This morning I got to sleep in a little bit as Rosie and Youri kindly opened the nets at Kabeltromlen. Christina and I joined for the first round, and so did Simon. The first round had a fun surprise, a dipper (vandstær)! This is the first one ever ringed at Kabeltromlen. They are not often seen around Grenen, but this one must have been feeding in the mud puddles around the nets. It was extremely cute and round, and amazed us all with his bright white nictating membrane when he blinked.

Dipper blinking

Dippers hunt for aquatic invertebrates by swimming with their wings, unlike most passerines. They also have a unique adaptation—they can walk along the bottom of riverbeds underwater, with the help of their solid bones, the only solid bones among flying birds. While taking our measurements we could also see the incredibly dense downy feathers that aid in waterproofing the bird underwater.

Later on in the ringing, we were also very lucky to catch a waxwing (Silkehale)! After seeing them flying around close to the nets, we decided to add one net very close to the berry bushes. The whole flock of 40 or so came over and they could clearly see the net, as they were flying around it and many were landing on the poles and the strings that hold it up. But, one clueless individual flew into a pocket so we got to ring him, admire him, and send him back to his cleverer friends. Lisa left her lunch to come see the silkehale, which is her dream bird. 

Meanwhile at the count, Louis-Marie, Leon and Mio went to World’s End III. Early in the morning, they got to see a Great Northern Loon (Islom) migrating. The rest of the day they saw a nice selection of ducks including Havlit, Hvindand, and Stor Skallesluger. Jorgen went by himself to Nordstrand but didn’t see anything that he wanted to share.

In the evening, our guest Jorgen cooked us a nourishing soup, and now we will try again for night catching, both with the hand nets and the owl nets.

Highlights from World’s End III

Islom

Nødkrige

Havlit

Stor Skallesluger

Laværling

People: Mio Brix, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Leon Pedersen, Youri Van der Horst, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Lars Bo Sigaard Jacobsen, Michael Ancher, Dr Lisa Vergin, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, William Aarestrup, Peter Jürgensen og Thorkild Duch

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

Sarah and I started the morning as the earliest ones today, opening the nets at Kabeltromlen. For the first round, Simon and Youri joined us, and a bit later, Louis-Marie joined as well. He had stayed awake until 1 AM to check the nets for Tengmalm’s Owl (Perleugle), but unfortunately, we didn’t succeed this time either. But we’ll keep trying!

Okay, back to what was happening at Kabeltromlen this morning: Three nice Redwings (Vindrossel) in the nets, the still-present Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) around the area and some Waxwings (Silkehale) nearby were the highlights so far. But there was also a people highlight: the famous Lars Bo joined us at Kabeltromlen and we had some nice chats with him!

In total, we only caught a very small number of birds, so we also closed an hour earlier. Simon and Youri left after three rounds to collect some berries in town for catching Waxwings (Silkehale) over the next few days.

Simon collecting berries. Photo by Youri H. T. H. van der Horst

At the count, Leon, Rosie, Christina, Jørgen and Knud had a nice encounter with a young Pomarine Skua (Mellemkjove), which flew quite close to shore and sometimes  over the horizon, so Simon and I were also able to see the bird from Kabeltromlen. Later, they also spotted a Little Auk (Søkonge). Also notable was the number of Fulmars (Mallemuk) they saw: 53 is quite a high number for this time of year. And to round off this nice count, Jørgen Hulbæk brought cake to the count!

After our morning session, I opened the garden net, where we caught a nice adult male Mealy Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken). Sarah worked on her other job, while Leon, Christina and Rosie prepared to go and see the wolves together with Youri and Lars Bo. While I was checking some bushes around Bankes Marker and Stald Grenen, they were lucky to see at least three wolves. For Leon, Christina and Rosie, it was their first time seeing wolves. Congratulations on that amazing sighting!

Observing Wolves. Photo by Youri H. T. H. van der Horst

By the time they got back, Sarah and I had already started preparing the mushroom feast, which Sarah wanted to make as a goodbye gift for Páll and Sophie, who will be leaving Skagen tomorrow, but they will definitely come back! Christina and Rosie joined us to help prepare the feast and after a lot of chopping and stirring, it was done!

A big goodbye feast for Páll and Sophie at the Lighthouse (which was somehow misunderstood as the White House in the morning). Photo by Simon Sigaard Christiansen

Highlights from the observation:

Pomarine Skua (Mellemkjove)-1

Little Auk (Søkonge)-1

Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger)-1

Ringing Kabeltrommen:

Redwing (Vindrossel)-3

Blackbird (Solsort)-1

Wren (Gærdesmutte)-1

Robin (Rødhals)-1

Total:6

Ringing Det Grå Fyr:

Mealy Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken)-1

Great Tit (Musvit)-1

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Leon Pedersen, Youri Van der Horst, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Lars Bo Jacobsen, Lisa Vergin, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Páll Vang Kjærbo og Sophie Booker.

The cold morning slowed the migration over the sea today, this did not, however, scare away the passerine (small birds) resting in the dunes. Leon, Christina, Louis and Sarah went to the migration count at worlds end 3 while Youri, Sophie, Páll, Simon, Rosie and Mio went to Kabeltromlen for ringing. Since the migration over the sea was a little slow, I decided to go for a walk in search of Water Pipits (Bjergpiber) in hopes that I would find a resting flock which we could try to trap and ring. Unfortunately, I only found Meadow Pipits (Engpiber). On my way back however, I found 2 resting Lapland Longspurs (Lapværling). Back at worlds end 3 we enjoyed the flocks of Redpoll (Gråsiskin), 2 Greater Scaups (Bjergand), and a little later a beautiful Short Eared Owl (Mosehornugle).

Lapland Longspur (Lapværling) identifiable by its “framed” face and reddish-brown wing patch. However, since this species is usually seen in flight one usually must rely on its heavy build, long wings and call (a dry trill reminiscent of snow bunting) Picture: Leon Pedersen

Meanwhile at Kabeltromlen a rare subspecies of Chiffchaff, Siberian Chiffchaff (Sibirisk Gransanger), was caught and ringed. It is notoriously difficult to identify this subspecies, especially without it calling. It looks very similar to our Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger) and due to the range of the two subspecies overlapping in western foothills of the Ural Mountains there is a possibility that they interbreed and create hybrids. 2 Bearded Tits (Skægmejse) were also ringed, making Christina hurry back to Kabeltromlen from the station and a Northern Nutcracker (Nøddekrige) was also seen sitting in a tree, then flying high and back towards Skagen town.

Siberian Chiffchaff (Sibirisk Gransanger) as you can see very similar to a normal Chiffchaff just a little paler and less green/yellow. Picture: Mio Brix

After the count me, Christina and Mio set out on a 10km+ walk all the way from Gammel Skagen, around Grenen and back to the station looking for dead seabirds. Although the only dead bird we found on the entire trip was a 1k Greater Black Backed Gull (Svartbag), we did see some common beach birds along the way. For example, Razorbill (Alk), Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge), Sanderlings (Sandløber) and Common Eider (Ederfugl). We were of course hoping to find a rare wheatear like Desert or Isabelline (Ørken- eller Isabellastenpikker) but we unfortunately didn’t see any species of wheatear whatsoever. The best part of this walk was, however, not a beach bird at all. At one point on the walk a construction site forced us to change course inland for a few hundred meters. Here we walked past a group of pine trees which we mobganged for a few minutes, to our surprise a Common Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge) came out of the trees briefly.

Sanderlings (Sandløber) sleeping close to Nordstrand. Picture:  Leon Pedersen

Highlights from the observation:
Hvidbrynet Løvsanger-1
Havlit - 1
Lapværling - 2
Mosehornugle - 1
Kaspisk måge - 2

Ringing Kabeltrommen:
Rødhals - 2
Gransanger, Sibirisk (ssp. trists) - 1
Skægmejse - 2
Blåmejse - 2
Bogfinke - 1
Dompap - 4

Total: 34

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

The strong winds from yesterday have died down, and this morning we had a beautiful sunrise with good conditions for counting and ringing. Louis joined Youri, Sophie, Simon and Páll at Kabeltromlen for ringing, while Christina, Sarah, Leon, Mio and I headed to the migration count. Today was a good auk day, with nice numbers of razorbills (alk), and we got great views of a little auk (søkonge), which is the first seen this year! In honor of this sighting, we would like to shout-out Luis Q. Langfeld, who spent a long time in search of ‘the golden snitch’ (nicknamed for its flitty flight pattern).

Another highlight was a vocal Richard’s pipit (storpiber), flying alongside a water pipit (bjergpiber) for a nice comparison. It obligingly circled back, and Leon with his lightning reflexes and great camera got some good photos of it, along with shots of the little auk (søkonge), a pair of long-tailed ducks (havlit) and an arctic redpoll (hvidsisken). I also saw some harbor porpoise (marsvin) close to shore, which is always a nice sight.

Richard’s pipit (storpiber) – this species is distinguishable by its ‘tshrep tshrep’ call and its longer body and tail relative to the water pipit (bjergpiber), which it was flying alongside. Foto: Leon Pedersen.

Throughout the count we kept an eye on a large flock of snow buntings (snevpurv), which have been moving around the sand dunes over the past few days. We were hopeful we could catch some, so we set up a net with some birdseed at one of their regular spots. Our efforts felt like they were going to be in vain as we waited around an hour without them showing any interest in the seed, but just as we went to take the nets down, we flushed one and it went straight into the net! This was a very exciting moment, and everyone enjoyed getting a great view of this beautiful bird.

Snow bunting (snevpurv) in hand – this was a juvenile male, which we could age by the unmoulted greater coverts, which are quite tan with dark centers, and a pointier tail compared to the adults.  Foto: Mio Brix.

The ringing team had a better morning than yesterday, with 29 birds in total – highlights included two meadow pipits (engpiber), two bearded reedlings (Skægmejse) and some more redpoll (gråsisken) starting to come through. Louis, who had sacrificed himself staying at the migration count when everyone else went to see the yellow-browed warbler (hvidbrynet løvsanger) caught several days ago, was rewarded as it was hanging around Kabeltromlen this morning and calling. A journalist also came by to take photos of Sophie doing some ringing for a newspaper, so luckily the birds showed up!

After success with the snow bunting, we headed back for a late lunch and Sarah and I decided to go for a quick sea swim which was quite icy but very fresh! Mio opened the nets in the garden and was successful in catching some mealy redpoll (stor gråsisken), some of which had lovely rosy color on their throat and chest, which is indicative of adult males. Leon also saw a black redstart (husrødstjert) in the garden which unfortunately didn’t go into the net.

After we closed the nets, we cycled to the bakery and I tried a delicious høj snegl pastry while we did some work, and then went shopping, which is quite an endeavor now that there are six of us eating! This evening, we have a busy schedule as Mio, Leon and Youri will go night trapping for woodcock (skovsneppe) while the rest of us continue the attempt to catch a Tengmalm’s owls (perleugle). Hopefully, we won’t come back empty-handed!

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Simon Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Christiansen, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Leon Pedersen, Youri Van der horst, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Páll Vang Kjærbo og Sophie Booker.

This morning, the northerly winds pushed the counting team to Nordstrand to seek shelter… Unfortunately, it seemed that the birds had also found a place to rest because the migration was surprisingly slow during all four hours of the count.

We still managed to enjoyed nice observation of Long-tailed ducks (Havlit) a Great Northern diver (Islom) and several flock of Whooper swans (Sangsvane) or Canada geese (Canadagås).

The counting team counting in the wind. Foto : Louis-Marie Gourmelon

The nice advantage of Nordstand, compared to Grenen, is also that it gives us a way more up close view to the sea. That way we were able to appreciate nice observation of Razorbills (Alks) or Velvet scoters (Fløjsand).

We tried our luck again to catch Snowbuntings (Snespurv) because a flock of around 70 were flying and feeding almost at our feet ! They were not very shy at all.

Comparison in hand of Artcic redpoll (Hvidsisken) to the left and Common redpoll (Gråsisken) to the right. Foto : Simon S. Christiansen

The ringing team had also a very slow morning but one bird was enough to delight everyone (even the counting team) : they caugth an Arctic redpoll (Hvidsisken), a rare subspecies of the nominate Common redpoll species ! They mostly Breeds in tundra regions and are partially migratory. Some birds winter in Finnish Lapland, but the species can also regularly be seen in Southern Finland, though does not usually migrate as far south as Redpoll. Michael Ancher, who is ringing at Jennes sø for the station also caught, later in the morning, 3 Arctic redpolls !

Other picure of the Redpolls. Foto : Simon S. Christiansen

After all the standardised programs, the team decided to go back outside and went to Skagen along the beach and the harbour, mostly for some Gull watching ! We always hope to find some colour rings to read… But unfortunately none were find today.

Gull watching near the harbour. Foto : Simon S. Christiansen

Gull flocks are also interesting because you can always find a rare species in it ! We couldn’t find any today also but it could be more and more interesting in the coming days…

Sarah and I went to open the mist nets in Kabeltromlen this morning. Mio joined us for the second round, after accompanying Cora to the station, as she was leaving today (we will miss you, Cora! Hope I’ll run into you again sometime!). He came with Simon, who brought us a really nice cake to celebrate his 10th work anniversary (10 years without getting fired!).

Simon looking really happy with its cake (01/11/2026)

The ringing session was a bit slow today, but quite diverse. We caught some Blackbirds (Solsort) (one male had particularly stunning black plumage), a Goldcrest (Fuglekonge), numerous Bullfinches (Dompap)... and the highlight of the day: we were lucky enough to catch a Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger)!

Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) (01/11/2026)

The Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) is a rare species here in Skagen, and we have only caught one other individual this season. They breed across the eastern Palearctic and winter in South and Southeast Asia, from India to southeastern China. However, some individuals, especially juveniles, can become vagrants in western Europe, sometimes as a result of strong winds. This could have been the case with the Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) that found its way into our nets today. I had never seen one before, and although one might think 'it's just another warbler', you cannot help thinking about the long journey it has already made to end up here, and the even longer journey that still lies ahead before reaching its wintering grounds. I hope it makes it there safely.

A stunning adult male blackbird! (01/11/2026)

During ringing, we also saw some breathtaking flocks of Waxwings (Silkehale). They are quite common in Skagen, but that doesn't make them any less special. What a view!

Meanwhile, Louis was on migration count with our new volunteer, Rosie, who had arrived at the station the previous evening (welcome, Rosie!). Although the count was also a bit slow, flocks of Pink-footed Geese (Kortnæbbet Gås) and Long-tailed Ducks (Havlit) certainly spiced things up. Rosie had a great time experiencing her first migration count. We also need to take a moment to acknowledge Louis's great sacrifice for the group: while everyone else went to see the Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger), he stayed behind at the count with all the telescopes. Truly, a great sacrifice for a great cause.

After coming back from the field, Sarah and I changed the mist net in the lighthouse garden, hoping to catch some Waxwings (Silkehale). No luck today, but maybe we'll get them another day. We are also getting ready to catch Water Pipits (Bjergpiber) this week... stay tuned for news!

I think the evening meeting had the biggest turnout I've seen since I arrived the previous week. There were nine of us, including some new faces: our new intern, Lion; our new volunteer, Rosie; Youri, who also joined us for the last ringing rounds and will be staying for a week; and our new guest in the apartment, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen. Welcome, everyone!

Today's movie recommendation is 'Practical Magic'. Sarah, Rosie and I watched it yesterday as a little Halloween celebration. It's a goofy, completely unhinged movie, perfect if you feel like having a good laugh!

That's all for today's blog, hope you also had a great day reader!

Link to today's observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Simon Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Christiansen, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Rosie Berkin, Leon Pedersen, Youri Van der horst, Knud Pedersen og Jørgen Hulbæk

This morning, the wind was quiet again, so all the nets at Kabeltromlen were open. Unfortunately, we didn't catch many birds today. But this gave us the opportunity to take a closer look at the birds we caught and study their moult and practise our measurements. It also gave us the opportunity to watch the Waxwings (Silkehale) flying overhead and the roosting Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade).

With some time and plenty of time spent outdoors, you could also find rare birds, such as the Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger) that Simon discovered today. Listen to its call by clicking here!

The highlight in the nets was definitely the six Siskins (Grønsisken), which we don't catch very often.

Siskin (Grønsisken). Picture by Sarah Partridge

At the migration count, Knud, Jørgen Hulbæk, Louis, Cora and I enjoyed the calm sea, with quite a lot of Kittiwakes (Ride) migrating past. We counted around 800 over the four hours. Other highlights included at least one Nutcracker (Nøddekrige) and a Smew (Lille Skallesluger). Smews are quite rare up here, so it was a nice observation to see this bird migrating together with 6 Goldeneyes (Hvinand). 

We also saw a flock of 26 Snow Buntings (Snespurv) and tried to catch them west of the Sandormetrack using nets with a finer mesh. Unfortunately, however, they spotted the nets and flew around them several times. But we will try again another day when there is less wind.

In the afternoon, Cora and I went out again, around Batteriskoven and into town, where we found some big flocks of Waxwings (Silkehale)!

big flock of Waxwings (Silkehale) in town. Picture by Mio Brix 

That night, Cora and I went out night-catching again, where we caught another Woodcock (Skovsneppe). This was the last bird Cora ringed here during her two-week autumn stay, as she is going back to Berlin tomorrow. We will all miss her, and Skagen is looking forward to seeing her back in spring 2027!

During the 14 full days she stayed here, she and I caught 13 birds at night: 9 Woodcocks (Skovsneppe), 3 Jack Snipes (Enkeltbekkasin) and 1 Common Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin).

Highlights from the observations:

Smew (Lille Skallesluger)-1

Nutcracker (Nøddekrige)-1

Yellow-browed Warbler (Hvidbrynet Løvsanger)-1

Link to today's observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Blackcap (Munk)-1

Wren (Gærdesmutte)-3

Redwing (Vindrossel)-1

Blackbird (Solsort)-3

Robin (Rødhals)-1

Bullfinch (Dompap)-6

Siskin (Grønsiskin)-6

Ringing Nordstjernevej (Michael Ancher)

Rødhals 2
Fuglekonge 1

Ringing Jennes Sø (Michael Ancher)

Gærdesmutte 1
St gråsisken 2
Lille gråsisken 4
Rødhals 2
Blåmejse 1
Gransanger 1

Total: 21

People: Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Simon Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Sigaard Christiansen, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Jørgen Kabel, Michael Ancher, Lars og Lone

This morning Mio, Sarah, Lone and I started our morning at Kaberltromelen were we hoped to catch some more birds today. The weather was really nice and sunny but maybe it was a bit too good for the birds to fly into our nets. In the end of the day we ended up with only eight birds being caught so ringing wise it was kind of a slow morning.

beautiful sunrise at Grenen

But slow does not need to be bad. For example if you have a seabird migrating over the sea which you want to observe. That was the case with a really cool Leach's Storm-Petrel (Stor Stormsvale) which was found by other observers flying over the sea. Fortunately the bird was migrating so extremely slow that we at the ringing had plenty of time to find the bird over the sea and all together observe it for quite a while fluttering over the sea in its unique flight style.

There were not only nice birds over the sea but also the Orcas (Spækhugger) were spotted again so we all saw them again.

Also the observers  got really good views of the Orcas (Spækhugger) today.

Besides the Orcas (Spækhugger) the observers had a nice but not too busy count with higher numbers of Red-Throathed Divers (Rødstrubet Lom), some little Gulls (Dværgmåger) and Whooperswans (Sangsvane) migrating.

They also saw some nice passerines like a Great Gray Shrike (Stor Tornskade) and some Waxwings (Sikehale) which later also passed by at Kabeltromelen and also set down in a tree for some seconds.

After coming back from the field Sarah and I went for a quick swim into the perfectly flat sea. It was quite cold but really nice and refreshing.

In the midday Simon held a session about ethics in birdringing.

When we were finished with the session some of us went out again. 

Mio went to battery skoven where he had some really nice observations. Just when he had parked his bike he found a Nutcracker (Nøddekrige) sitting only a few meters in front of him drinking on the ground. Further in Batteriskoven he found a very grey brown small bird. It was a Chiffchaff of the subspecies tristis a Siberian Chiffchaff (Sibirisk Gransanger). 

Luckily I also got to see that one a bit later. 

Later Sophie came by to bring a dead Guillemot (Lomvie) shebfound on the beach to put it in our birdfreezer.

In the evening Sarah cooked a very delicious dinner whilst Christina and Louis–Marie opened the nets in the old lighthouse garden where we will try to catch owls tonight.

We really hope to catch a Tengelmalms Owl (Perleugle) in there tonight. 

Highlights from the observations:

Leach's Storm-Petrel - Stor Stormsvale 1

Orcas 4

Nutcracker - Nøddekrige 1

Siberian Chiffchaff - Sibirisk Gransanger (tristis) 1

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Gransanger 1

Munk 3

Blåmejse 2

Gærdesmutte 2

Total: 8

Nordstjernevej (Michael Ancher)

Solsort 1

Munk 1

Blåmejse 1

Skovspurv 1

Bogfinke 1

Rødhals 1

Skovskade 1

Total: 7

Jennes sø (Michael Ancher)

Lille gråsisken 20

St gråsisken 13

Blåmejse 1

Topmejse 1

Musvit 1

Total: 36

Link to today's observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Simon Sigaard  Sigaard  Sigaard Christiansen, Sarah Partridge, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Christina Liu, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Hulbæk, Jørgen Kabel, Michael Ancher, Lars og Lone

This morning, Cora and I went to open the nets at Kabeltromlen. It was a little windy so we could not open all of the nets. Páll and our guest Lone joined us for the first round. We started out very slow on the first round, until we got to the final net, and there waiting for us was a Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge)! We could see his beautiful eyeshadow a mile away. That was especially exciting for Páll, who has been waiting for one all season.

Rødtoppet Fuglekonge

After that, the ringing slowed down again. Luckily, we were able to open a few more nets as the wind dropped, and in one of those we caught two stunning Skægmejse (Bearded reedlings)! I was extremely excited about this because they are the second cutest birds at Kabeltromlen. We have been seeing them fly close to the nets every day without going inside, but today we got lucky!

Skægmejse (Foto Jeppe Madsen)

Skægmejse are breeding in northern Jutland, and are generally not migratory. However, ringing recoveries from this area are half foreign rings, from all over northern Europe. Some populations have localised dispersal, mainly of young birds. As they typically disperse to other breeding areas, these foreign birds would be unknown to us without ringing data! At this time of year, we cannot determine the age of the skægmejse we trap because both adults and first-year birds undergo a complete moult. But, hopefully they can become retrapped so we can find out more about their movements!

Meanwhile, Mio, Christina, and Louis were at the migration count at World’s End III with Knud. They were enjoying watching the migrating kittiwakes, almost 200 today! Among them were also 16 little gulls (Dværgmåge) and one migrating Spliterne (Sandwich Tern). Splitterne breed up here in Europe and migrate south to spend winters all along the west coat of Africa. They tend to arrive to their wintering grounds in September, so this bird is running a little late. The observers were also happy today to see a pod of Orcas (Spækhugger)!

In the afternoon, I went to the bakery to eat cake while I worked on statistics, and Mio and Cora went out to (unsuccessfully) search for the Richard’s Pipit (Storpiber). Then in the evening, they went night catching again and brought us back a very cute Enkeltbekkasin (Jack Snipe)! We have also had our owl nets open but no success yet!

Enkeltbekkasin-- this individual has a particularly short bill

Ringing KAB

Rødtoppet Fuglekonge - 1

Skægmejse - 2

Vindrossel - 1

Musvit - 1

Blåmejse - 5

Rødhals - 2

Lille gråsisken - 1

Dompap - 3

Bogfinke - 1

Munk - 2

Total : 20

Highlights from World's End III

Ride - 196

Havlit - 4

Dværgmåge - 17

Splitterne - 1

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Simon Sigaard Sigaard Christiansen, Sarah Partridge, Christina Liu, Páll Vang Kjærbo, Knud Pedersen, Lars og Lone

Today was a very nice sunny day since the storm of this weekend. There was not too many wind so we were finally able to open the nets at Kabeltrommen where Sarah, Christina and Simon had a nice session of ringing. They were also accompanied by Páll, who came to help.

The ringing team at Kabeltromlen. Foto. Simon S.Christiansen

The ringing team even got the visit of a Nutcracker (Nøddekrige) that was flying very close from the nets several times…

Nutcracker (Nøddekrige) in flight. Foto : Lars Grøn

unfortunately none was ringed today but they could appreciate all the other birds caught, especially this Redwing (Vindrossel).

Redwing(Vindrossel). Foto : Kristina Liu

At the same time, me, Cora and Mio were at Grenen for the migration count. It was a rather slow morning in terms of numbers, but we all made a beautiful observation of a Leach’s storm petrel (Stor stormsvale) ! It was flying south east, surfing through the waves, very close to the water… What a sight ! Spotted by the german legend Mio Brix.

Observers at migration counting spot "World's end 3". Foto : Louis-Marie Gourmelon

We also had the chance to spot a Merlin (Dværgfalk) that came from the sea and flew overhead and of course, the 3 Nutcrackers (Nøddekrige) all perched in the same tree at one point.

The tip of Grenen, surprisingly crowded ! (the Stor stormsvale effect... probably). Foto : Louis-Marie Gourmelon

Later in the afternoon, Mio and Cora went out again for birdwatching and saw 2 nice Great grey shrike (Stor Tornskade) ! And tonight, they will try again for their now traditional night catching.

Link to today’s observations in the Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Louis-Marie Gourmelon, Simon S. Christiansen, Sarah Partridge, Christina Liu, Páll Vang Kjærbo, Knud Pedersen, Lars og Lone