Today started just like many others in Skagen, with the fuglestation crew waking up before dawn to head out to Grenen to open the mist nets. Arriving at Kabeltromelen in the minutes just after 5 AM with Rasmus, who for the first time this season joined the ringing. Over the nedt several hours we were delighted to have a fairly busy morning totalling approximately 30 birds in the nets, with the most birds like normal being in the first few rounds of the morning. Thr highlight of the morning being the first Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger) of the year. It was very nice to have a new face at ringing and explore our shared experiences from previous seasons. We were also extemeley grateful to recieve, not one, but TWO Kremestangs at the ringing this morning. Special thanks to Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen and Tue for bringing them to us!

  Sivsanger

Later in the afternoon, Rasmus, Andrew, Tue and I headed down to Buttervej and the Industrial area in search of vagrant shrikes (tornskader) and the first Wryneck (Vendehals) for the station of the year. We unfortunately, struck out, but were delighted to find around 60 meadow pipits at the fudbol fields in town. We then got the alert that Mio and Cora had found a Flavissima ssp. Western Yellow Wagtail (Gulvipstjert) at Stal Grenen. We quickly headed over to find tthe bird nicely roosting on the horse fields with several White Wagtails. After a succesful chae, we headed back to the station to find Hans and Birthe cooking us a fanastic meal. A great way to end the day after a busy morning. 

 Rasmus at the ringing! 

And so, another day passes at Skagen Fuglestation. What will tomorrow bring? We will have to wait and see!

Highlights:

1000 Meadow Pipits (Engpiber)

Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger)

Rasmus at the Ringing!

 Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Rasmus Mattiesen-Juhl, Tue Baaner, Mio Brix, Corsa Koberle, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Hans & Birthe, Andrew Jacobs.

Today I went to ringing where I went around the net lanes in waders for the first time where the nets weave throughout a large reedbed through several wet channel, a very new experience for me. The sound of Eurasian Bitterns (Rørdrum) and Water Rails (Vandriske) echo throughout the area and I assume as more of the African reed specialists return on their migration it will get even more lively with sounds. We caught a few birds today but there were more birds in the skies than the nets including a good migration push of 52 Ring Ouzels (Ringdrossel). While we were working around the station a Great Northern Diver (Islom) flew over and later on a White-billed Diver (Hvidnæbbet Lom) passed along the shoreline as well. There were a few mammals about with 4 Orca close enough to be seen from shore and several Brown Hares.
In the afternoon we did the Northern Fulmar (Mallemuk) beached bird survey looking for any birds that had been washed up. We walked along the beach for 10 kilometers where there were many cuttlebones from European Common Cuttlefish scattered across the beach. Near the end of the survey we found the usual second cycle / 3K Glaucous Gull (Gråmage) had moved over to this end and we got a close view as it flew past, nearby it there was and adult Omissus Variety European Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) with yellow legs and a crimson orbital ring which was nice to see.

White-billed Diver (Hvidnæbbet Lom)

Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge)

European Herring Gull - Omissus variety (Sølvmåge var. Omissus)

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):
Eurasian Wren (Gærdesmutte) 2
European Robin (Rødhals) 2
Common Chiffchaff (Grasanger) 1                                                                                                                                     Eurasian Blackcap (Munk) 1

Highlights from the observations:
White-billed Diver (Hvidnæbbet Lom) 1                                                                                                                                Great Northern Diver (Islom) 1                                                                                                                                                    Ring Ouzel (Ringdrossel) 52
Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) 1                                                                                                                                                             European Herring Gull - Omissus variety (Sølvmåge var. Omissus) 1

People: Cora Köberle, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Tue Baaner, Lucas Corneliussen, Andrew Jacobs, Mio Brix, Simon Sigaard Christiansen and our guests Hans and Birte.

We actually expected that it would be raining this morning. But when we got up at 4:30 to check the radar we could see that the rain should come later. So Tue, Lucas and I went out to go ringing. While opening the Nets we saw a Short-Eared Owl (Moshornugle).  We had a slow morning at the ringing, we caught 15 birds. One of them was a beautiful but snappy adult female Blue Tit (Blåmejse), which I got to ring. Also the observers had a slower day.  But they had good numbers of Sandwich Terns (Splitterne) over 300.  When it started to rain many of the Wagtails came down to rest at the beach. Among them there also was a Pied Wagtail (Sortrygget Vipstjert) which was spotted by Andrew. 

Pied Wagtail (Sortrygget Vipstjert)

Because of the rain we stopped our fieldwork earlier. Back at the station we got a little more sleep. Later we cleaned the station and fed our new Mealworms (Melorme). After that we discovered that the table in the meeting room was finally free again, so we started a table tennis tournament. It was nice to play table tennis again.

Knud explaining how to identify a Montegu's Harrier

In the afternoon Knud came by to hold a presentation about determination, aging and sexing of Harriers. Also Simon, Lisa, Anders Boyesen, Morten Christensen came by to join the session. The talk was really nice and very instructive. We were again very impressed of Knuds nice pictures and videos of the Birds.  

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gransanger 3

Rødhals 5

Gærdesmutte 5

Blåmejse 1

Jernspurv 1

Total: 15 

Highlights from the observations:

Pied Wagtail (Sortrygget Vipstjert)

Sandwich Tern (Splitterne) 321

Short-Eared Owl (Moshornugle) 

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Mio Brix, Lucas Corneliussen, Andrew Jacobs, Lisa Vergin Anders Boyesen and Morten Christensen 

Vækkeuret ringede 05.10, og lynhurtigt som en ninja var jeg oppe og klar til dagen! Jeg fik selskab af Andrew, Tue og Anders Rasmussen på morgenobsen. Det var en god morgen, hvor bla. Steppehøg AD hun, Gråmåge og 3 Almindelige Kjover sås i de fire standardiserede timer vi tæller trækket:)

Cora og Mio var i dag taget med Lucas til kabeltromlen for at ringmærke fugle. De fik ringmærket 15 fugle fordelt på 7 arter. Både Cora og Mio er glade for at kunne få lidt mere erfaring i håndteringen af fuglene, og at pille fuglene ud af nettet

Mine søde forældre kiggede forbi stationen her til eftermiddag, hvor vi delte en dobbelt dyppet romkugle. Vi gik derefter en tur ud over Storsig, forbi Jennes sø og gennem Ellekrattet. Det gav et par Rørhøge, Blå Kærhøg og en fed Fjeldvåge. Vi kørte ned i byen, spillede kort (jeg vandt), og spiste en lækker italiensk pizza til et godt glas rødvin:) Jeg er heldig!

Tilbage på stationen blev jeg mødt af den glædelige nyhed at vores bordtennisbord igen kan bruges som bordtennisbord, da alle de kasser der før stod i vejen er blevet fjernet! Jeg kunne forstå på Tue, at han havde “gennembanket” Lucas hele aftenen, men Lucas var ikke enig. Jeg tror jeg skal have en kamp mod dem begge senere!

Det var alt for nu:)

Vi ses i felten:)

Dagens ringmærkning: Kabeltromlen

Solsort (1)

Jernspurv (2)

Rødhals (2)

Løvsanger (3)

Blåmejse (1)

Rørspurv (2)

Gransanger (3)

Highlights from Obs:

Almindelig Kjove (3)

Gråmåge (2)

Steppehøg

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Cora Köberle, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Tue Baaner, Lucas Corneliussen, Andrew Jacobs, Mio Brix, Simon Sigaard Christiansen og vores søde gæster Nina & Jakob Dahl.

Today started off a bit foggy to say the least. Starting out at 5 AM, Cora and Mio blitzed out to Kabeltromelen to open the nets for the morning while I had a miuch needed lie in until 5:45. Andrew and Rasmus decided that the heavy fog was much to dense to even attempt a migration count in the morning but opted to head out to Worlds End 3 to look for any rarities lingering around. Much to their dismay they found nothing in Elle Krattet and out at Grenen.

 On the ringing front, I arrived at Kabeltromelen to find many people, mostly from DOF Ung heading out to try and observe but not much was happening so they came over to us. The ringing was quite nice this morning with the first day with lots of Willow Warblers (Løvsanger), and good numbers of Robins (Rødhals) and Chiffchaffs (Gransanger). On the third round, as I was checking the new outermosrt nets, I stu,bled across a small bird hanging in the nets with two Løvsangers. Much to my surprise, it was a FIRECREST (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge)! These birds, although fairly common elsewhere in the country are locally quite uncommon. Immediately, calling Rasmus to make sure it made it on the Zello so other observers  could see it. When I arrvied back at the Kabeltromelen, more than 40 people were waiting to catch a glimpse of us ringing the bird. Truly a fun experience to show a local rarity to so many people. The remainder of the day was quite slow and eventually slowed down to just one or two birds a round during the finals hours. Fortunately, we were able to catch a single Grasanger to show the private tour which Tue was leading around Grenen. They were very excited to learn about ringing and see it in action — so to have a bird in the hand was a very nice for explaination.

 In the afternoon, Simon came to the station to go over ringing sheets and help us get caught up when we got a zello alert which SHOOK the station. DOF Ung had located a light morph Booted Eagle (Dværgørn) heading north towards Grenen. Immediately, Rasmus, Andrew, Simon and I hopped in his car and blasted down to Saftevandsbakken (I dont think I’ve ever seen Simon move so quickly).  We watched the eagle soar high over us in a flock of over 70 Common Buzzards (Musvåge) before heading south again before we were able to refind it over Strandklit later in the afteroon with the first Eurasian Hobby (Lærkefalk) of the year. Fortunately, Cora and Mio were nearby and barely made it to see the bird as well. This record represents the 14th Skagen record and the 23rd record for Denmark! A fanatastic bird. 

In the evening we were invited by the guests, Jacob and Nina for a lovely dinner which was absolutely fantastic. We were treated to a big pot of chicken curry and Nina even made us a nice Chocolate tart for dessert! What a treat. We also were handed a piece of paper filled with questions from Skagen, asking things usch as how tall Det Grå Fyr is and how many birds we can list with ‘blå’ in them. Of course, yours truly won the test and I won a bag of easter chocolate! It was really a great way to end the day!

And so, another day passes at Skagen Fuglestation. What will tomorrow bring? We will have to wait and see.

Highlights:

Booted Eagle (Dværgørn)  

Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge)

 Eurasian Hobby (Lærkefalk)

Ringing

Kabeltromelen

Gransanger 8

Rødhals 8

Løvsanger 6

Munk 1

Rørspurv 1

Solsort 1

Gærdesmutte 2

Fuglekonge 1

Rødtoppet Fuglekonge 1

Total: 29

Fyrhavn

Munk 1

 Total: 1

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Rasmus Mattiesen-Juhl, Tue Baaner, Cora Koberle, Mio Brix, Andrew Jacobs, Simon Sigaard Christiensen, Lisa Vergin, Jeppe Rørbæk, Benjamin Bech, Anders Rasmusssen, Nina and Jacob, DOF Ung.

I started the day going to Nordstrand with Cora and Rasmus for observations where we managed to view birds for around three hours before the rain came. We had a good variety of harriers with a female then male Pallid Harrier (Steppehøg) a couple Western Marsh Harriers (Rørhøg) and some Hen Harriers (Blå Kærhøg). The Glaucous Gull (Gråmåage) that has been staying around the area passed us early in the morning within a large gull flock heading west. It was exciting to see the Great Cormorants (Skarv) waddling along the beach collecting nest materials to bring back with them.
Tue, Lucas and Mio went ringing this morning and managed to get some ringing in before the rain came, where they got a male European Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper).
Later in the day we heard news that the Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) had returned and ran out to see it where it was wheeling around in the distance. It then came towards us for good views before heading south where we followed the direction it was going then walked around Batteriskoven where we found a nice early Whinchat (Bynkefugl).
After the walk we set up the nets for awhile before heading back to Knud’s excellent presentation on the identification aging and sexing of raptors. I feel much more prepared to know what to look for in the migrating raptors we will see now.
Tonight, the fog is rolling in so we will see what is in store for tomorrow.

Pallid Harrier (Steppehøg)

Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente)

Whinchat (Bynkefugl)

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):
Eurasian Wren (Gærdesmutte) 1
European Robin (Rødhals) 8
Eurasian Bullfinch (Dompap) 2
Song Thrush (Sangdrossel) 1
Redwing (Vindrossel) 1
Common Chiffchaff (Grasanger) 9
European Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) 1

Highlights from the observations:
Whinchat (Bynkefugl) 1
European Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) 1
Glaucous Gull (Gråmåage) 1
Pallid Harrier (Steppehøg) 2
Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) 1

People: Cora Köberle, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Tue Baaner, Lucas Corneliussen, Andrew Jacobs, Knud Pedersen, Mio Brix, Simon Sigaard Christiansen and our guests Nina & Jakob Dahl.

Hej Derude

Så er vi igang igen. Jeg vågnede tidligt op i dag for at åbne nettene sammen med Lucas. Ringmærkning startede super godt ud med mange fugle nettene. Der gik heller ikke længe før de første overraskelser begyndte at dukke op. Den første løvsanger fandt nemlig sin vej til et af vores net, så dejligt endelig at få den første af dem ringmærket. Nu ser vi frem til en sæson, med mange flere af dem forhåbentlig. Løvsangeren var dog ikke den eneste forårsfugl, som vi fik i nettet i dag. De første rødstjerter kunne heller ikke vente længere, og meldte også deres ankomst. Nu er forårssæsonen for alvor i gang, og det kan mærkes her ude!!  

Løvsanger 

Rødstjert 

Ellers var vi også heldige at observere broget fluesnapper, gulirisk, rødtoppet fuglekonge, samt en masse ringdrosler imens vi tjekkede net og ringmærkede. Rigtig god start på dagen fra vores side. Især broget fluesnapper var overraskende, da det er en meget tidlig observation. Vi krydser selvfølgelig fingre for at der kommer mange flere over det næste stykke tid.

Det startede også vildt ud for observatørerne, som bestod af Rasmus, Cora og Mio. Faktisk nåede de slet ikke ud til nordstranden, før de måtte vende cyklerne om og styrte tilbage, da der blev kaldt en blå glente ud på Zello. Efter lidt søgen var der gevinst. En fantastisk observation hvor fuglen både blev set rastende og fouragerende, sikke et syn af en 2k blå glente. En bedre start på dagen kan man vist ikke bede om! Kæmpe stort tillykke. Dette er den anden gang en blå glente er observeret i år her i Skagen. Blå glente var en gang en helt ufatteligt sjælden fugle i Danmark, men efterhånden er det blevet en art, der næsten ses hvert år, så det er jo en glædelig udvikling. 

Blå glente - Foto: Werner Larsson

Ornitooger på udgik efter blå glente. 

Efter de havde brugt et stykke tid med glenten, måtte de vende næsen tilbage mod Nordstranden for at lave træk-optællinger, også her viste morgenen at byde på fine observationer og fortsat højt humør. Højdepunkterne var almindelig kjove, mallemuk, vandrefalk og Nilgås. 

Efter vi alle var kommet hjem, besluttede Cora og Mio at cykle ud på tur igen. Oprindeligt kørte de af sted efter en gråmåge, men endte i stedet med en observation af en rastende steppehøg ude på heden. Dejlig afslutning på en god dag med fantastiske observationer. 

Desuden ankom Andrew, vores nye frivillige på stationen, vi glæder os til at arbejde sammen med dig og se en masse fantastiske fugle!  

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Gransanger 12
Fuglekonge 2
Rødhals 8
Gærdesmutte 6
Munk 2

Løvsanger 1
Sangdrossel 6
Musvit 1
Rødstjert 2
Solsort 1

Total: 41

Observation Highlights:

Blå glente 1

Gulirisk 1 eller 2

Almindelig kjove 2

Steppehøg 3

Ringdrosler 40+

Vandrefalk 1 

Broget Fluesnapper 1 (årets første)

Løvsanger 2 (årets første)

Rødtoppet Fuglekonge 1

Nilgås 2

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Cora Köberle, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Tue Baaner, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Lucas Corneliussen, Andrew Jacobs, Knud Pedersen, Mio Brix, Michael Ancher, and our guests Nina & Jakob Dahl.

Today I woke up to my first day here at Skagen Fuglestation. Cora, Rasmus, and I started around 6 AM at World's End 3 to count the migrating birds. It was a very good day! We saw many nice migrating shorebirds like Guillemot (Tejst), Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove), 142 Fulmars (Mallemuk) and many other cool species. Lucas, Chris and Tue started a bit earlier at Kabeltromlen and they ringend 35 birds this morning. At 09:08 AM, Lucas saw a Golden Eagle (Kongeørn) from Kabeltromlen, and just a few seconds later we all got a great view of it. It was a lifer for Cora and me, so the volunteers can look forward to eating a lot of backed stuff! 

Golden Eagle 3K over Grenen!

But that wasn’t the only highlight of the day. Just a few minutes later, we heard a report of a Horned Grebe (Nordisk lappedykker), which was close enough to be seen from World's End 3. It was such a beautiful bird, already in breeding plumage. Another lifer for Cora, congrats!

After the migration count, we went back to the station except for Cora and me. We headed out to Nordstrand to get a better look at the Glaucous Gull. After that, we also returned to the station and relaxed a bit.

Rasmus was still out with his parents and he randomly med the famous Danish musician Kandis Johnny!

Later in the afternoon, there was a report of a Black-winged Kite on Zello and we all tried to spot it, but unfortunately, it didn’t fly that far north. But who knows, maybe we’ll see it tomorrow. We all hope so!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gransanger 15

Fuglekonge 1

Rødhals 4

Gærdesmutte 2

Bogfinke 1

Munk 4

Singdrossel 5

Vindrossel 3 

Total: 35

Highlights from the observations:

Horned Grebe (Nordisk lappedykker) in breeding plumage - 1

Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) -1

Golden Eagle (Kongeørn) - 1

Guillemot (Tejst) - 2

Fulmar (Mallemuk) -142

Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) - 1

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People:  Lucas Corneliussen, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Cora Köberle, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Tue Baaner, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Mio Brix and Linda & Jeppe Rørbæk.

I woke up a bit late today as it was my sleep in day which was very nice. I joined Tue, Lucas, Simon, and Cora at the ringing station. They had already caught quite a few thrushes (drossel) on the way. There were actually tons of thrushes (drossel) flying around this morning, “big thrush day” was the phrase on everyone’s lips. I went out on the first net round and it was a big one. We probably caught about 30 birds on the first round. Mostly Robins (Rødhals) and Chiffchaffs (Gransanger). By the end of the morning we had caught 64 new birds and one recap. We caught our first Blackcap (Munk) and Fieldfare (Sjagger) of the year!

Learning how to age a Chiffchaff (Gransanger)

Rasmus went out observing with his dad and Knud at Nordstrand. They had a pretty good morning with Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge), Pallid Harriera (Steppehøg), and a lot of Ring Ouzels (Ringdrossel).

Our first Fieldfare (Sjaggar) :)

Shortly after lunch there was a Zello about a Golden Eagle (Kongeørn) and the rest of the crew rushed out to try to find it. I stayed back to hide from the wind and do some laundry. Nobody saw the eagle but they did see some other nice birds Pallid Harrier (Steppehøg), Osprey (Fiskeørn), Garganey (Atlingand), and Peregrine Falcon (Vandrefalk). Beside the Raptors we also saw several arrivals of the spring like Redstart (Rødstjert), Wood Sandpiper (Tinksmed) and Yellow Wagtail (Gul Vipstjert).

Another highlight of the day was all the treats we had. Cora made banana bread last night, Mette who works at the shop and has volunteered here before made us chocolate cake, and a guest Helena left us some tarts. I was able to have three desserts after lunch and that is always appreciated.

Today we also recived an exciting message from Israel. A  former volunteer here in Skagen, Yehonatan Ben Aroia was out ringing at Jerusalem Bird Observatory this morning and caught a Lesser Whitethroat with a Danish ring. A quick check in our data showed that it was an individual ringed here at Skagen on the 1st June last year! It's the second time with exhange between Skagen and Israel of this species. For some years ago we caught a Lesser Whitethroat that was ringed in Eilat. Unlike many other African migrants that passes by Skagen the Lesser Whitethroats has an eastern route to their winter quaters in East Africa, most other species has a Western route to Africa through for example Spain. Below is a picture from Jerusalem of the special Whitethroat of the day.

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) photographed at Jerusalem Bird Observatory this morning and with a ring from Skagen. Photo: Yehontan Ben Aroia 

This will be my last blog as I am leaving on Tuesday. I’ve had a really nice time here, it’s been very hyggeligt. Hopefully one day I’ll return and see some more birdies.

In the afternoon new guests arrived in the apartment and in the evening a friend of Cora, Mio Brix arrived to volunteer here the next weeks. 

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Gransanger 22
Fuglekonge 1
Rødhals 25
Gærdesmutte 4
Munk 1
Rørspurv 1
Sangdrossel 7
Vindrossel 1
Sjagger 1
Solsort 1

Total: 64

Ringing (Jennes Sø/Nordstjernevej):

Jernspurv 1
Rødhals 7 
Rødstjert  1
Sangdrossel 2
Vindrossel 1
Munk 1
Gransanger 10
Lille Gråsisken 1
Rørspurv  2
Musvit 2

Total: 28

Observation Highlights

Gråmåge 1

Steppehøg 4

Ringdrosler 70+

People: Cora Köberle, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Christopher Moser-Purdy, Tue Baaner, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Lucas Corneliussen, Knud Pedersen, Mio Brix, Michael Ancher, and our new guests Nina & Jakob Dahl.