle. Alt i alt en succesfuldt stop på vejen. Dog blev vi en smule forsinket, da jeg på vej tilbage til bilen opdagede at jeg havde tabt mine bilnøgler på stranden. Efter godt en halvtimes søgen blev de dog fundet og vi kom alle hjem i godt behold, dog en smule senere en planlagt.

Nu ser vi frem til endnu en god dag i morgen på Skagen fuglestation.

Vi ses derude.

Ringing Numbers: 

Gransanger 2 
Løvsanger 1 
Gulbug 1 
Bjergvipstjert 1 
Havesanger 1 
Skovskade 1

Total: 7

Highlights Skagen 

Rovterne 1

Gulirisk 1 

Brushane 2

Duehøg 1

Hortulun 1

Hedehøg 1

Highligts Tues Hus 

Thrush Nightingale 1

Spætmejse 3 

Skovpiber 5 

Highligts Jerup Stand 

Stor præstekrave unge 1 

Skestork 4 

Klyde 2 

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Andrew Jacobs, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Sidhu, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Eric Christophersen, Oluf Lou, Kim Skelmose, Hanne and Jesper

The wind was to strong to open the nets at Kabeltromle today and as the observation season ended yesterday and the windy weather was not really encouraging to go out, we stayed in a bit longer today. Later, everyone went on a walk and Tue, Lucas, Andrew and Cora saw a Montagues Harrier/ Hedehøg in Storsig not far from Ellekrattet, while I was on a walk at Grenen.

Montagues Harrier/ Hedehøg 2K female

Andrew also had a Little Tern "Dværgterne" on the sea close to the lighthouse.

Bird Higlights of today:

Montagues Harrier "Hedehøg

Little Tern "Dværgterne"

Todays observations of observers in the area can be seen here.

I was catching moths with light every night since I arrived here and want to show some highlights of the last days. I am entering the moths everyday on Arter, ObsIdentify and inaturalist so even if there is no list or pictures on the blog, you can keep updated.

Top row from left to right: Deilephia elpenor/ Dueurtsværmer; Hedya nubiferana/ Grå knopvikler; Spilosoma urticae/Hvid tigerspinder

Bottom row from left to right: Coscinia cribraria/ Plettet hedespinder; Zigzagspinder/Notodonta zizac; Pterosoma palpina/ Palpetandspinder

Pictures: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Andrew Jacobs, Lucas Corneliussen, Tue Baaner, Cora Körbele, Hanelie Sidhu and our guests Anne and Jesper Sandfeld

Rise and shine! Today was the final day of the standardized observation. After four long months, the standardized period has finally come to a close after today.  It has been a season with some spectacular birds with a pair of King Eiders (Kongeederfugl) in the first months to a Scopoli’s Shearwater (Skopolis Scråpe) in the final weeks! A season of highs and lows we will all never forget!

The observers got up this morning, unfortunately, to find that rain was barreling towards Skagen and meant that we were only able to count in the last hour of the morning. Despite this, we had a nice time reminiscing on the cold, foggy months, especially in March, which made us laugh as it was a similar day today as it was them, only 12 degrees warmer!

 The highlight of the morning were a pair of Little Terns (Dvaergterne) and large numbers of post breeding dispersal Grey Herons (Fiskehejre)!  We also saw Eric Christophersen who happened to be one of the first people we met in the field this spring at Grenen. A nice way to end the season!

 The observation team for the final day! 2 of whom have been here since day 1!

The ringers, Tue and Hanelie, headed out to CES and tried to open the nets, only to find out the rain was coming which led them to rapidly close them. They came home and immediately went back to sleep. 

In the late morning, Oluf came and picked up and took us up and took us south of Skagen to go meet up with the White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) ringers to try and ring a chick! Unfortunately, because the nest is new this year, it was unable to support the weight of Kim so he was unable to retrieve the retrieve. Regardless, it was very interesting to see him try to get up to the nest.

 Kim climbing the nest tree

Once completed, we said goodbye to Simon and Lisa, who are on their way to Iceland to complete fieldwork for the week. We wish them luck! Que into a special edition of the blog this week for updates from their trip as they will be ringing ducks!

Learning about the pulli Havørn ringing process with some "war" wounds from climbing

 In the afternoon, the rain kept us inside and we all took it easy. We expect the next couple of days to be very, very windy so ringing probably will not happen. But this allows us time to catch up on things we have been postponing the entire spring season.  Finally, in the evening, we welcomed Hanne and Jesper to the station. They will be staying as guests for the week. They also, coincidentally, happen to be the very first guests who stayed to the apartment during my first week at Skagen last year! 

And so, another observation season has come and gone at Skagen Fuglestation! What will the fall season bring? We will have to wait and see!!!!

Day Highlights:

Dværgterne 2 

Fiskehejre 49

Day Lowlight: 

The end of the spring season :(

MAJOR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

- King Eider (Kongeederfugl)

- Surf Scoter (Brilleand)

- Booted Eagle (Dværgørn)

- Oriental Honey Buzzard (Tophvepsevåge)

- Black winged Kite (Blå Glente)

- Scopoli's Shearwater (Skopolis Scråpe)

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Andrew Jacobs, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Sidhu, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Eric Christophersen, Oluf Lou, Kim Skelmose, Hanne and Jesper

Today I went out to world’s end 1 with Lucas for observations we have been having fairly light eastern winds so the species and numbers passing through have changed noticeably from when the wind was more westerly. Some of the main species moving are European Starling (Stær), Eurasian Siskin (Gønsisken), Common Chaffinch (Bogfinke) and Red Crossbill (Liille Korsnæb) now with the better weather some raptors like European Honey-buzzard (Hvepsevåge) are coming through. Some interesting birds that came through were a late Long-tailed Duck (Havlit) migrating in a line with the Common Scoters (Sortand). A Black Tern (Sortterne) passing at the tip, Great Egret (Sølvhejre) going over the cormorant lake where some Great Cormorant (Skarv) have fledged now, a Black Kite was cruising over ellekrattet as well. Some waders made an appearance with Bar-tailed Godwits (Lille Kobbersneppe) and Eurasian Curlews (Storspove) and a few distant calidris type birds.

European Honey-buzzard (Hvepsevåge) photo Andrew Jacobs

In the ringing the influx of young Crested Tits (Topmejse) continued and the ringers got a Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger)  from the Netherlands so we will await to hear back about where this bird’s travels have taken it.

A recaptured Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger) from the Netherlands photo Hanelie Shidu

We had heard about a Short-toed Snake Eagle (Slangeørn) being around so went to Husig Hede to try and find it with no avail, some close Eurasian Hobbies (Lærkefalk) and a European Honey-buzzard (Hvepsevåge) were nice.

In the evening we went to Storsig for a walk to see if we could find a Red-footed Falcon (Aftenfalk) and had a nice stroll in the setting sun, there was a small falcon that passed us but it was completely backlit to hide its identity, maybe tomorrow we’ll be able to spot it!

Highlights from around Skagen today

Long-tailed Duck (Havlit) 1

Black Tern (Sortterne) 1

Great Egret (Sølvhejre) 1

Black Kite (Sort Glente) 1

Also in Skagen today from others

Short-toed Snake Eagle (Slangeørn) 1

Steppe Eagle (Steppeørn) 1

Red-footed Falcon (Aftenfalk) 1

Montagu’s Harrier (Hedehøg) 1

Observations on Dofbassen from the area today

Ringing:

Rødhals 1

Kærsanger 3

Munk 2

Topmejse 4

A recaptured Sivsanger from the Netherlands

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Shidu, Andrew Jacobs and Simon S. Christiansen

Hejsa derude.

I dag stod Cora og Hanelie for ringmærkningen. Det var ikke den mest aktive morgen, men der var da et par fugle i nettet, blandt andet havesanger, musvit og et par juvenile topmejser.

Topmejse 1k

På morgenoptællingen, havde Andrew en fed morgen med en en del småfugle, og god aktivitet over havet også. Højdepunkterne var en topskarv, Lærkefalk og en sodfarvet skråbe. Sodfarvet skåpe, er virkelig en sjælden sommergæst, så det var bestemt en fed observation. Heldigvis nåede Cora også at se den fra Kabeltromelen.

Efter alle var kommet hjem, havde vi planlagt en tur ned til lille vildmose, med målet om at se sortspætte, kongeørn, stor hornugle og lille kirke ugle. Dsv vidste det sig at være som det ofte er med fugle, en del svære end man lige tror. Vi endte nemlig kun med at høre sortspætten en enkelt gang , og så hverken kongeørnen eller stor hornugle. Heldigvis var der god stemning og vi fandt også kirkeuglen, på vej hjem, så det reddede turen!!

På udkig efter Stor Hornugle 

Kirkeugle 

Mens vi var i lille vildmose, hørte vi en Zello omkring at der var set en Slangeørn oppe omkring Store klit!! Det endte med at ørnen blev set en gang inden den forsvandt ned over Hulsig mod nord, men vi krydser fingre for at den vender tilbage i morgen, så vi måske kan få en chance til!!

Vi vil takke af nu her fra en træt flok, som er klar til at give den gas igen i morgen.

Vi ses derude!

Ringing Kabeltromlen:

Kærsanger 1

Rørsanger 3

Topmejse 1

Munk 5

Havesange 1

Bogfinke 3

Gransanger 1

Total: 16

Highlights from Skagen:

Topskarv 1

Sodfarvet Skråpe 1

Slangeørn 1 

Lærkefalk 1 

Higlights Lille Vildmose tur 

Sortspætte 

Kirkeugle 

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Shidu, Andrew Jacobs and Simon S. Christiansen

This morning Hanelie and I went out to open the nets. Later also Lucas joined for the first round. There were not so many birds in the nets in the first rounds. But on the fourth I extracted a Reedwarbler (Rørsanger) with a ring on it, when I checked the ring number Icould see that it was ringed in Norway. It is always a bit exciting when you catch birds with rings from other countries. So now we are looking forward to receive the recapture letter of this bird.

Hanelie also brought two birds back from her round. One of them was an Acrocephalus Warbler. But when I took that one out of the bag we could see that it looked a bit different than a Marsh- or Reed warbler and also the wing was very short. We checked all the measurements again and then it was clear this one was another Blyth’s Reedwarbler (Buskrørsanger)! Already the second this year! It was only the 5th caught for the station.  

Blyth’s Reed Warbler (Buskrørsanger)

Oluf, Tue, Andrew and some other birders came by to look at the bird. Later also Jørgen Kabel and his dog Igor came by to have a chat with us and keep us company. The other highlight of the ringing was that we  caught five young Crested Tits (Topmejse) today. They were very nice.

 the young Crested Tits (Topmejser) 

The observations were observation wise a bit slow today but they saw a Shag  (Topskarv) and an Arctic Skua (Almindelig Skua). One other highlight of the observation were four young  Coal Tits (Sortmejse).

When we were back at the station we took a look at the Moths Hanelie caught in her traps tonight. There were some very nice ones like a Small Elephant Hawk-moth (Lille Vinsværmer) and an Eyed Hawk-Moth (Aftenpåfugleøje). 

Small Elephant Hawk-moth (Lille Vinsværmer). Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Eyed Hawk-Moth (Aftenpåfugleøje). Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

After that I sat in the Garden, read a Book and enjoyed the sun. Today was the first day where you could finally feel the summer.

Later Tue and I went out to Grenen and the old Lighthouse Garden to collect some Elderflowers to make Elderflower syrup. Out while I was collecting the flowers Tue found Fawn lying in the grass. Sooo cute! 

very cute Fawn in the grass

When we came back Tue, Lucas and I went swimming. It was very nice.The water is still a bit cold but much warmer than in March.

Ringing Kabeltromlen:

Rørsanger 4

Gulbug 1

Munk 5

Havesanger 1

Gransanger 1

Buskrørsanger 1

Topmejse 5

Total: 18

Highlights from the observations:

Shag - Topskarv 1

4 young Coal Tits - Sortmejse

Arctic Skua - Almindelig Kjove 1

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Shidu, Andrew Jacobs and Simon S. Christiansen

Not many birds in the nets today but a calling Rosefinch „Karmindompap“ close to the nets while opening was nice, we heared them later as well from the ringing table.

Simon saw one at the Sandworm track that was collecting nesting material. Maybe it is attempting to built a nest.

Also Cora and Andrew had several Rosefinches „Karmindompap“ calling at the morning Observations at Worlds end one. Other nice observations were a Arctic Scua „Almindelig Kjove“ over the sea, a 1K Reed Bunting „Rørspurv” that had a funny call and was fedt by its parents and a Rook ”Rage”, which they did not see for a while.

Highligts from the observations

Rosefinch/ Karmindompap 4

Arctic Skua/ Almindelig Kjove 1

Today´s observations in Dofbasn from observers in the area.

Morning Observations at World´s End 1. Picture: Simon S. Christionsen

Also many 1Ks at the breeding bird monitoring at Cormorant lake, 152 Cormorant ”Skav” chicks.

I will catch moths during my time here at Skagen and had my trap out but did not get much, three different species in the trap and one that I caught in the grass, Ematurga atomaria ”Lyngmåler”. It is a common dayflying one but quite nice. Yesterday evening I found one moths and one caterpillar on the wall without light. I have built one more trap today and will try it out this night.

Ematurga atomaria ”Lyngmåler”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Cora Körbele, Tue Baaner, Lucas Corneliussen, Simon S. Christiansen, Andrew Jacobs, Hanelie Sidhu