When we wanted to leave for today’s count, Sarah and Selina came already back from Kabeltromlen. They were pretty wet and did not open the nets because of a rain shower. Flo, Gabriel and I waited before the heaviest rain had stopped and headed then out to find some interesting birds at worlds end 3. On our way there we could watch a gorgeous sunrise. So beautiful, that we forgot to take a picture, therefore you have to imagine it. Around the sun, the sky turned glowing red. This was surrounded by some darker clouds that broke up at certain parts and revealed some colourful sunbeams. When we arrived at the counting spot, a lightning appeared in the red. A rest of a thunderstorm that luckily passed by.

During the first two hours we found two adult Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove)- one light and one dark morph. There I tried to see the characteristics Knud had told us for the examination of the age. Especially in the dark birds wing that was difficult. Shortly after the last Skua disappeared, a Merlin (Dværgfalk) flew in and sat down very cooperative on the beach. Besides that, the migration was calm. Therefore, we took some time to look closely on some birds. The light was very good and we could follow a beautiful young Kittiwake (Ride) that flew by close to the shore.

A Black Throated Diver in breeding plumage was flying directly above our heads

Sitting there, expecting nothing bad, the sky suddenly changed. The horizon disappeared between a wall of rain and we could just wait and watch the spectacle. After some time, I was not that amazed anymore and hoped the rain would stop soon. But it did not look like this. So, we had one hour of time to imagine all the birds we could see up here. When the rain began to decrease, Knud said, now there had to come a special bird. As a reward for our perseverance in the rain. No extremely rare bird showed up, but it was still nice to watch out a bit.

Meanwhile, Sarah, Selina and Óscar had set up the nets. During the shower they had to close them again and wait in a small tent for better conditions. When they opened again, many birds were flying into the nets. At this time, Gabriel and I arrived there after our count. Flo stayed a bit at the beach to take some pictures of Waders.

The waders liked the puddles that formed from the rain

Later on, when Flo joined the ringing, all six of us were there together. Shortly after all the birds were finished, Selina had to leave to reach her train back home. One last hug and then she went away. It was such a nice time with her and cool to see how fast she learned the ringing and handling of birds. Vi ses :).

After the ringing, we briefly went to Ellekrattet where we tried to find a Crested Tit (Topmejse) for Óscar. He has never seen this bird and up here in the coniferous forests is a good opportunity. Unfortunately, there was not much activity. Later on, we wanted to go birdwatching. When we looked at the radar, the others were not so motivated anymore. Therefore, I went out alone. I went to Skarvsøen and wondered, why I did this not earlier. It was very nice up there. Many passerines were in the bushes and several Swifts (Mursejler) were hanging around (maybe the last of the season- vi får se). I heard some Bearded Reedlings (Skægmejse) and my first Bramblings (Kvækerfinke) for the season. Then I received a Zello Message, that Óscar and Flo were successful, finding a Topmejse at Batteriskoven! They also reported many other passerines. After that, I met with Flo at Jennes Sø and we went back together through the heath. The setting sun dyed everything in red light and we could spot some passerines on their way to sleep. When we came back to the lighthouse, we said hello to our new guests who had arrived in the meantime.

In the afternoon there was always rain around. With the rain also rainbows appeared

In the evening, we put up some nets for a last try to catch Storm Petrels (Stormsvale). During that we had some interesting conversations about listing every bird and how to prevent that a bird becomes only a number on a list. Conclusion: when it gets too much, you should stop doing bird lists (but that may be easier to say than to actually do).

We really hope to catch a Stormsvale this night, vi får se.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Gærdesmutte 1

Rødhals 4

Løvsanger 1

Sortmejse 4

Rødstjert 1

Jernspurv 2

Munk 13

Lille Dompap 1

Blåmejse 2

Gransanger 4

Total 33

Ringing (Jennes Sø)

Rødstjert 1

Sivsanger 1

Munk 1

Gransanger 1

Highlights from World’s End 3

Black Throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) 1

Merlin (Dværgfalk) 1

Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) 2

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Óscar Pachá Guerras, Knud Pedersen, Simon Christiansen, Michael Ancher.

I dag startede dagen stille og roligt med ringmærkning ved kabeltromlen hvor det skiftede mht. de net der var mest aktivitet i. Vi fangede mest munke og gransangere, men så ellers et fint bredt udvalg af arter på dagens ringmærkning. Dagens højdepunkter var først fangsten af en fin lille korsnæb han der vagte lidt opmærksomhed hos de andre frivillige og de fuglekiggere der var i nærheden som selvfølgelig gerne ville have et kig. Derudover bød morgenen også på en solsort og en voksen lille gråsisken han.

Lille korsnæb han ringmærket ved Kabeltromlen

Dagens trækobs blev gjort fra Verdens ende 3, og bød på mange måger og suler der gjorde det svært at observere andre fugle. Dog blev der set rider samt almindelig kjove og en enkelt kjove der ikke kunne identificeres. Derudover blev der også forsøgt at aflæse farveringe af splitterner, men de viste sig at være lidt udfordrende at aflæse bl.a. pga. deres korte ben og en anderledes type af farveringe der var blevet brugt på disse. Derimod fik to svartbage aflæst deres ringe og der blev også igen set en interessant ”gul vipstjerte-type” dog kun for et kort øjeblik. Der blev også set to mursejlere der muligvis kunne være sæsonens allersidste. 6 sølvhejrer lagde også deres vej forbi, samt en dværgmåge og nogle tejst.

Lille gråsisken han ringmærket ved Kabeltromlen

Om eftermiddagen var der planlagt periodisk rengøring af feltstationen samt bolig. Efterfølgende havde vi et kort seminar om etik mht. ringmærkning hvor vi gennemgik de overvejelser og hensyn der skal tages ifm. ringmærkning af fugle, og vendte forskellige casestories og personlige anekdoter. Aftenen blev sluttet af med et spil bordtennis.

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):

Munk 9

Gransanger 6

Rødhals 2

Rødstjert 1

Lille gråsisken 1

Sortmejse 1

Solsort 1

Rørsanger 1

Tornsanger 2

Lille dompap 1

Lille korsnæb 1

Total: 26

Ringmærkning (Jennes Sø):

Jernspurv 1

Rødhals 2

Munk 2

Gransanger 6

Løvsanger 1

Broget fluesnapper 1

Blåmejse 5

Total: 6

Bemærkelsesværdige observationer (Verdens Ende 3):

Mursejlere 2

Sølvhejrer 6

Dværgmåge 1

Tejst 3

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Personer: Lisa Vergin, Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Óscar Pachá Guerras, Knud Pedersen, Simon Christiansen, Michael Ancher.

Today we have some exciting belated news to share with you!

On 10th of August this year, Simon Kiesé spotted an interesting tern at Grenen. After extensive analysis, it is now clear that it was a Roseate tern (Rosenterne)! Here you can find photos und a video of this beauty. 

Furthermore, we can announce that a Citrine Wagtail (Citronvipstjert) showed up at Grenen yesterday! We have updated yesterday's blog, so you can find more details about the bird there.

Enough about the past, let's talk about today.
Janna, Gabriel and I were stationed at Verdens Ende III again, where Knud joined us shortly after our arrival. Today we counted nice numbers of migrating Teals (Krikand) and Wigeons (Pibeand) and got good views on a flock of Light-bellied Brent Geese (ssp. hrota) (Lysbuget Knortegås). This subspecies was actually a lifer for me! But it shouldn't be the only one today. Stay tuned!


Flock of Light-bellied Brent Geese (Lysbuget Knortegås)

In fantastic light, we saw a big flock of Gannets (Sule) foraging. We counted 581 resting individuals today! 


Huge flock of Gannets (Sule) in magic light

As in the days before we managed to spot some Arctic skuas (Almindelig Kjove). But one far distant bird looked a bit different. Thanks to the many years of experience Knud has, we were able to identify the bird as a Long-tailed skua (Lille Kjove)! But things only got better today. It didn't take long before Knud said: “Sooty shearwater flying northwest!” Sodfarvet Skråpe would be the next lifer for me and for Janna too! And indeed: we all saw the shearwater surfing through the waves. They are fantastic flyers and just amazing birds! As if that weren't enough, a short time later Janna spotted a small falcon flying out to sea. Even through the binoculars we could clearly see: It's a juvenile Red-footed falcon (Aftenfalk)! We were able to follow the little fellow for a long time as he flew further and further out until we finally lost sight of him in the far distance.


Juvenile Red-footed falcon (Aftenfalk) migrating out to the sea

As a little treat on the way back, we saw a White-tailed eagle (Havørn). The ringers at Kabeltromlen were even able to watch two individuals performing some acrobatics in the air.

The ringing was also quite successful today with lots of birds, especially in the first round. The highlight was a handful of Pied flycatchers (Broget fluesnapper) today!

After lunch, Simon gave us a lesson on the moulting strategies of passerines. For some of us, it was more of a repetition, but for me, there is still much to learn.
While working comfortably indoors in the afternoon, we were able to enjoy the sight of a triple rainbow!


Only barely visible in the photo: the triple rainbow

To round off the day, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of tarte flambée, which Janna had made for us!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Gærdesmutte 1
Sortmejse 9
Løvsanger 3
Rødhals 4
Rørsanger 1
Jernspurv 1
Broget fluesnapper 5
Rødstjert 5
Munk 10
Blåmejse 2
Gransanger 4
Lille Dompap 1

Total: 46

Highlights from World’s End 3

Lille Kjove

Sodfarvet Skråpe

Aftenfalk

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Óscar Pachá Guerras, Knud Pedersen, Simon Christiansen.

This morning was raining when we woke up to leave for work, so we all got to sleep for another hour or so and then spent a pleasant morning drinking coffee together around the table and chatting. When it cleared up a bit, I went to World’s End III with Janna and Florian for the last two hours of the standardized count. We had a nice time looking at many migrating scoters (Sortand), plenty of shorebirds on the beach (Sandløber, Stor præstekrave, Islandsk ryle), and one very cute Dværgryle. We also saw three types of auks (Lomvie, Alk, and Tjest), which was very nice, as well as two arctic skuas (Almindelig Kjove), one of which was a very fine adult light morph that was close to shore and flying slowly in the wind so we got a good look at it. Florian also spotted a strange wagtail from which he got some low-quality photos and recordings of. Back home we realised it could be an Eastern Yellow Wagtail (Østlig Gul Vipstjert)! He went back out this evening to find it again and in Florian fashion found it immediately and took nice photos and recordings. It turned out that the bird was a Citrine wagtail (Citronvipstjert)! What a nice rarity and not often seen in autumn!


A collage of photos of the citrine wagtail taken in the evening


Clean sound recording from the evening

We stayed a little bit after the count to seawatch some more, and then I went down onto the beach to read some gull colour rings.

Meanwhile, Selina, Gabriel and Oscar met Simon at Kabeltromlen for ringing. There they were excitde to see one Isfugl (Kingfisher) and also managed to get a nice recording (Link here). It was very slow and they considered closing the nets when they found a Wryneck (Vendehals) in the net, the first of the year and probably the last. Lisa, Janna and Florian heeded the Zello call, which I missed, but luckily I decided to stop by anyway to see if they caught anything, so we all met at Kabeltromlen and got to see this absolutely stunning bird. We also got to see it twisting its neck in the way that originally got the bird its English name! Also a colloquial term for Torticollis (a human medical condition), “Wryneck” means a neck that is bent, twisted, or distorted at an odd angle. “Wry” as an adjective was used in the 16^th century when the bird was first described in English, coming from the Middle English “wrien,” Old English “wrigian,” from the Proto-Germanic root “wrig” meaning to turn, bend, twist, go. The verb form of the word is long since obsolete, and the adjective is not often used, but the word remains in the name of the bird and the human neck condition. The name of the genus, Jynx, comes from the ancient Greek Iynx, which was the name for Wryneck that came from a mythological story. Iynx was a nymph who attempted to charm Zeus himself with magic, and for this crime Hera turned her into a bird (Iynx/Wryneck). The bird became a symbol of passionate and restless love, and iunx wheels, ceramic discs decorated with Wrynecks, were sold as magical love charms (or possibly as children’s toys).

Now back to the bird. A relative of woodpeckers, Wrynecks are most well known for their tendency to twist the neck and hiss when threatened, thought to be an imitation of a snake to scare potential predators. These sensual symbols of love enjoy feasting on insects that they capture with their sticky tongues. As a long-distance migrant, this lonely lover will be on its way to Africa for winter, and it has already cultivated plenty of fat for the journey. Good luck my little friend.

Ringing KAB

Munk 6
Sortmejse 5
Jernspurv 1
Rørsanger 1
Vendehals 1

Total: 14

Highlights from observation:

Citronvipstjert, Almindelig Kjove, Sandløber, Stor præstekrave, Islandsk ryle, Dværgryle

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Óscar Pachá Guerras, Knud Pedersen, Lisa Vergin, Simon Christiansen.

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

Today the waves were blown up high by the winds and the birds had obviously struggle to resist the gusts. Because of the strong winds there was no ringing today. Therefore, we were all out together at obs what was pretty nice. We seeked for some windshelter in the dunes and started our count around sunrise. When the sun came up the sky appeared in many different shades of pink, light blue and orange.

For Gabriel today was the first migration count at Skagen- the other days he had been at the ringing. But he did lots of migration counts in Sweden so that was no problems. For Oscar it was his first day at the station and he started with a good migration day. Besides Common Scoters (Sortand), the ducks appeared in high numbers. Especially the Velvet Scoters (Flojlsand) were, compared to the Common Sortand, highly abundant. Sarah, who counted the Flojlsand, was very pleased about that. Most birds appeared in good light and we were happy to see a flock of Pintails (Spidsand) with one Wigeon (Pibeand) directly above our heads.

A flock of Spidsand with one Pibeand inbetween

After some time, four Divers were coming in. One of them was a Black-Throated-Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) and we could compare it very well with the three Red-Throated-Divers (Rødstrubet Lom) flying close. We also saw some nice waders as Ruff (Brushane) or Grey Plover (Strandhjejle).

All together at morning obs

When the count was finished, we headed out to check Ellekrattet for some passerines. We could not see that much, but on our way back through the heath we were surprised by a Cuckoo (Gøg). Furthermore, there were some Wheatears (Stenpikker) resting and I am always very happy, when I see some. I looked out for a Mursejler, but unfortunately no one showed up. So maybe we have already seen our last ones for this season.

After a small break at the lighthouse, we went into town to eat some Danish cake at the bakery. That was very delicious. We sat in the garden, enjoyed the warm sunbeams and played some card games. As a big fan of card games, I really enjoyed that. After heading over to Selinas location and playing some more rounds, it was time to go back to the station. There Sarah, Flo and I jumped into the ocean. The waves were still high and we had a good time in the surge. After a productive afternoon with typing in data, it was time for some nice dinner.

Relaxing with card games and coffee

No ringing today

Highlight from todays observation

Spidsand 14

Sortstrubet Lom 3

Gøg 1

Many migrating Lomvie compared to the last days

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Óscar Pachá Guerras

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area.

Today, we sadly had to say farewell to Barbara who is going back to the Faroe Islands after a stay at Skagen Fuglestation that felt way too short. We very much enjoyed observing and ringing with her, and hearing about birding on the Faroe Islands (in an Australian accent!).

But with endings come new beginnings, and we are now very excited to welcome Oscar to the station!

At ringing at Kabeltromlen, Gabriel, Sarah, Barbara and I were again joined by Morten, who was part of the team that opened Skagen Fuglestation back in 2017. It was a pleasure to ring with him and fun to hear some stories from the old days of the station.

The highligts in the ringing included another Common Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin) and no less than 18 Blackcaps (Munk).

Dobbeltbekkasin

Look at that beautiful tail (Dobbeltbekkasin)

Janna and Florian had a good morning doing migration count at Worlds End 3 with Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) in dark morph, female-coloured Hen Harrier (Blå Kærhøg), Merlin (Dværgfalk), Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) and Black guillemot (Tejst). An interesting sight was a Cuckoo (Gøg) that flew with the gulls and headed out for the sea, but then changed its mind in the last second and went back inland.
The observers stayed out an extra hour to see if they could spot other cool species and actually heard a Wood Sandpiper (Tinksmed)!

Janna and Florian scanning the waves at World’s End 3

Back at the station Janna prepared a lovely lunch for us, and just as we finished eating, we heard the message on Zello: There is a Hoopoe (Hærfugl) in town, not far from us! Gabriel and Florian went out to look for it with some of the locals, but unfortunately it wasn’t spotted again. Fingers crossed it heads our way tomorrow.

Tomorrow looks too windy for ringing, so we’re looking forward to spending the morning doing migration counts together.

Ciao!

Ringing totals Kabeltromlen

Munk: 18
Rødhals: 7
Gransanger: 7
Sortmejse: 4
Gærdesanger: 3
Rødstjert: 3
Jernspurv: 2
Dobbeltbekkasin: 1
Rørspurv: 1
Tornsanger: 1
Blåmejse: 1
Kærsanger: 1
Løvsanger: 1
Total: 50

Highlights from World’s End 3:

Almindelig Kjove
Blå Kærhøg
Dværgfalk
Sortstrubet Lom
Tejst
Gøg

Obervations from the area can be found here.

People: Oscar, Barbara Leone, Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Morten Jenrich Hansen.

After helping to set up the storm petrel nets in the evening before today, I went to bed, hoping to be woken as often as possible from the others to see some exciting birds they caught. After a few hours Sarah came into the room and shouted: „Wake up, we caught a Nightjar!“ We immediately got up and went down to the Lab where this fascinating bird was waiting for us. I'd never held a bird in my hands before, so this Nightjar (Natravn) was the first one for me! When we let him go again, he said goodbye by first flying into Selina's face but then disappearing behind the lighthouse.

The beautiful nightjar (natravn) for which we all got up to see.

In the morning I went out with Sarah to Worlds End III for another morning of migration count. Knud was back today and was a great help with the count. The migration was rather slow, so Knud also kept an eye out for Caspian gulls (Kaspisk Måge). After two hours, he went down to the beach to read some of the gulls' rings. Then Barbara came to relieve Sarah, who went to her well-deserved sleep. The migration picked up speed again, a dark morph Arctic/Long-tailed skua (Almindelige/Lille Kjove) moved to northwest and a Merlin (Dværgfalk) flew in from the sea at high speed. To round things off, a small raptor, most likely Marsh harrier (Rørhøg) came in from the sea.

In the meantime, Lisa, Janna, Gabriel and Selina had ringed some nice birds, for example a Common Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin), a Great spotted woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte) and many Blackcaps (Munk). Barbara and I also came along for the last round so that I could gain some more experience with handling birds.

After a quick lunch, Barbara, Selina, Gabriel and I got in the car to see the reported pair of Black-Winged Kites (Blå Gente) in Midtjylland. I took a short nap in the car and also used the journey to write this blog. It's my first one, by the way, and I'm also the first volunteer from Switzerland at the Skagen Fuglestation and really looking forward to stay here for the next three months until the end of the season. But back to the Black-winged Kites. We got some distant but still very nice views of the pair that was carrying nesting material from time to time. In my opinion it‘s one of the most beautiful raptors existing out there!

In the meantime Janna tried to do our second twitch of the day. A Red-breasted Flycatcher (Lille Fluesnapper) had been called out on Zello. But unfortunately the bird didn't show up again.

In the evening we went up the lighthouse to make our third twitch today. After some minutes waiting, we saw what we had hoped to see: the blood moon! What a nice way to end this day!

Nice blood moon seen from the lighthouse

Ringing totals:

Ringing KAB
Dobbeltbekkasin 1
Stor flagspætte 1
Musvit 1
Rødstjert 4
Sivsanger 1
Rødhals 10
Gærdesanger 1
Gærdesmutte 1
Jernspurv 1
Broget fluesnapper 2
Rørsanger 1
Sortmejse 3
Munk 17
Tornsanger 1
Blåmejse 1
Gransanger 2
Fuglekonge 2
Træløber 1
Total 51

Ringing Fyr 
Natravn 1

Highlights from World's End III
Arctic/Long-tailed Skua (Almindelig/Lille Kjove)
Merlin (Dværgfalk)
Caspian gulls (Kaspisk Måge)
Red-breasted Merganser (Toppet Skallesluger)

Obervations from the area can be found here. 

People:
Barbara Leone, Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Knud Pedersen.

I joined the ringing team this morning and got my first proper lesson in the artful skill of ringing a bird. The day started at 5am, riding our bikes down to Kabeltromlen and putting up the nets. Walking the so-called “rounds” from net to net to check for birds, wearing waders as the sun was rising, was a really lovely way to start the day and get to know the people on the team. One of the ringers morning-routines is also to call out a number of how many birds will be caught on the day and todays guesses varied from high 40’s to 60. The skilled and patient supervisor Lisa showed me how to get birds out of the nets, how to handle the delicate and tiny little birds, and how to ring, sex and age them while making it look easy, which is it not! The sun rose and the nets got busy. Coal Tits (Sortmejse) were the main act with 21 captures, but the best finds were a Tree Pipit (Skovpiber) and a Common Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken) and also known as Mealy Redpoll and both were new species for me. The day ended with exactly 50 birds, which meant that Selina won the daily comp! Congratulations.

One of the many captured Coal Tits (Sortmejse) from today.

Photo of the Common Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken) from today

While some of us were out ringing, the observers also had a pretty eventful morning at Worlds End III (Grenen). They saw Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove), Bar-tailed Godwits (Lille Kobbersneppe) and a Red-necked Grebe (Gråstrubet Lappedykker), but the biggest suprise came in the shape of yet another bat who flew in and landed on the dunes during the counting session. Florian was able to take pictures on the tracks of the bats, which pretty clearly show how it was crawling along the sand, which is pretty cool.

Tracks from the crawling bat. You can clearly see the marks that it's spur-like thumbs have left in the sand. 

This afternoon was spent cleaning back at Det Grå Fyr and with everyone helping, the place is now looking clean and (mostly) sand-free again.

Tonight marks a special night for the team (especially for our Storm Petrel lover, Sarah) as today is the last day that we will be trying to catch Storm Petrels (Stormsvaler) in the beach nets. The plan is to finish with a bang and leave the nets open until sunrise – let’s see if we get lucky.

The hopeful team putting up the last Storm Petrel net of the season.

Ringing totals:

Rødstjert 2
Løvsanger 1
Rødhals 2
Sortmejse 21
Jernspurv 1
Lille gråsisken 5
Stor gråsisken 1
Sivsanger 1
Rørsanger 1
Munk 7
Rørspurv 3
Skovpiber 1
Havesanger 1
Tornsanger 1
Blåmejse 1
Gransanger 1
Total 50

Highlights from World's End III
Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove)
Barre-tailed Godwits (Lille Kobbersneppe)
Red-necked Grebe (Gråstrubet Lappedykker)

Obervations from the area can be found here. 

People:
Barbara Leone, Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen og Lisa.

Last night we put up the Stormsvale and Natravn nets, in the hopes of catching some late Lille stormsvale or Stor stormsvale. We put Florian and Gabriel to work straight away putting up the nets on the beach, and then I took the first half of the night shift. This was mostly uneventful, until I went to do one last round around 1.30 and saw there was not a Natravn but a Myotis bat trapped in the net. This was my first bat extraction and I was glad that  Jeppe was there to provide some company for the extraction, which was a bit long since I was wearing gardening gloves to avoid its rabid jaws. The bat was very agitated and loud and extremely cute. Jeppe and I admired it for a minute and then released it and I was sad I forgot to take a picture! But after I went to wake up Janna to take over the rounds, she immediately found another bat in the net, maybe the same poor soul trapped again! She was switched on enough to take a photo. Simon was glad he didn’t have to come over to extract the bat because he is afraid of them, yet another suspicious similarity with Batman.

In the morning I went with Barbara and Florian to go observing at World’s End III. It was a fantastic morning and Florian is superhumanly observant and very fun to seawatch with. Within about 30 seconds of arriving, he spotted an Arctic Loon (Sortstrubet Lom) and before I turned my scope to look at it he also spotted an Artcic skua (Almindelig Kjove), setting us up for an eventful morning. We also saw one bat flying over the sea, bringing the total number of bats I have seen in Skagen to 2. Sadly the observation was cut short by the rain, which reduced visibility a lot so we left after only three hours.

Janna, Selina, and Gabriel went ringing with Simon this morning, which was also very eventful before the rain. They trapped 26 sortmejse today, in the midst of a large sortmejse influx, which is not occurring every year. They also trapped one each of spotted and pied flycatcher (grå and broget fluesnapper), two rødstjerts, and two havesangers, among many others.

When we came home cold and wet, we smelled some delicious baking and saw that our guest Helle was cooking us a tasty treat of fresh bread! In the afternoon Janna and I went for a cold swim in the rain, and then Helle kindly drove us to the shop. After that I went for a nap, and Gabriel and Janna went birdwatching and saw the first Jack Snipe (enkeltbekkasin). After some data entry and office tasks, the crew are playing cards together and showing off magic tricks, a very cozy atmosphere in the lighthouse.

Ringing totals:

Rødstjert 2
Løvsanger 4
Grå fliesnapper 1
Sortmejse 26
Jernspurv 1
Broget fluesnapper 1
Dompap 1
Havesanger 2
Munk 8
Blåmejse 1
Gransanger 2
Total 49

Highlights from World's End III

Sortstrubet Lom, Almindelig Kjove, Fløjlsand, Dværgmåge, Hjejle, Tejst. 

Obervations from the area can be found here. 

People:
Barbara Leone, Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen, Jeppe and our guests Helle and Johan.