Today I was the lucky one who got to sleep the extra hour as Esben and Frank opened the net. I joined them in time for the results of the first round, mostly common whitethroats (tornsanger) and marsh warblers (kærsanger). The morning was quiet but with a nice variety of species: lesser whitethroat (gærdesanger), blackcap (munk), reed bunting (rørspurv)… The highlight of the morning came around 8 when we caught a green sandpiper (svaleklire)! A true beauty! We saw them fly around in the morning and hoped it would happen, so we were all delighted.

The rest of the day was turned to data entry and date checking. We all allowed ourselves a short nap as well. I spent a bit too long sorting out redcurrants I picked while at Kabeltrommlen but hopefully I’ll be able to make a tart with them tomorrow.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Ebsen today. Thank you for the teaching and the laughs!

Ringmærkning:

Svaleklire 1

Tornsanger 5

Gransanger 3

Gærdesanger 1

Bogfinke 1

Munk 1

Solsort 1

Rørspurv 1

Kærsanger 4

Rørsanger 1

Total: 19

Folk på stationen: Esben Hansen, Mathilde Ducroz og Frank Osterberg

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Esben got an extra hour sleep this morning as me and Mathilde opened the nets at Jenne Sø for the CES ringing, he then joined us for the first round but the following produced little birds with a Robin (Rødhals) and a few whitethroats (Tornsanger). After a few rounds, however, I got a bad migraine and had to head home. The others carried on however and although nothing majorly exciting as most days at Jenne Sø are like they did have a round of 8 birds.

They then returned and had a nap and then we got on with cleaning the apartment. Me and Mathilde went shopping for the next few days and we said goodbye to Lauren, Niklas and their kids. The rest of the evening will then consist of data entry, ringing checks and sorting through the picture archive.

Tomorrow we will head to Grenen for morning ringing.

Jennes Sø rinngmærkning:

Tornsanger 6

Gransanger 3

Gærdesanger 2

Bogfinke 1

Topmejse 1

Rødhals 1

Musvit 1

Total: 15

Folk på stationen: Esben Hansen, Mathilde Ducroz og Frank Osterberg

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Vi var alle afsted og ringmærke igen i dag ved kabeltromlen, her ringmærkede vi 26 nye fugle, hvor både 1k tornsangere og gransangere udgjorde størstedelen. Efter frokost har den stået på datatjek og indtastning. Ligesom tidligere dage har vi haft nettene åbne i Fyrhaven, hvilket dog kun har givet en enkelt tornsanger indtil videre.

En af gærdesangerne  fra i dag

Samt en tornsanger

I morgen skal vi til Jennes Sø og udføre CES mærkning, det bliver spændende og se hvad vi bliver budt!

1 kærsanger

3 rørsanger

5 gærdesanger

10 tornsanger

7 gransanger

Total: 26

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

Folk: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Esben Hansen

Today started with a slightly later wake up call as we are approaching autumn and the days are getting shorter. Like the last few days, we set off ringing at Kabeltromlen but with one less. Frank was occupied leading a birding tour around Grenen.

At Kabeltromlen, the day was quiet with a minimum of a couple birds each round. The highlight came around 7 when a greater spotted woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte) was found in one of the northern side nets. The feisty and loud juvenile did not make the extracting easy, pecking viciously at the fingers. The rest of the birds were similar to previous ringing session with a majority of common whitethroats (tornsanger) but a surprising high number of chiffchaff (gransanger). Two blackbird (solsort) were also ringed which had been a while.

Meanwhile Frank looked at the results of the night’s moth trap, a lot a o common and already caught moth. Once the visitors arrived he set off along the tractor track popping in at Kabeltromlen to show them how ringing worked, and continued to the point and back down the beach to the observatory. He spotted a white-tailed eagle (havørn).

The afternoon was lounging and admin. Frank went out to Skagen to do a small shop, Esben caught up on his sleep and I finally made it up the lighthouse and a second swim. In the evening the lighthouse garden nets were opened with 2 great tits (musvit) so far.

Ringmærkning:

Stor Flagspætte 1

Tornsanger 11

Gærdesanger 1

Gransanger 7

Solsort 2

Grønsiskin 2

Rørsanger 2

Kærsanger 1

Havesanger

Musvit 2

Total: 30

Folk på stationen: Esben Hansen, Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg og  Simon S Christiansen

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

The same way we start most of our mornings, ringing had us down at Kabeltromlen at 4:20 opening the nets for the mornings catching. With the 19^th being as successful and busy as it showed to be we had high hopes for today with the weather on our side again. However, although not as busy we still had a productive day with 31 birds. Our new guests were up and early also to join us for the ringing at around 7 so with not so many birds this morning it was good to have a few extra minutes showing the kids the birds properly and letting them release a few, hopefully sparking that new interest we need in the next generation and maybe some new volunteers in the future! Following the trend of the past week the majority and dominating species was common whitethroat (Tornsanger) most being this year’s young I also rung my first wren which are always a pleasure and a couple more common species out on Grenen mentioned bellow.

Simon also joined us for the ringing, partly the way through he went to the beach to do some observations and found a Caspian tern (Rovterne) and a black tern (Sortterne).

The rest of the day that followed then simply consisted of data entry from the morning and deciding what will be on the agenda for the following week. We also opened the nets in the courtyard as we did last night as something to fill our time for the slim chance of catching the house martins, but we didn’t catch anything. I will also put the moth trap out this evening, so we have some moths to show at the beginning of the tour in the morning.

Ringmærkning:

Tornsanger 21

Gærdesanger 1

Gransanger 2

Gærdesmutte 1

Grønsiskin 1

Rørsanger 1

Kærsanger 3

Musvit 1

People: Esben Hansen, Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Simon var på stationen kl 10 hvor arbejdsdagen bød på møder med Lene og kommende frivillige. Han fik også indsendt rapporter til sjældenhedsudvalget fra foråret!

Dagen for os andre startede noget tidligere kl. 01:15, for vi prøvede at tage på natfangst, inden vi kl. 04:10 havde åbnet nettene ved Kabeltromlen. Natfangsten lykkedes desværre ikke, heldigvis skete der lidt i ringmærkningen. 15 fugle blev det til, før vi lukkede 0930. Vi fik besøg under ringmærkningen, så der blev fortalt om vores daglige arbejdet og om hvordan ringmærkningen foregår.

Vi fik sagt farvel til Ouafa og Peter efter vi havde spist frokost, og skyndte os derefter ind i seng for at få en lang lur.

Efter vi havde sovet, åbnede vi net i fyrhaven, hvor vi i skrivende stund har fanget 3 fugle indtil videre! En Husrødstjert, gråspurv og Tornsanger. Det er ikke så tit vi fanger gråspurve og husrødstjerter så de var et velkommen syn i nettene.

Kabeltromlen:

Gransanger 2

Kærsanger 1

Blåmejse 1

Rørspurv 1

Munk 2

Tornsager 6

Bogfinke 1

Musvit 1

Fyrhaven:

Husrådstjert 1

Gråspurv 1

Total:

17

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Esben Hansen og Simon S. Christiansen

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Esben’s arrival yesterday meant that we were able to ring again today which is exactly what we did! Just before sunrise, we headed out to our Kabeltrommeln site and opened up our nets for the morning around 4:30. From the very first round, the birds were present with rounds of around 10 birds each time. At the end of the first round, we were joined by our station guests, Ouafa and Peter, which generously brought coffee and food that was very well received. A round later, we were joined by Bella and her boyfriend, who has studied birds extensively throughout her studies.

The results of our morning were an enormous amount of whitethroats, both common (tornsanger) and lesser (gærdesanger) making up more than half of the ringed birds today. Grenen really does seem to be a successful breeding place for them, as most of them were first year juveniles! Other notable birds include 2 siskins (grøsiskin), a tree pipit (skoupiber) and a beautiful crested tit (topmejse).

Here is the topmejse and grønsiskin from the last round. 

As the nets were so full, we stayed out later than usual eventually making our way back to the station around 12:30, perfect timing for lunch. In the afternoon, we focused on admin and little tasks such as entering data, charging batteries and this blog.

We are now eagerly awaiting the diner being prepared by our guests, which form the living room smells delicious! Keep watch for tomorrow’s blog as we will be attempting an early morning seabird ringing session!

A reed bunting (rørspurv)  

Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommeln):

Tornsanger 30

Gransanger 9

Gærdesanger 5

Rørsanger 3

Grønsiskin 2

Munk 2

Solsort 2

Rørspurv 2

Kærsanger 1

Skoupiber 1

Topmejse 1

total: 58

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Esben Hensen, Ouafa og Peter.  

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

We began the day with morning observations along the west side of Grenen with me and Mathilde, beginning at 05:00 until 08:00, with one Manx shearwater (Almindelig Skråpe) the usual auks (Alkefugle) and a lot more Gannets (Sule) this morning than previous mornings but overall a good count of most species which can be seen on DOFbasen. After the observations, we had the final cormorant colony session to complete looking at which nests are still active and which young have fledged successfully. On the journey to and from the colony, I couldn’t help but look for reptiles with plenty of sand lizards and some healthy female adders baking on the path.

We returned home and entered data from the morning updated the picture archive. During which we said goodbye to Jesper and Margit who have already requested another stay for next year which we love to see and glad they enjoyed their time with us and hope they will enjoy their stay just as much next summer. We then went into town to do the weekly shop and returned to greet our new but returning guests Ouafa, where we got to know each other a bit better over dinner with some interesting conversations. Espen also arrived this evening for a week as he just can't stay away for long.

Tomorrow we will go ringing at Kabletrommen so we prepared the stuff for the morning and hope that the birds give a good show!

People: Mathilde Ducroz, Esben Hensen

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

The day started very well with three nice surprises: one female and two male nightjars (Natravn)! The two first checks of the night were the most successful with a recaptured female on the first followed by two males on the second. I was made very happy when asked to ring the older male nightjar (Natravn)! The rest of the evening was quieter as the fog settled in. I’m glad I was able to participate in the last of these nightjar ringing nights. These birds are truly very special! At 3.30, we made our way back to the station meeting a few roe deer on the way.Photographer: Søren Poulsen Photographer Søren Poulsen

After the long day and night, we all needed to catch up on some well-deserved sleep. The rest of the day was more focused on cleaning and admin. All the nets from the night were put up to dry, the lab was cleaned, the equipment tidied and the bird bags washed. Frank had fun pinning the moth collected from the previous moth trapping session while I made the most of the sun and went for a late afternoon swim.

Ringmærkning (Sandmilen):

Natravn (nightjar) 2

Natravn (nightjar) 1 recapture (aflæsinger)

Total: 3

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Jesper og Margit, Lars Bo, Gitte og Jens Peder. 

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Today started with a follow-up observations trip to Grenen along the shoreline, we sat atop one of the dunes at 04:45 am ready for the sunrise which was impressive as ever. I was joined by Mathilde and Timon who joined us for his last day here up in Skagen, determined to find some more birds for his tour list which I'm glad I got to assist with. Overall it was a good observation session, with some nice species, nice weather, and coffee! An increase in Auks (alkefugle) have begun their migration with some identifiable individuals as razorbills (Alk) and other guillemots (Lomvie) but the majority being too far to distinguish a species. 2 Manx shearwaters (Almindeig Skråpe) were seen along the horizon accompanied by an immature arctic skua (Almindeig Kjove), the usual flocks of common scoter (Sortand) with some velvet scoter (Fløjlsand) mixed in and red and black-throated divers (Rød-Sortstrubet Lom). The rest of our observations can be seen on DOFbasen for today’s records in the usual link below.

We returned to base and after some food and energy replenishment returned to bed for a nap. Timon packed and headed up to the lighthouse to see Skagen from above which we recommend to everyone to do at least once while you're here and he said goodbye and headed to town to catch his train. Simon arrived where we went over what needed to be done while he was away and a catch up on the weeks workload, and also prepped us for this evening where we will again be trying to catch nightjars at Sandmilen. We will be joined by a few guests to show the process and hopefully some nightjars the hand. We love bringing people to these experiences as its more important than ever to show the public and increase publicity and education in ornithology. Sadly, this will also be the last nightjar session of the season before they head back to Africa with some now sporting the ring of Denmark. The results of tonight’s ringing will be up on the blog post tomorrow.

People to mention: Mathilde Ducroz, Timon Sørensen, Simon Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Jesper and Margit, Lars Bo, Gitte and jens peder

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen