Martina og jeg var ude at åbne net senere kom Fanny og Simon. Det var fint i ringmærkningen i dag, godt med fugle, dog intet usædvanligt i nettet. Vejret var Koldt om morgenen med tæt tåge, det forsvandt dog og blev erstattet af en skyfri himmel, så det endte med at være varmt nok til at gå rundt I en T-shirt.

Om formiddagen gik der rygter om en 2k Steppeørn, Den var også ude vende 2 gange på Grenen hvor vi fik set den i flot lys, dog gik den højt. Andre højdepunkter var karmindompap, pirol og biæder.

Der kom flere vante ansigter forbi og holdt os selvskab under ringmærkningen, hvilket altid er hyggeligt.

Michael Ancher ringmærkede i dag ved Jennes Sø. Henrik Böhmer var på morgenobs.

AFTENUPDATE: Lille Sejler rastende i lang tid om aftenen ved Hulsig, fundet af Oluf Lou! Og det blev til hele 2 forskellige steppeørne. SINDZYYYG dag!

Pigerne prøvede i at fange en gøg her til aften, det lykkedes ikke. Men måske endnu bedre var det at de fangede en kernebider.

Fotos: Henrik Böhmer, Skagen Fuglestation

Glade fuglekiggereRingmærkning: (Kabeltromlekrattet + Jennes Sø)

Sivsanger – Sedge Warbler – 1

Kærsanger – Marsh Warbler – 3

Rørsanger – Reed Warbler – 5

Løvsanger – Willow Warbler – 11

Munk – Blackcap – 9

Havesanger – Gardenwarbler  -5

Tornsanger – Common Whitethroat 8

Gærdesmutte – Wren – 5

Rødhals – Robin – 5

Vindrossel – Redwing – 1

Lille Gråsisken – Lesser Redpoll – 2

Topmejse - Crested tit - 4

Gulbug - Icterine Warbler - 1

Broget Fluesnapper - 1

Rødstjert - Redstart - 1

Bogfinke - Chaffinch - 1

Gulspurv - Yellowhammer -1

Dompap  - Bullfinch - 4

Gransanger - Chiffchaff - 3

Gærdesanger - Lesser Whitethroat - 2

Kernebider - Hawfinch - 1

Sum: 74

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Fanny Rey, Martina Hillbrandt, Esben E. Hansen Hanne og Jens Eriksen, Jørgen Hulbæk, Knud og Inge Pedersen, Lars bro Jacobsen, Kent olsen, Henrik Böhmer, Oluf Lou og Troels Eske Ortvad

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

This morning we went ringing to the CES site at Jennes Sø. It was a very slow day with only 10 new birds. However, we did also have a couple recaptures from earlier years, which is always nice. A great tit (topmejse) was ringed at the lighthouse garden in February 2018. It was a second year bird then, so was born in 2017. It will celebrate it’s 3^rd birthday some time soon. The great tits that are breeding in the nest box at Jennes Sø are still incubating, however, the chicks are expected to fledge any day now. We also caught this cute crested tit (topmejse), which made Fanny very happy. It was ringed in April 2019 at the same place.

While we were waiting for more birds to fly into the net a rosefinch (karmindompap) arrived in the shrubs right next to us and sang for a while. We were able to see it but not long enough to take a picture. Also Simon heard a bee eater at the same site today. The green warbler is apparently gone, so everybody who wanted to come to twitch it today was disappointed.

Troels did the migration observations for us this morning but it was a very slow day also in the sky at the tip.

In the evening we opened the nets that we have set up in the lighthouse garden and used the tape lure for swallows. The swallows where there hunting around the lighthouse as they often do but they did not fly low enough to get caught in the nets.

We also got news about a great black-backed gull that Jørgen read recently at Skagen harbour on the 24^th. It has been ringed in March 2017 as a second year bird in Essex, UK. You can find the map of the various readings of this bird here: http://www.ntgg.org.uk/cgi-bin/map.cgi?p=recmap&t=r&r=MA30186

Ringing Jennes Sø

Rødhals – Robin – 2

Lille Gråsisken – Lesser Redpoll – 2

Gransanger – Chiffchaff – 1

Løvsanger – Willow warbler – 1

Havesanger – Garden warbler – 1

Tornsanger – Whitethroat – 1

Bogfinke – Chaffinch – 1

Skovpiber – Tree Pipit – 1

Total: 10

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

People: Esben E. Hansen, Martina Hillbrand, Simon S. Christiansen, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Troels Eske Ortvad, and Fanny Rey

Esben and Frederik went ringing today at Kabeltromlen, they had a very nice morning with a lot of birds and some interesting species that we don’t caught a lot. First a Red-back shrike (Rødrygget tornskade) female a bit panful for Frederik who ring it apparently. Then in the same round a young male Sparrow hawk (Spurvehøg) and a Water rail (Vandrikse), this species is not easy to catch and it was the first time for the season so it was very nice, they are tinnier in hand than when we see them on the field!

They also caught a Garden warbler (Havesanger) with a ring from Norway ! And finally a beautiful male Bluethroat (Blåhals), the second capture of spring.

Martina and I went observing at Grenen, the migration is definitely slowing down with few passerine but still some interesting bird to observe like Skua, Oriole, Short ear owl. Thomas Johansen came to join us and help us for the counting. But the highlight of today migration was not at the observation spot but around, with first a Greenish Warbler (Lundsanger) who became some hours after a probably Green warbler (Kaukasisk Lundsanger) at ellekratette, the two species are very likely so this is why the identification was probably rong at the beginiing it was no execpted to be a Green warbler. The Green warbler is very rare in Danmark ! So now we are expecting all the birder (or at least twitcher) of Denmark to come in Skagen if it’s not already done. As you can see on the picture a lot of people already came to see it and it is indeed a nice little bird.

Another rare bird today was the Blyth’s reed warbler (Buskrørsanger) who was spotted by his song. It was around Grenen singing but not easy at all to see! with a little bit of patience we manage to see it.

This afternoon, Martina and I went to Jennes sø to prepare the ringing site for tomorrow because we are going to do the CES session.

Frederik went away today for a bird trip, he will come back in around 10 day with some new species we wish for him !

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

People: Esben E. Hansen, Martina Hillbrand, Simon S. Christiansen, Frederik Johansen, Thomas Johansen and Fanny Rey

I dag tog Fanny og Martina i ringmærkningen. Det var en rigtig god dag i dag med massere af fugle!!

Jeg tog på morgenobs, og var der i nogle par timer, før jeg tog hjem og sov. Det var dejligt efter gårsdagens hårde twitch ;)

Omkring klokken 14:00 tog Fanny, Simon og jeg, sammen med Jørgen Kabel ud for at kigge på Sommerfugle. Vi skulle specifikt kigge efter Hedepletvingen, som er en Nordjyllands specialitet. Den var super, super fed!

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen): 

Bjergvipstjert - 1

Gærdesmutte - 3

Rødhals - 3

Rødstjert - 1

Solsort - 1

Rørsanger - 1

Gulbug - 1

Gærdesanger - 4

Tornsanger - 11

Havesanger - 8

Munk - 11

Gransanger - 1

Løvsanger - 3

Grå Fluesnapper - 1

Lille Dompap - 2

Rørspurv - 1

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Fanny Rey, Martina Hillbrand, Jørgen Kabel, Jørgen Hulbæk, Knud Pedersen og Frederik Johansen.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

This morning we went out ringing as usual and since yesterday was so good now with less wind and a nicer weather we assumed that we would have a good amount of birds but then without the rain so it promised to be a really nice day. And the day was nice but the birds were lacking for a big part. Interestingly, after several days of mainly migrants and very few whitethroats (tornsanger) today we had a lot of whitethroats again. Several of them had been ringed by us before, showing that they are here breeding. One male was actually ringed in 2019 in late August. It was an adult then so very likely already migrating from a breeding site further north. On his way down south he discovered this beautiful sport of land in Skagen and decided to come back this year to found a family here. We think that this is a very reasonable decision. Also, of course, he is in good company with all the other whitethroats that are singing everywhere around our nets.

Other than whitethroats, gardenwarblers and reed warblers we also had one rather special catch today: A hawfinch (kernebider). Hawfinches have really strong beaks in order to crack nuts. Frederik who took him out of the net also  learned that they can crack the skin of your fingers if you are not careful. Because of the strong beaks hawfinches receive steel rings because they could open an aluminium ring with their beak and thereby hurt their legs. Despite everything they are very pretty birds.

In the afternoon me and Fanny went out to try and catch a cuckoo with a tape lure. Unfortunately we were not lucky enough to catch one but we had a nice picknick in the dunes and did some relaxed bird watching so that was still a nice afternoon.

Frederik “I don’t really twitch any more” on the other hand, opted for the less relaxed version of the afternoon and drove all the way down to Horsens with a colleague in order to see a mourning dove reported this morning. In 2008 was the last record for Denmark of this species here in Skagen. How they get here is another question, since the bird is native only to North America. Every few years one seems to get very lost on their migration and ends up being seen on the western shores of the British Isles or even here in Denmark.

Ringing (Kabeltrommlen):

Bogfinke - Chaffinch      2  

Havesanger – Garden warbler       1 

Munk – Blackcap        2

Gransanger – Chiffchaff          2

Løvsanger – Willow warbler        1

Gærdesanger – Lesser white-throat        1                                                  

Tornsanger – Whitethroat      6

Kernebider – Hawfinch     1

Rørsanger – Reed warbler      2           

Sum: 18

People: Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Frederik R. Johansen, Martina Hillbrand, and Fanny Rey

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Martina and I went to open the nest at Kabeltromlen this morning for ringing, we open them a bit later  compared to usually because it was raining early morning and we needed to wait until the rain stops. It was really worth it because we had a very good morning with very special species ! First round a Grey wagtail male (we can tell that with the black throat as you can see on the picture).

Then later we had a Blue white throat female! We quickly colt Frederik has we knew it is his favorite species and has you can see on this picture he his very happy! Some people also came to see this pretty bird, so it was nice to share that with others.

We also had 6 Spotted flycatcher which is very good number for this species in total we get 18 species, this is one of the various day of spring.

This afternoon, Jørgen Hulbæk  was out in the harbor at Skagen and he read 14 rings of Gull with one form England!

During the afternoon we clean the apartment and the lab and Frederik went for a little swim to celebrate his Bluethroat !

Today we said goodbye to Kisten and welcomed two new guests to this apartment.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

                Dompap, Lille (ssp. europaea) – Bullfinch                2                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                Bogfinke – Chaffinch                                                 3                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                Havesanger – Garden warbler                                  8                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                Munk – Black cap                                                      7                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                Sivsanger – Sedge warbler                                       1                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                Lille Gråsisken – Reedpool                                       1                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                Broget Fluesnapper – Pied flycatcher                      1                                                                                                                                                                                                       

                Blåhals, Nordlig (ssp. svecica) – Northern bluethroat  1                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                Gulbug – Iceterine warbler                                         5                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                Bjergvipstjert – Grey waigtail                                      1                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                Gærdesmutte – Wren                                                  2                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

               Løvsanger – Willow warbler                                         4                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                Gærdesanger – Lesser white-throat                            9                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                Rødhals - Robin                                                           4                                                                                                                                                                                           

                Rødstjert – Common redstart                                      2                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                Grå Fluesnapper – Spotted flycatcher                         6                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                Kærsanger – Marsh warbler                                        1                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

               Sangdrossel – Songtrush                                             1             

Sum: 59 for 18 species

People: Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Esben E. Hansen, Frederik R. Johansen, Jørgen Kabel, Daniel Bloche, Martina Hillbrand, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen and Fanny Rey

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

The weather forecast for today left us to expect a possible fallout of birds that were migrating west along the Atlantic coast. However, it seems that the front passing was probably bigger than expected and birds did not really move last night at all. Also, it was rather more windy than expected this morning. So the ringing team was a little disappointed, not because it was a bad day as such but because it was just not what we expected.

Even before we got to ring any birds we got distracted by three bitterns (rørdrum) flying very close to us which Fanny got this beautiful picture of.

The ringing was still interesting too, however, because not only have the willow warblers (løvsanger) passed for the biggest part, as already expected and we only caught very few today, but because we had several nice recaptures too. Among the birds caught today was a pretty male bullfinch (dompap) that has been ringed here in 2017.

Another bird we controlled today was a reed warbler (rørsanger) that was ringed at this same location in July 2017.  It was ringed as an adult, so after this breeding season it is at least 4 years old. If you assume an average migration distance of around 6400 km from a breeding territory in southern Sweden via Spain to Ghana this means that this 12-gram bird has already migrated a total of more than 50,000 km!

At home we heard back from one of the birds we recovered with an English ring the other day, which is always nice: it was the male blackcap (munk) and it was ringed in Gibraltar in November 2018. Blackcaps are known to winter either in Britain or in southern Spain or even northern Africa. Ring recoveries even show that some migrate past the Sahara and winter in places like Senegal or Nigeria. Naturally, when we saw the ring from London we automatically expected that the bird was wintering in Britain. Apparently, though it has been wintering in northern Africa and when caught in Gibraltar in November was just on its way to cross the sea to Morocco. This would also explain why it is migrating so late in the season. Today we caught several more blackcaps, probably also migrating north from Africa. There have been discussions in the scientific literature lately about climate change affecting bird migration, mainly using blackcaps as an example since they seem to winter more in the British Isles now than they used to. It is supposed that birds arriving at the breeding grounds earlier would have an advantage over those arriving later. However, depending on the year and the winter climate in some years those migrating further would have higher survival rates and therefore also a reproductive advantage. In short, if a population has several migration and wintering strategies then it is most likely to adapt to any climatic changes which will ultimately increase its chances of survival in the long term.

Since all of our volunteers wanted to be in the ringing, hoping for a rarity that might have been blown here with the strong winds, Knut was so kind to do the observations for us today. He managed to see a Mediterranean gull which is very rare this far north.

The people from DOF youth were also again out today to look for birds so we can safely assume that every bird that has passed has also been recorded by somebody.

In the afternoon the weather cleared up a little bit and Frederik went out with his friends from the DOF youth to find some more birds. He managed to see a tawny pipit (markpiber) which has become very rare in Denmark after they have gone extinct as breeding birds 10 years ago.

Picture: Frederik R. Johansen (Fuerteventura, 1/3-2020)

In the evening we still wanted to go out ringing at a different site, however, due to the strong winds we decided to postpone that to next week when the weather should be a lot better for catching birds. It should also be much better for migration when the wind dies down so although we do not expect any big outfalls in the next days we do hope for good migration days which will also give us the chance to catch many birds. Reed and marsh warbler (rørsanger og kærsanger) are starting to move through and many more should come this week.

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen + Jennes Sø):

Rødrygget Tornskade - Red-backed Shrike - 1

Gærdesmutte – Wren - 1

Grå Fluesnapper – Spotted Flycatcher - 2

Solsort – Blackbird - 1

Gulbug – Icterine Warbler - 3

Gærdesanger – Lesser Whitethroat - 5

Tornsanger – Whitethroat - 4

Havesanger – Garden Warbler - 3

Munk – Blackcap - 10

Løvsanger – Willow Warbler - 2

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Folk: Fanny Rey, Esben E. Hansen, Martina Hillbrand, Kirsten, Simon S. Christiansen, Micheal Ancher, Frederik Johansen og DOF ung.

I dag startede Fanny og Esben med at åbne net, hvor Martina, Kirsten og Simon kom lidt senere. Dagen i dag bragte ikke så mange fugle i nettene, men det gav nogle Kærsangere.

Jeg var taget ud for at observere i dag. Der var et fint træk i dag med en del fåtallige fugle, såsom; Pirol 1-2, Islom 2 og Biæder 3. Det var meget dejligt :)

Dagen i dag gav også nogle sjældne fugle bl.a. DVÆRGØRN. Fuglen fra i går var gået til overnatning ude ved industrikvarteret, og var så klokken 0852 til morgen, gået på vingerne. Det er bare en drømmefugl! 

Dagen i dag gav også en ret sjælden fugl. Jeg var gået ned til Grenensøen for at tjekke om den Citronvipstjert der havde været der i går, måske stadig ville være der. Jeg og nogen fra DOF ung tog derned for at gå lidt rundt. Jeg tramper lidt ud i sivene, mens de andre gå lidt op i klitterne. Pludselig høre jeg et citronvipstjert-agtigt kald og tænker 'der er den', jeg tager kiggerten op og kigger på den, men 'hov', den har jo sort hoved!? Jeg kigger hen på de ornitologer, som står i den næstyderste klitrække, og det ligner at de også hørte den. Jeg løber derhen, for at spørge hvad det var, og får svaret "En meget mulig Feldegg (Sorthovedet Gul Vipstjert)". Vi får både foto- og lyddokumenteret fuglen. Og shit den er bare vild flot mand!!!!! Dens knald sorte hoved, som bare grænser op til den fuldstændige citrongule farve, øj mand!

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen + Jennes Sø):

Skovpiber - 1

Gærdesmutte - 3

Rødhals - 1

Solsort - 1

Kærsanger - 2

Rørsanger - 1

Gulbug - 1

Gærdesanger - 14

Tornsanger - 11

Havesanger - 2

Munk - 9

Gransanger - 7

Løvsanger - 6

Bogfinke - 1

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

Folk: Fanny Rey, Esben E. Hansen, Martina Hillbrand, Kirsten, Simon S. Christiansen, Micheal Ancher, Rune S. Neergaard, Andreas B. Kristensen, Anders W. Nielsen, Frederik Johansen og DOF ung.

I dag startede dagen med at Martina og jeg åbnede nettene. Det var en fin morgen med en del fugle. Senere kom Daniel Bloche, som også var her for 2 uger siden, og derefter Fanny, Kirsten og Simon. 

Klokken 08:15, gik Simon og jeg ned til parkeringspladsen for, at samle det første hold til en guidet ringmærkningstur, efter lang tid. Det gik rigtig godt:)

Efter morgenobsen og -mærkningen, tog vi hjem, og slappede af/sov. Jeg havde belsuttet at tage ud til Flagbakken næsten lige efter jeg kom hjem, og da jeg var ved at være klar til at smutte, bliver der meldt "CITRONVIPSTJERT!!" ud ved Grenensøen. Ser den meeeeega godt! :) Ser også trækforsøgene Lille Skrigeørn, derude. 

Tager derefter til Flagbakken og ser 1-2 Sort Glenter. Efter et stykke tid beslutter jeg mig for at begive mig hjem ad, men så bliver der meldt mulig DVÆRGØRN ud!! Så var det op på Flagbakken igen.

Det viser sig så at det er en sikker Dværgørn i dragten mørkform. Den overnatter ude ved Forbrændingen i industrikvarteret, så den kommer forhåbentligt i morgen!!!!!! :)

Fanny og Martina tog ud til Skarvsøen i dag for, at lave noget overvågning på kolonien. Der er stadig godt gang i kolonien derude!

Esben tog ud og så på rovfugle træk ved Store Klit. Af spændende ting som han så kan nævnes: Hedehøg, Lille Skrigeørn, Sort Glente, og Hvepsevåger.

Esben så desværre ikke Dværgørnen fra Store Klit af :( 

Vi håber så meget vi kan at den kommer i morgen (som den jo selvfølgelig gør ;) ).

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i Dofbasen af observatører i området

Folk: Esben E. Hansen, Martina Hillbrand, Fanny Rey, Simon S. Christiansen, Daniel Bloche, Kirsten, Michael Ancher, og Frederik R. Johansen.

Today, Esben and I opened the nets at 04:15, we also set up a new trap to try to catch the Water rail (Vandrikse ) with some cheese to attract them ! Maritina and Kristen joined us for the first round and Simon a bit later. It was a good day with 50 birds ringed, a bit quieter them yesterday but with more variety of species and most important two great recapture from England! One Black cap (Muke) male and one Pied flycatcher male (Broget Fluesnapper). We are very exciting to see when they have been ringed!

Kristen has ringed her first birds today so she was very happy and feel very confident about the next steps so this is great and we are all very happy to help her in her learning.

We also had the second Meadow pipit (Engpiber) of the season and a Spotted flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper) than mostly Willow warbler (Løvsanger) like usually and Common white throat (Tornsanger). We didn’t succeed to catch the Water rail but we will try again the next days!

Frederik was observing at Grenen and at a very nice observation of an Artic skua (Almindelig kjove) hunting a Stern very close to the observation spot, this is definitely a very good time to observe that specie! He gets to eat a nice chocolate ice cream form the shop at the parking lot offer by Simon!

During the afternoon we heart about a Lapland bunting (Lapværling) around at Grenen so Frederik and I went to try to found it, unfortunately it was already gone but it was a nice walk around the tip.

Ringging (Kabeltromlen):

                Gransanger – Chiffchaff                                 1                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Havesanger – Garden warbler                       4                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Dompap – Bullfinch                                         1                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Munk – Black cap                                             4                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Tornsanger – Common white-throat              11                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                Engpiber – Meadow pipit                              1                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Gærdesmutte – Wren                                    2                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Broget Fluesnapper – Pied flycatcher       1                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Rødstjert – Common redstart                     2                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Gærdesanger -Lesser white throat           3                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Løvsanger – Willow warbler                         14                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                Rødhals - Robin                                            3                                                                                                                                                                                             

                Grå Fluesnapper – Spotted flycatcher         1                                                                                                       

              Sangdrossel – Songtrush                               1             

Sum: 50 for 14 species

Folk: Martina Hillbrand, Frederik R. Johansen, Esben E. Hansen, Kirsten, Christian Andersen Jensen, Yørgen Hulbok, Jørgen Kabel, Henning Ettrup, Simon S. Christiansen and  Fanny Rey

Todays observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area