The day started out slowly with a very atmospheric fog coating the sea and dunes. However, this made observing birds a bit tricky but we managed to observe a cute common plover (Stor præstekrave) chick with its parent. On the way back to the station, I was delighted to be pointed out a marsh helleborine.

Back at the station, we looked at the results of the night’s moth trap. A few different species were found including garden tiger (Bjørnespinderne), poplar hawk moth (Poppelsværmer) and the little elephant hawk (Lille vinsværmer).

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Martina as she had to go back to Germany to prepare for her new job. All the best to you and hope you enjoy teaching! However, we were accompanied during the whole day by Timon, a very friendly and keen birder which was a nice surprise.

After the quiet morning, we tried to find some of the birds of Timon’s list in the afternoon. We started of with the Skagen port where there were many cormorants (Skarv) and a few common eider (Ederfugl).

The highlight of the day came at Grenen where wildlife seemed to show itself in many different forms. On the walk to the point, we came across a few yellowhammers (Gulspurv) and an adder (Huggorm). Where both seas met, we glimpsed two grey seals (Gråsæl) in the distance. From then on, a multitude of seabirds appeared as the people disappeared. Flocks of gulls and common tern (Fjordterne) rested on the beach with sanderling (Sandløber), dunlin (Almidelig ryle) and curlew sandpiper (Krumnæbbet ryle) scuttling around them. Out at sea, a large group of common scoter (Sortend) rested on the waves. As we were leaving, a fox made its way towards the resting gulls, for a attempt at a meal perhaps?

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Martina Hillbrand, Timon Grove Sørensen, Simon S. Christiansen, Jesper og Margit. 

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

Before I say my good-byes, I would like to congratulate Ottenby Bird Observatory to their 75th birthday! I wish you a lot of pretty birthday birds, like this one:

I have only been here for less than 3 weeks this summer and the days have flown by way too fast, as I knew they would. Unfortunately I cannot stay longer as I am starting a new teaching position in August and still need to prepare a bit. It would maybe have been smart to go on holidays before I start my new job and Skagen Bird Observatory definitely is not holidays but it is so much better! Of course, this time of the year, the hardcore birders don’t care to come here (or to go birding in Europe at all) but it has been a lot of fun seeing all the little baby birds starting to fledge, learning to fly and flying straight into our nets. It is good to see that the breeding success at least in the common birds seems to be good enough. And it is also great when you get to challenge yourself as a ringer sometimes, like when there are 20 tits in the net all at once.

We had a lot of new people here at the station who were eager to learn and I tried to divide my time between all of them which was not easy for sure. People tend to underestimate how hard it is to really learn bird ringing because it is so much more than just putting a ring about a bird’s leg. And even with twenty years of experience I can still leanr a lot myself too.

But then that’s what we are all here for, right? Learn from each other and learn from nature and just be grateful that we get to experience all of this and that we get to share just a tiny little bit of the bird’s long (or short) journey in this world. You feel connected to every bird you have ever caught and it is special when you hear that it was recaptured and it is still alive, maybe has even travelled a long distance. Like the bird we caught from Belgium.

As for today, you might have guessed from my babbling that I don’t have much to say. We went to Jennes Sø for the CES ringing and with the hot weather and all it was quite slow regarding birds although we had a nice variety of almost all common birds (see list below)

On the other hand, we had a large number of visitors, all bird lovers who just came to see what we were doing and we exchanged some tips on where to go birding and what to see. Mathilde also started ringing properly today and is learning extremely fast.

I got to ring a last blue tit (blåmejse) for this year, which is enough to make my happy.

After that we went to Skarvsøen for cormorant monitoring. Just like last time, most of the juveniles are independent and move around quite a bit. We saw a red-necked grebe on the nest, which was nice. Maybe some more little zebra-grebes will show up in the next few days.

Finally in the afternoon we met Simon again, who had been on “holidays”, ringing cooler birds than he would get here in Skagen. We are not jealous at all, of course, who would want to see baby phalaropes, really?!

After I am gone, I suppose it will get even quieter now. I wish all of you all the best. Catch some good birds and enjoy your time here at Skagen. I will be back in approximately a year from now. See you!

Ringmærkning (Jennes Sø):

Solsort (blackbird) 1

Munk (blackcap) 1

Tornsanger (common whitethroat) 1

Bogfinke (chaffinch) 1

Topmejse (crested tit) 1

Gransanger (chiffchaff) 3

Gærdesanger (lesser whitethroat) 2

Musvit (great tit) 1

Blåmejse (blue tit) 1

Rørsanger (reed warbler) 1

Dompap (bullfinch) 2

total: 15

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Martina Hillbrand, Simon S. Christiansen, Jesper og Margit. 

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

The weather forecast had promised a cloudy day with little wind so I told everybody to get ready for a long ringing day with good numbers. Then the weather forecast in the morning, however, showed that the clouds were not real and it was going to be very sunny – and hot. So not so many birds expected after all. Which was good too, because Mathilde had a lot to learn and both Frederik and Taima were leaving this morning so having a bit more time to chill would have been nice.

Would have been, because the birds thought differently about that. No migration still but juvenile birds keep entering our nets as though this was the new trend sport for bird youth in Skagen. Just like yesterday we had more than 20 whitethroats (tornsanger). It really is good that we ring them otherwise we would never believe that it is really always different birds. There are sooo many of them! But that was not all for today. It was at 7, everything reasonably quiet, when I arrived at a net full of tits – great tits (musvit) and blue tits (blåmejse). I was alone only with Mathilde and there were at least 20 birds there so instead of putting them in bags I called everyone to come to these nets, take the rings and we just ringed them as we took them out of the nets. There were 13 juvenile great tits and 5 juvenile blue tits. We hope many of them will survive and we will see them again some time soon. And then we will also take the time to take the measurements, promised!

When we got back after our work at that net was finished (we were really quick working all together), there was a jay (Skovskade) waiting for me to ring it (because nobody else wanted to get bitten by it). What a pretty bird – and loud!

At around 9, Frederik and Taima left to go to Copenhagen. It was great to have both of them here. A bit sad that Frederik could not get us any exciting rarity this time but he promised to get one next year! And Taima will go ringing at Blåvand Bird Observatory for the next weeks, so hopefully she can use some of her new skills there. Mathilde in the meanwhile is learning very quickly and everybody at the station now has to change from spring to autumn plumage which makes the aging suddenly challenging again – just as we all had gotten a hang of it…

Next to having many birds today we also had a good variety, some birds we hadn’t caught in a while and mostly juveniles. We finally also had our first juvenile reed warbler (rørsanger) which we had been waiting for impatiently.

And a juvenile reed bunting (rørspurv).

After closing there was still some net fixing to be done and a lot of data entry. The rest of the day we just rested, went grocery shopping, had dinner and then go to bed early because tomorrow we have to go CES ringing again and we will go to see how the cormorants are doing.

Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommeln):

Husrødstjert 1

Solsort 1

Gærdesmutte 1

Gulbug 2

Havesanger 2

Munk 2

Tornsanger 21

Gransanger 5

Gærdesanger 4

Musvit 15

Blåmejse 5

Kærsanger 1

Rørsanger 1

Rødhals 1

Rørspurv 1

Skovskade 1

total: 64

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Frank Osterberg, Martina Hillbrand, Taïma Lorentzen, Frederik Johansen, Jesper og Margit. 

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

Halløj derude

Dagen i dag startede i ringmærkningen. Martina åbnede netten klokken øv-bøv og jeg kom og assisterede hende med netåbning senere. I dag var en god dag i mærkningen, da vi fik hele 40 fugle i nettene! Hvoraf 22 af dem var tornsanger og 21 af dem ungfugle fra denne sommer. Så ringmærkede vi også en Vandrikse! En fugl fra denne sommer.

Under ringmærkning melder Rolf Christensen en rastende Brilleand (han) ud. En meget ventet art, som jeg blandt andet har kigget meget efter her de seneste par dage. Fuglen er formentligt en tilbagevenden fugl, som har været her de sidste tre år(?). Fuglen blev set ret godt, dog i lidt dårligt lys, men smuk var den. Omkring klokken 10:00 sagde vi farveller til Oskar og Jonatan, som smuttede tilbage til Sjælland i dag.

Almindelig Kjove fra Grenen i går

Efter vi havde lukket nettene, begyndte der at vise sig mange rovfugle ude i horisonten (som forventet), og så tog vi en beslutning om at drøne til Flagbakken. Vi kørte dog lige hurtigt hjem og smurte madpakker. Flagbakken gav en masse Musvåger (hvoraf en af dem var min Steppevåge/Musvåge-type fra forleden dag), et par Hvepsevåger, et par Spurvehøge og nogle Røde Glenter.

Steppevåge/Musvåge-type. Foto taget den 7/7, Nordstranden.

Steppevåge/Musvåge-type. Foto taget den 7/7, Nordstranden.

Rød Glente fra Nordstranden den 7/7

Efter Flagbakken kørte Taïma, Frank og jeg til Nedermosen for, at finde Traner til Taïma. Det lykkedes desværre ikke. Herefter kørte Frank og jeg hjem, og Taïma kørte ind i byen, på Museum! Og derefter købte hun lidt ind. 

Martina var kørt hjem for at sove, og startede derefter på en masse praktisk stof.

Frank og jeg fik os en god lur på et par timer, og så har vi været i gang praktisk. Jeg er påbegyndt at analysere nattens natoptagelser. 

Her til aften sagde vi velkommen til Mathilde, som skal være her de næste seks uger!

I morgen tager Taïma og jeg til Sjælland. Det har været fantastisk, som altid her i Skagen, og jeg kommer da halt sikkert snarest tilbage;)

På gensyn!

Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommeln):

Gulbug 1

Tornsanger 22

Gransanger 3

Gærdesanger 2

Musvit 5

Kærsanger 3

Rørsanger 2

Rødhals 1

Vandrikse 1

total: 40

Folk på stationen: Frank Osterberg, Martina Hillbrand, Taïma Lorentzen, Jonatan Pedersen, Oskar Zeeberg Nielsen, Jesper og Margit, Mathilde Ducroz og Frederik Johansen. 

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

Today technically started last night, with attempted storm petrel (Lille Stormsvale) and roosting tern (Terner) ringing, although the chance for the storm petrels were low we still had hopes for the terns closer to sun rise. Everyone joined for opening the nets but after the first check of the nets, Jonatan, Oskar and Taima headed back. Martina brought her sleeping bag and had her best nights sleep since arriving here. Me and Frederik checked the nets each round however after a few net checks and the weather closing in we made the decision to close and head home. Once everyone was awake it was cleaning day! so everyone mucked in to get the communal areas, stairs and bedrooms nice and tidy and free of sand from the night before. Taima, Frederik and Martina entered some missing data, Taima also made a batch of brownies for everyone, and we rung the resident White wagtail (Hvid Vipstjert) chicks in the nest just below our window alongside the lighthouse. With help from Pierre and Kristina from the lighthouse centre and some interested visitors we had 6 healthy chicks and placed them back to hopefully fledge in the next week or so, where we will hopefully see them around the lighthouse showing off their new jewelry!

Tonight, (21:30-22:00) we will head out to Grenen point and north-beach to count the roosting terns and gulls (Måger) alike and possibly search for some color-ringed birds and hope for some interesting recoveries. The counts of which will be added below:

Lesser Black Back Gull - 33

Great Black Back Gull - 12

Blackheaded Gull - 54

Herring Gull - 265

Common/Artic tern - 136 

Sandwich Tern - 14

Common Scoter - 21

Gannet - 10

Kittiwake - 2

Eider - 4

Curlew - 2

Dunlin - 4 

Ringed Plover - 5

Red-Throated Diver - 1 

Ringing : 

6 Hvid Vipstjert unger 

Click here for todays bird observations around Skagen

Today actually already started before yesterday was over. We left at 21.15 with Jørgen to Sandmilen where we set up the nets in the same locations as last time since they had proven successful. We were very early this time, so we had finished setting up the nets just before sunset even. I hadn’t expected anything to happen for another hour or so, but we had barely left the last net site when we heard a nightjar (natravn) sing. We stopped to look and actually got a good look at it sitting and flying. That was one of the first times I saw a nightjar in good daylight! It was a pretty male bird. So contrary to my initial plans to wait until it was getting reasonably dark, I turned on the playback already at 22:30. Then we had to wait. Our guests from the apartment also came to have a look, as it was Anders’ birthday and he was hoping for a very special birthday present.

We saw a nightjar here and there before the first net check but did not get a good view of another one. The first net check also did not produce any birds saw Anders and his family went home empty handed but on the way out they still managed to see at least one night jar properly!

The team that stayed back was rewarded with 3 nightjars on the next net check which was about 3 more than most of us had expected. It was two females and one male. It went quite quiet after that and there was a lot of waiting with very little reward (only one more female). The much hoped for morning peak did not come and so we went home with 4 nightjars ringed, meaning that we did not break our own record from last year but at least Jonathan, Oskar and Jørgen were happy because they had never held a nightjar before. It is quite unusual though to have more females than males in the nets and it shows quite clearly that the males are not really defending their territories much any more and the best time for catching them is over. The females are busy breeding now and should better not be disturbed in that so that we can have lots of baby nightjars in a month or two.

After we got home, I just went to the beach to check out our chances of catching terns there tonight. Chances are very small for sure but since it is supposed to be raining all day tomorrow and my sleeping rhythm is completely messed up already, we might as well go and try. We will see what happens.

After something like 4 hours of sleep I got up again to prepare for a ringing tour offered by the lighthouse this afternoon. There were only two visitors but some of our volunteers also joined and we caught definitely more birds than we normally do at this time of the day in the lighthouse garden so our visitors were very lucky and obviously happy. Frank was also happy because it was the first yellowhammer (gulspurv) we caught since he came here: a juvenile from this year - not as yellow as you would hope for, maybe...

The most exciting thing for the rest of the day was Frederik trying to find a yellow-legged gull in a herring gull for half an hour without much success…

We will see what the night might bring.

Ringmærkning (Sandmilen) :

4 Natravn

Fyrhaven:

1 Gulspurv

2 Munk

total: 7

Folk på station : Frank Osterberg, Martina Hillbrand, Taïma Lorentzen, Frederik Johansen, Jonathan Pedersen, Oskar Zeeberg Nielsen, Jørgen Kabel, Anders Rasmussen, Anna-Mette og Dagmar

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

Hej alle

Dagen i dag kan kun stemples som godkendt, grundet en stor(omend omsiftelig) aktivitet og mængde af fugle. Det gjaldt både i nettene og i felten. Noget der gav energi og gåpåmod oven på gårsdagens fodboldkamp. Som titlen også antyder, går vi fugleinteresere ikke kun op i en en ting. En kendsgerning der i går (onsdag) kom til udtryk via vores priotering af fodboldkampen mod England. En process, der selvom den var spændende, blev lang. Det betød en sengetid efter kl. 12, på en dag hvor stationens beboere skulle op omrking kl. 4. En dyd, der normalt kræver at gå til lagnerne omkring 9-10 tiden om aftenen. Torsdagen har derfor været præget af stor træthed og lange middagslure. Det stoppede os dog ike i at gribe dagen og nyde den i fuglenes navn.

Ringmærkningen på Grenen gav forholdsvis hurtigt pote. Den blev udført i selskab af både Taïma, Frank, Martina, mig og en forstyrrende stor mængde myg. Her fangedes som sædvanlig massere af Tornsangere (Whitethroat), og snart sad der også Rørspurv(Red Bunting) og Gulbug (Icterine Warbler) i nettet. På sidste runde (ca kl. 10) ventede sågår også en engpiber (Meadow Pippit), på at blive reddet ud af sin indfiltrede skæbne. En fin afslutning på ringmærkningen i en lettere "tør" periode. Omkring kl. 6 sås et større "boom", hvor mængden af fugle eksplosivt steg. Det forudsagede at alle dagens ringmærkere fik fugle mellem hænderne, forholdsvis ofte. For mig betød dette, at jeg virkelig fik mulighed for at træne både håndteringen af fugle (forskellige greb, såvel som fedt, -og vingemåling), og databehandling (nedfælning af ringnummer og målinger). Alt i alt en fin dag, hvor mange fugle fik lov at passere igennem mig inden de slippedes løs.

Rørspurv juv

Unge fugle, kan let blive forvirrede, som denne Tornsanger, der ikke havde opdaget at den var fri og kunne flyve væk. Derfor sad den og ventede i et stykke tid.

Den anden arbejdsgruppe stod i dag for hav-obs (måge og terne-tælling) fra Grenen og senere rovfugle-tælling fra nordstranden. Sidstnævnte bød på både Røde Glenter(Red Kite), Spurvehøge(Sparrowhawk) og Musvåger(Common Buzzard), i et imponerende antal. Der var således et fint fremmøde af fugle på begge fronter i dag. Jeg tilsluttede mig derfor også Jonatan Pedersen og Frederik Johansens rovfugle-tælling, efter min ringmærkning nåede sin ende ca. kl. 10. En god ide, da vi både fik serveret Røde Glenter på nært hold, og jeg fik hørt en snært af den Karmindompap de to "obsere" også tidligere havde opdaget.

Eftermiddagen stod, som tidligere nævnt for mange af os på søvn, men der blev her også løbet små-ærinder.  Det var bl.a. i form af Martina, der fjernede forstyrrende bevoksning på ringmærkningsruterne, eller uddeling af "flyers" fra Taïmas side. Torsdagen er dog langt fra slut, da den store afventede Natravne-mærkning stadig skal finde sted i aften. En oplevelse vi kommer til at dække i næste blog-indlæg.

Ringmærkningsdata (Kabeltromlen):

Gærdesanger 6

Gulbug 1

Gærdesmutte 1

Kærsanger 1

Tornsanger 10

Havesanger 1

Munk 3

Rørspurv 1

Bogfinke 1

Engpiber 1

Gransanger 1

Total: 27

Folk på station : Frank Osterberg, Martina Hillbrand, Taïma Lorentzen, Frederik Johansen, Jonathan Pedersen, Oskar Zeeberg Nielsen, Anders Rasmussen, Anna-Mette og Dagmar

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

Hej allesammen 

I dag vågnde mig og Oskar op tidlig for, at være med til ringmærkningen, ude ved Jennes sø sammen med Martina og Frank. De første tre timer kom der kun meget få fugle i nettene og efter kl. 7, kom der nærmest ingen fugle i nettene. Men vi var så heldig at vi til sidst fangede en fin lille topmejse i nettet, hvilket var en dejlig oplevelse, og jeg fik lov til at ringemærke fuglen. Ude på ringmærknings stedet, så vi mange Musvåger og røde glenter, som træk syd på. blandet andet så vi måske en mulig steppevåge (Vulpinus )

Taima og Frederik tog morgenobservationen, ude på Grenen tidlig morgen. De så også mange musvåger og rød glenter som trak syd på og nogle måger og terner. Stationslederen Simon Christensen så en hunfarvet Pirol lande i Elllekratet tidligere idag, der er stadigvæk mulighed for at den er der ude et sted. 

Hen på eftermiddagen gik jeg en lille tur for, at kigge på rovfugle, men så ikke rigtigt noget mega spændende. Derfter besluttede jeg mig til, at går op i det grå fyr, for at nyde den fantastiske udsigten og friheden, som tårnet gemmer på 

Ellers en meget stille og rolig dag i skagen, med en dejlig middagslur, lidt regn og sol. Vi håber på, at vi en af de kommende dage kan tage ud og ringmærke natravne, men det skal i nok høre mere om til den tid.

Ringmærkningen: 

Topmejse 1

Bogfinke 1

Munk 1

Tornsanger 1

Gransanger 1

Gærdesmutte 1

Total 6

Folk: Martina Hillbrand, Frank Osterberg, Taïma Lorentzen, Jonatan Pedersen, Oskar Zeeberg Nielsen, Jonatan falke rumle Pedersen og Frederik Johansen, Anders Rasmussen, Anna-Mette og Dagmar

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

Hej allesammen, så er jeg tilbage igen!

Oskar, Jonatan og jeg ankom til Stationen i går, og i dag var så vores første morgen. Martina og jeg åbnede nettene klokken tidligt, og Oskar og Jonatan kom til anden runde. Vi fangede i alt 33 fugle, ringmærkningsdataen står for neden.

Under ringmærkning klokken 08:43 ser jeg en hun-farvet Pirol flyve mod Sardinkrattet, en fugl som nok lige har været på trækforsøg. Mega fedt! Første gang jeg finder en selv!!! Vi lukkede nettene klokken 11:40 og tog derefter jeg til Stationen. 

Taima tog først ud til Grenens parkeringsplads for at dele fliers ud for Det Grå Fyr. Taima fortsatte senere inde i byen, og hun endte ud med at have delt 135 fliers ud!!! Crazy!!

Til eftermiddag var der nogen af os som fik en dejlig lur, og så var det ellers en god cykeltur til Netto og Brugsen. 

Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommeln):

Gulbug 1

Tornsanger 16

Bogfinke 1

Blåmejse 3

Gransanger 3

Gærdesanger 1

Løvsanger 1

Musvit 1

Kærsanger 1

Rørsanger 4

Rødhals 1

total: 33

Folk: Martina Hillbrand, Frank Osterberg, Taïma Lorentzen, Simon S. Christiansen, Jonatan Pedersen, Oskar Zeeberg Nielsen, Jørgen Kabel og Frederik Johansen.

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