All of us headed out for observations in the morning. Even with a very windy weather (15m/s) we were very motivated to find some cool birds over the sea. After being unlucky with finding a sheltered place around the lighthouse we went to the Kattegat-Bunker a little bit further north. But even there it was really hard to find a calm place to seat down. We started the bird watching anyway and found a lot of Guillemots (Lomvie) and Razorbills (Alk) and some nice close Kittiwakes (Ride). The highlight was a Little Alk (Søkonge) migrating north.

The windy and rainy weather didn’t make it easy to keep the telescope still and dry. So, I gave up early and left the others to go back in the cosy apartment. Laia was following very soon. Chris and Esben stayed out there longer, but as soon as it started raining completely they also decided to come back.

Back at the station Chris searched for a place to continue the countings and he was happy with using the window in our entrance. So he could stay inside in the dry and warm room and was still able to see all the migrating birds over sea. At the same time Knud was out at Northbeach (Nordstrand) to do the migration counts there. His highlight was a Great Northern Diver (Islom).

After this exciting morning it was time to clean the station again. Unimaginable that it is already dirty again only after one week, but with so many diligent workers during the whole week also some dust and dirt is appearing. This time we also sorted and cleaned the attic. Nice to have more space up there after we removed all the old furniture two days ago.

We also sent the collected snails and mussels to the University of Aarhus today. We are already looking forward to hear if they find environmentally dangerous chemicals in their bodies. As they are filter feeders they aggregate these substances out of the water in their body.

 People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Hansen, Knud Pedersen.

We ringed at Kabeltromlekrattet, Grenen today. One of the highlights of the day was the first mealy redpoll (nordisk gråsisken) for this area. In contrast to the two last years, this autumn the dominating redpolls were lesser redpolls, so we were happy to take a closer look at the mealy redpoll we caught.

Mealy redpoll (stor gråsisken)

We also caught a bullfinch ssp. pyrrhula (stor dompap) and an adult bullfinch ssp. europea (lille dompap) - almost all bullfinches we had so far were first year birds of the European subspecies, so the two birds were also special.

Wing of adult bullfinch (dompap)

Finally we had two fieldfares (sjagger) which are always a cool bird to have in the hand and were named "Mick Sjagger" by Esben.

Mick Sjagger

Judith and Esben went back to the Grey Lighthouse a little earlier to collect the last couple of dogwhelks (purpursnegl), that we didn't manage to find last night.

The afternoon was full of indoor work for the team. We are busy with wrapping up the year and organising the next years events and tours.

The pine grosbeak (krognæb) are still the most sought-after species around Skagen. Up to 8 have been seen at the graveyard, 5 at the white lighthouse (hvidfyr), 12 at Anchers Hus and 4 overflying Ellekrattet. Knud was out looking for them during midday after a quick late morning seawatch at Grenen. There he observed 3 little auks (søkonge) - an always welcomed sight. Flemming also used his free Monday to hunt some pine grosbeaks (krognæb) in town. Read his humorous story of how to befriend fellow bird photographers here (in Danish):

At gøre sig uheldig bemærket som fuglefotograf.
Af Flemming Quist.

Den sidste uges tid har der været krognæb-bonanza i Danmarks nordlige regioner, og Skagen har tiltrukket fuglefotografer i stil med Klondikes tiltrækning af guldgravere i fortidens Amerika.
Krognæb mæsker sig i rønnebær og et godt sted at fotografere dem er Assistens Kirkegården i Skagen, hvor der er en allé af netop røn, og hvor grenene er tunge af de røde, saftige bær. Mandag besluttede jeg mig for også at kaste mig ud i guldgraver-hysteriet efter krognæb. Da jeg trådte ind på kirkegården, havde jeg tilsyneladende ramt en åre med det samme, idet der stod 5 – 6 fuglefotografer, heriblandt Knud Pedersen, men deres bazooka-lignende isenkram rettet op mod kronen af en røn. Det var tydeligt, at der var en flok af de eftertragtede karrygule og røde fugle, som mæskede sig på rønnebær.
Problemet var, at jeg kom fra den forkerte side. Fuglene var mellem mig og fotograferne. Jeg spiller i en anden liga, end de bedste fuglefotografer – både hvad angår dygtighed og udstyr, og jeg ønskede på ingen måde at forstyrre dem. For ikke at skræmme fuglene op, begav jeg mig på en større omvej rundt om flere grave for at komme på skudhold af fuglene fra den rette side. Jeg forsøgte mig tålmodigt med fjerlette fodtrin, så mine små 100 kg knirkede så lidt så muligt på kirkegårdens grus. Meter for meter kom jeg tættere på træet og fuglene. Ydmygt fik jeg mig anbragt bag de andre fotografer, selvom jeg med mit udstyr burde være tættere på. Faktisk stod jeg lige under nabo-rønnen i alléen. Jeg nåede at klikke nogle enkelte fotos af over skulderne på de andre, før flokken pludselig lettede og satte sig i træet lige over mig. Den nærmeste fugl – en smuk han klædt i rødt og gråt - var kun en meter fra mig.

Bildet af Knud Pedersen

Alle 5 – 6 fuglefotografer snurrede rundt og havde pludselig front mod mig. De rettede deres tunge isenkram over mit hoved. Jeg var frosset i en akavet stilling, men turde dårligt røre mig, for ikke at skræmme fuglene væk. ”Bliv stående, bliv stående”, lød det fra Knud. ”Jeg optager video af dig og krognæb!” Fotografernes kameraer klikkede som maskingeværer. Da jeg synes, at jeg havde været model tilpas længe, forsøgte jeg med astronaut-langsomme bevægelser at rette mig op fra min ubehagelige stilling under kronen, tage et skridt bagud og uendelig forsigtigt rette mit kamera opad.
SÅ RINGEDE MIN TELEFON! Med en brusende lyd lettede flokken af krognæb og forsvandt i det fjerne. Et par løsrevne blade faldt i duvende bevægelser fra træet og lagde sig til rette på grusstien. ”Hvad så? Får du fotograferet nogle fugle?” Ville Christel vide.
Da jeg slukøret luskede ud fra kirkegården, følte jeg ikke blot, at fuglefotograferne men også enkelte af gravenes rundkindede engle skulede ondt efter mig.

The day ended with an unsusual evening dinner, as the team of the observatory decided to dine outside. Unfortunately the first choice restaurant was closed, but the in lieu thereof chosen Italian pizzeria was a perfect alternative.

Going to the city!

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet)

Goldcrest - Fuglekonge - 1
Eurasian Wren - Gærdesmutte - 2
European Robin - Rødhals - 1
Eurasian Bullfinch ssp. europea - Lille Dompap - 2
Eurasian Bullfinch ssp. pyrrhula - Stor Dompap - 1
Dunnock - Jernspurv - 1
Mealy Redpoll - Nordlig Gråsisken - 1
Fieldfare - Sjagger - 2

Total: 11

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Hansen, Knud Pedersen, Flemming & Christel, Anders Østerby, Søren Brinch

Judith and Anders went to open the nets at Kabeltrommelkrattet. And a few minutes later Esben joined them for the first round followed for Pernille and Simon. Judith's friends also came to visit the ringing after the first round.

Pernille was really fond of seeing the Treecreeper (Træløber) and taking a close look.

Picture by Anders Brinkmann.

At the same time, Christian and I were on our way to do observations at Verdens Ende 1. The morning started quite busy but it slowed down around 10:00h. We divided our main focus and, while Christian was doing mainly countings of birds on land, I was counting seabirds. Some of the highlights of today were the over 2300 Guillemot/Razorbill (Lomvie/Alk), some Pine Grosbeaks (Krognæb) and many Finches (Finker).

Christian and Esben went back early because they had a guided tour (Life Tour). Pernille also joined the tour where there were 18 people attending it in total.

Picture by Pernille Roed.

Then I came back to the Observatory and I started to do some indoor work. Judith and Anders came back a bit later than me so we started eating lunch together. All the others started to join lunch when they arrived.

After eating, we started to do indoor tasks through all afternoon. In between, Anders, Simon and Pernille left. So, we hope you had a nice trip back home!

A few hours later, we started to take stuff from the attic that has to be moved away tomorrow. Some of the work done can be seen in the following pictures.

We had a good dinner.

And, afterwards, we were ready to collect the snails and the seashells by the seashore for a on-going study by Aarhus Universitet researchers.

While doing that we saw a lot of isopods, sea snails, a few sea stars and a crab.

All this work lasted until 24:00h leaving us exhausted and ready to go to bed. 

Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommelkrattet, Jennes Sø):

Blåmejse - 8

Munk - 4

Rødhals - 2

Skovspurv - 1

Nordlig Gråsisken - 2

Lille Gråsisken - 25

Nordlig Træløber - 1

Dompap - 1

Jernspurv - 1

Gærdesmutte - 2

Solsort - 2

Vindrossel - 1

Total: 52

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Elgaard Hansen, Anders Brinkmann, Penille Roed, Michael Ancher, Erik Christophersen, Alex Sand Frich

I dag delte vi os op i to hold. Judith, Anders og Esben tog ud til Verdens ende for at observere. Her så de blandt andet suler, Silkehaler og Kværkerfinker. Anders tog senere til Ellekrattet og til Nordstrand, hvor han også fik set  snespurve og sandløbere

Laia, Christian og jeg ringmærkede i Fyrhaven og i fyrets egen have. Christian blev meget glad for at se, at der var en Vindrossel i et af nettene, da det er hans yndlingsfugl. Det var første gang, jeg sådan rigtigt var med til at ringmærke. Indtil nu har jeg kun observeret ringmærkningerne. Men i dag fik jeg lov til at nedskrive fuglenes data samt slippe dem fri efter endt ringmærkning. Det var ret spændende for mig – især at lære at holde fuglene ”rigtigt”. 

Michael ringmærkede også ved Jennesø, hvor der blev sat ring på 34 lille gråsiskn og 10 stor gråsisken. Særligt i år har lillegråsisken været dominerende sammenlignet med stor gråsisken. 

Imens vi ringmærkede, kom der meldinger ind på Zello om, at der var set flokke med krognæb ved Det Hvide Fyr og på kirkegården. Simon og jeg tog ned til Det Hvide Fyr for at se dem. Der var mange fuglekiggere, der havde fået samme idé. Krognæbene sad i et rønnebærtræ overfor fyret, og det var lige før, at trafikken helt stoppede, fordi der var så mange, der gerne ville se dem / fotografere dem. En af fuglekiggerne kom og viste os et billede, han havde taget på kirkegården af et krognæb. Fuglen var ringmærket, og det viste sig at være det første krognæb, vi i år havde ringmærket på fuglestationen.

Krognæb (pine grosbeak) 1k hun, ringmærket 02/11/19 Foto: Allan Paade

Også på Hvide Fyrvej, er der blevet fotograferet en Krognæb med ring.

Krognæb (Pine Grosbeak) 2k+ han, ringmærket 05/11/19 Foto: Erik Christophersen.

Tak til Allan og Erik for at fotografere de ringmærkede krognæb og sende billederne til os, så vi nu ved de stadig er i området.

Vi gik tilbage til fyret langs klitterne, hvor vi så et lille firben i sandet. Simon satte den hen i nogle buske ved et sommerhus – vi håber, det overlever.

Markfirben som gerne skulle være på vej i vinterhi.

Efter frokost reparerede Judith og Esben det sidste net fra Ellekrattet, og Christian gjorde trappen ren. Det sidste var ret tiltrængt, for vi havde slæbt en del sand med ind. Sidst på eftermiddagen så Simon en skovhornugle på vej ud til fyret, og Judith fik besøg af nogle venner. De gik en tur ud til Grenen, og senere hjalp de Judith og Christian med at lave aftensmad. De blev og spiste med os på fyret. Det var rigtigt hyggeligt.

Efter aftensmaden lavede vi lidt forskellige ting. Nogle forberedte morgendagens tur, og andre var på stranden for at samle blåmuslinger og purpursnegle, som skal sendes til Aarhus universitet.

Ringmærkning (Fyrhaven+Jennesø):

1 Blåmejse (blue tit)

2 Rødhals (Robin)

5 Grønirisk (Greenfinch)

1 Vindrossel (Redwing)

2 Musvit (Great tit)

37 Lille gråsisken (lesser redpoll)

10 Nordlig gråsisken ( Mealy Redpoll

2 Gærdesmutte (Wren)

1 Fuglekonge (Goldcrest)

Total 14

Folk:Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Elgaard Hansen,  Anders Brinkmann, Penille Roed, Michael Ancher, Erik Christophersen og Allan Paade.

I dag vågnede vi op til en regnvejrsdag, så den eneste, der var ude at observere i dag, var Christian. Det viste sig at være en god ide, for da han stod ved fyret, fløj tre små Søkonger (Little Auks) over ham. Judith nåede også at se dem, hvilket hun var meget glad for, da hun aldrig har set Søkonger før. Derudover så han to Havlitter (Long Tailed Ducks) tæt på.

Vi andre brugte regnvejrsdagen på at reparere de net, som vi tog ned i Sardinkrattet i tirsdags. Det tog det meste af formiddagen, og Esben og Judith arbejdede videre på dem sidst på eftermiddagen, så vi blev næsten færdige med alle nettene.

Micheal ancher ringmærkede ved Jennesø, hvor en flok på 13 musviter gik i nettet. 

Efter frokost tog jeg ind til Skagen for at købe ind til aftensmaden, og senere løb jeg en tur i området omkring Grenen og fyret – noget jeg virkelig havde set frem til. Da det ud på eftermiddagen klarede op, satte Chris, Judith, Laia og Anders 2 net mere op i Fyrhaven. Esben fik besøg af sine forældre, som havde kage med til eftermiddagskaffen. Det blev vi glade for. 

Senere ankom Anders, som skal være her indtil søndag. På vej ud til fyret så han 7 Korsnæb (Pine Grosbeaks)– 2 hanner og 5 hunner. Efter at han havde pakket ud, tog han ud på havobservation.

Efter aftensmaden delte vi os op i to hold. Anders, Esben og Christian tog til Skagen Klitplantage for at lede efter Skovsnepper (Woodcock). De fandt en enkelt, men det lykkedes desværre ikke for dem at fange den. Udover Skovsneppen så de 2 Dobbeltbekkasiner (Common Snipe) og 1 Skovhornugle (Long-eared Owl) / Mosehornugle (Short-eared Owl).

Laia og jeg tog til stranden, Kabeltrommelkrattet og Sandormesporet for at lede efter Snespurve (Snow Bunting) og Bjerglærker (Horned Lark). Vi fangede heller ikke noget, men vi så 8 sæler på Sælklippen.

Simon var til møde i Aalborg det meste af dagen, men han kom tilbage til fyret ud på aftenen. 

Ringmærkning (Jennes Sø):

Blåmejse - 3

Musvit - 13

Rødhals - 1

Bogfinke - 1

Total: 18

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Elgaard Hansen, Pernille Roed, Anders Brinkmann og Michael Ancher.

Esben and Judith went out for migration counts from Worlds End 1 this morning. Their highlights were again pine grosbeaks (krognæb) - this time 5 birds and 10 two-barred crossbill (hvidvinget korsnæb).

At the same time, Laia and me were ringing at the lighthouse gardens (fyrhavene). We started the winter feeding and played calls of greenfinches (grønirisk) to attract birds. It worked quite well and we caught greenfinches (grønnirisk), sisken (grønsisken) and tree sparrows (skovspurv).

Both observations and ringing had to stop a little earlier today, because we had an course about public outreach at the observatory. We began with discussing the aims and audience for our outreaches and created new games and activities for our ringing tours. We were also learning Simons favourite dilemma game. After lunch, public outreach via social media was on the agenda.

The evening was filled with our daily data punching (ringing data, observations) and while Esben was cooking, Laia and me went out for nightcatching. We aimed for woodcocks (skovsneppe), but didn't find any. A greylag goose (grågås) was calling closeby, so we followed the sound to investigate. There was a little lake with the goose and some roosting thrushes (drossel), but we never came close to those because of high water in the area. With wet feed we went back to the observatory to enjoy a nice dinner.

Ringing (Fyrhavene):

Common Blackbird - Solsort - 1
Eurasian Siskin - Grønsisken - 3
European Greenfinch - Grønirisk - 3
Eurasian Tree Sparrow - Skovspurv - 2
Eurasian Wren - Gærdesmutte - 5
European Robin - Rødhals - 1
Redwing - Vindrossel - 3

Total: 18

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Elgaard Hansen, Stine, Pernille Roed, Andreas, Nikolaj & Simon, Jan Svejgaard Jensen, Rie Voetmann.

The day started with Judith and Esben going to open the nets at Kabeltrommelkrattet. After that, Christian and I joined to do the observations at Kabeltrommelkrattet (and help with the ringing if needed) being able to count seabirds and also overland migrations.

It was really cold today but this didn't stop us in our tasks. Although the morning was slow (we caught mostly recaptures) and we closed the nets early.
After the closing, Christian stayed there and finished the countings about one hour later. The highlights of today were the high numbers of Shore Larks (Bjerglærke) and also the Eurasian Siskin (Grønsisken).

Penille, Andreas, Nikolaj & Simon saw a seal on their way to the beach.

I went back with the others to open the nets in Fyrhaven and we continued with the ringing (there was also slow so we closed at 14:00h).
We were sewing the nets from Sardinkrattet in between the rounds and, we managed to finish 3!

Rita also came this morning and cleaned our apartment (all was shining after she finished!) and she gave us these nice gifts. Thank you Rita!

Judith taught Austrian to Esben and then they asked me about counting in Spanish while entering the ringing data. They counted really well (almost no Italian numbers in between the Spanish numbers of the countings ;) ).

A friends' board meeting took place in the evening and they give us cookies!

Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommelkrattet, Fyrhaven):

Gærdesmutte - 2

Rødhals - 2

Vinrossel - 1

Lille Dompap - 2

Total: 7

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Elgaard Hansen, Rita Pate, Jørgen Kabel & Igor, Pernille Roed, Andreas, Nikolaj & Simon, the friends of the Bird Observatory.

Endnu en tidlig morgenstund, vågnede vi frivillige op til et blæsevejr fra øst. Morgenmaden blev spist i stilhed, for vi var trætte efter i går aftes. Judith og jeg tog ud til Nordstrand for at tælle de trækkende havfugle. Dagens fugl som kom tættest på blev en enkelt bjerglærke (Shore lark) som satte sig lige nedenfor os.  Denne dannede stor kontrast til de trækende sangsvaner (whooper swan) som vi tæller flere km væk ude over havet.

Selvom  fuglene ude i Skagerrak  ved Nordstand ikke var talrige. Så var der gang i den ved Verdens ende, hvor Rolf satte ny Danmarksrekord med mindst 115 trækforsøgende Krognæb (Pine grosbeak) på Grenen. 

Simons håb om Krognæb i nettet blev indfriet da han under en guidet tur spurgte Laia og Chris, om de havde hørt den trækkende flok over dem, mens de var ude at gå en runde ved nettene. Hvortil de nonchelant svarede ”ja!” og de altså i øvrigt også havde 3 i de poser som hang rundt om deres hals.  

Krognæbende fik sat ring på med masser af tilskuere, for der var nemlig en lokal skoleklasse på besøg. Deres klasselærer var en af Simons tidligere medstuderene på UCN.  Flere af stationens venner kom også forbi for at se krognæbene  og hjalp med fotografering.

Fremvisning af Krognæb(Pine Grosbeak) inde i ringmærksnings labaratoriet af Simon.

Krognæb (Pine Grosbeak) 2k+ gammel Han med i god kondition (5 på vores fedtskala). Dette betyder at fuglen er i god nok stand til at fortsætte rejsen, hvorhen den end går - måske tilbage til Sverige? eller mod syd igennem Jylland? . Foto: Knud Pedersen

Krognæb (Pine Grosbeak) 2k+ gammel Hun med samme fedt kondition (5). Foto: Knud Pedersen

Efter frokost tog vi alle ud til sardinkrattet for at tage de sidste net ned sammen med Pernille og drengene. De sidste par net er stadig hullede, men vi kan nu på regnvejrsdage, se frem til hygge os på loften med en nål og tråd, så nettene igen kan blive klar til foråret.

Godt vi havde tre stærke drenge, til at hjælpe med at bare alt udstyret tilbage til stationen. Foto: Christian Stolz

Traditionen med at svømme ud til sandbanken og tilbage, er efter et kort sygdoms forløb vendt stærkt tilbage. Koldt var det, men den suppe Chris havde lavet varmede os alle op efterfølgende.

Aftenens udflugt fra I gårsdagen resulterede i en enkelt Sjagger (Fieldfare) Fanget af Vegard og Chris. Vegaard skulle eftersigende være en mester, i at finde og fange fuglene i mørke. Vi måtte dog desværre sige farvel i dag, da Vegard skulle tilbage til Norge.

Sjagger (Fieldfare) 1k ung hun. Sjaggeren har sit danske navn efter dens  hæse advarsels kald (Sjak-Sjak-Sjak) Foto: Skagen fuglestation

Ringmærkning (Fyrhaven):

Blåmejse – Blue tit – 1

Rødhals – robin – 2

Kværkerfinke – Brambling – 1

Grønirisk – Green Finch - 1

Krognæb – Pinegrosbeak – 3

Solsort – Blackbird – 1

Total: 9

Folk : Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Elgaard Hansen, Vegard Stürzinger, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Kabel,  Oluf Lou, Rolf Christensen, Pernille Roed, Andreas, Nikolaj & Simon.

Another rainy morning – But we headed out to do observations anyway because the birds are still flying ;). Chris, Laia, Esben and Vegard went to Northstrand for observations and despite the cold and rainy weather they saw a lot of ducks. For example Common Goldeneyes (Hvinand), Long-tailed Ducks (Havlit) and Eurasian Wigeons (Pibeand). Furthermore they had 328 migrating Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) and two Black Guillemots (Tejst).

Afterwards they prepared the Lighthouse Garden (Fyrhaven) for the wintering feeding of birds. Therefore they were removing the grass next to the net and put the seeds their on the ground. Our new guests for this week, Pennille and her three children, were also helping a lot. The boys had a lot of fun and of course as soon as we were finished we had a “grassfight” together with the kids.

I had a day off today and were staying in Lille Vildmose over night. In the morning we went out early to search for moose. It felt like a safari to go up and down the streets and search for them mostly out of the car. Unfortunately we could not find them. I guess they also were a little bit disappointed from the cold, rainy and windy weather and were hidding somewhere in the forests. But I spotted a Deer (Hjorte) and we saw many Whooper Swans (Sangsvane), a very close Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade) and a Northern Lapwing (Vibe). After saying goodbye to my family I went back up to Skagen by train.

In the afternoon Chris and Vegard did a roadtrip to Vestby Strand, Sandy Church and Skagen Harbour to do some sightseeing and finding some nice birds. The highlight was a roosting guillemot on Vestby Strand. When they came back they saw that the door to Birders’ Club is kind of broken and fixed it again. Now you can enter Birders’ Club again. Before it was getting dark again they went out to Sardinkrattet to collect our boxes for the bird feeding.

The Pine Grosbeaks (Krognæb) are still in the area. Today there were 10 seen in town next to the stadion and 12 out at the tip.

After a nice dinner, prepared by Laia, the others went out to Bankesmarker to catch Woodcocks (Skovsnepper). Lets see what they find.

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Elgaard Hansen, Vegard Stürzinger, Knud Pedersen, Alois, Franz & Johannes Kloibhofer, Pernille Roed, Andreas, Nikolaj & Simon.

Overnight the winds from east grew into a proper storm with up to 15m/s and rain poured for most of the night and the morning. In these conditions bird ringing is not possible, so instead we got up to start seawatching at sunrise from our home, The Grey Lighthouse. Esben, Vegard and me found lee next to the café and were monitoring the seabirds over Kattegat. We vere happy to see gannets (sule), razorbills (alk) and common guillemots (lomvie) that were blown close to the shore by the winds. The clear highlights were a Leach's storm petrel (stor stormsvale), a first of the year for Skagen and one very close little auk (søkonge). After three hours were pretty wet and cold and decided to warm us up again.

While the boys were out counting birds, Laia worked on the advertisment video for new volunteers. Later she, Esben and me opened our lab for an "open freezer" day, on which we present our work at the observatory and exhibit some of the dead birds we have in our freezer. These are birds that we or others find dead around Skagen and are kept for one of our dissection events. Despite the rain, several guests came to visit us!

All the while, Judith and her family were on an bird (fugl) and moose (elg) excursion to Lille Vildmose. They were also hindered by the weather but found a kingfisher (isfugl) with a fish in its beak.

On the afternoon we were visited by Knud who shared some of his videos of rare bird species with us - again for the advertisment video for new volunteers.

In other new, pine grosbeaks (krognæb) are still in several flocks seen around the city. For example eleven in Vesterby at the station and 3 at the graveyard.

The rainy day continued uneventful with indoor work (especially the mentioned video - take a look on our facebook page to see it!) and a lemon (citron) soup for dinner created by Esben.

People: Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Elgaard Hansen, Vegard Stürzinger, Knud Pedersen, Alois, Franz & Johannes Kloibhofer