Skagen was at its best today, and we have again great stories to tell !

Let’s start first with the ringing. Pablo, Amelie and Jeppe went to Kabbeltromlen for a day with unusual fluctuations. The numbers of birds were constantly rising and fallingbetween the rounds, with a few birds on the first, around 20 on the second, low on the third, and so on… The diversity was quite good, and the highlight of the day was a Bearded Tit (Skægmejse) again. We never get tired of ringing these gorgeous birds! Migration was quite entertaining as well with a good activity overhead, led by a flock of 20 Waxwings (Silkehale) and quite a few Whooper Swans (Sangsvane).

Christina and I went migration counting to World’s End 3. On our way down the beach, we stopped at Grenen Søen to set a trap to catch Water Pipits, which unfortunately wasn’t successful. But we are dedicated ringers and we will try again!
As a starter for the day, we had the chance to admire both Kattegat and Skagerak at their calmest. The water was so still and the wind so low that the whole surface was flat and beautifully reflected the clouds. In such a setting, we enjoyed unusual but great views at the resting birds, including a Great Northern Diver (Islom). The morning was quite busy for us since our talented Alcid identifier and counter Knud wasn’t with us today. We counted almost 4,000 of them with a lot of them conservatively left unidentified.
The real show started at 10, when suddenly Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) appeared to be flying everywhere in our field of vision. It began with the biggest flock of the day, no fewer than 68 birds flying in a V-shape, quickly followed by big flocks over both Skagerak and Kattegat. As good flocks were still coming in from the sea and the total numbers were already quite high after our regular end time, I decided to stay until the stream dried up. I spent an extra hour and a half, sitting all alone at World’s End, which was really wearing its name today without anyone visiting the tip. This moment is one of those while you feel blessed being there, experiencing all by yourself the beauty of bird migration in such a marvelous location.
The total number for Whooper Swans today reached 672 birds, which represents the new daily record for the autumn season. The precedent was counted on the 06/11/2008 with 575 birds.

In the afternoon, Rie Voetmann called us with concerning news. She was looking at a bird struggling in a fishnet at Nordstrand, which appeared to be a Red-throated Diver (Rødstrubbet Lom), and she thought about us to rescue it. We directly went there to help her. Christina was the brave one, going into the water on such a cold day. After having some difficulties, she cut out the bird still entangled so we could rip all of the strings from around its body. We finally released it so it could fly away again at sea, looking strong and healthy !

Jeppe and Amelie went to town today, and Jeppe strated dreaming about owl catching when he saw that cage.

Click here to see today's observations entered in the Dofbasen by observers in the area

People: Jeppe Overgaard, Pablo Macías Torres, Martin Grienenberger, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Amelie Zeller, Jørgen Kabel & Igor, Rie Voetmann

Ringmærkning Kabeltromlen: 35 new birds

Another sunny day of ringing and observing! Jeppe enjoyed a good morning with Knud at World’s End 3. Jeppe is very happy about getting private lessons by Knud how to distinguish Razorbills (Alk) and Guillemots (Lomvie).

Meanwhile, Martin, Christina, Pablo, Simon and I had a good ringing morning with quite a lot of birds. We caught some Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins, Blackbirds, a Redwing and a Brambling. Flemming and Christel also came by for a visit.

Unfortunately, our guests Lone and Lars had to leave today. We had a very nice week with them at the ringing station and at the observation point. They told us some amazing birdwatching stories they experienced and showed us “magic stones” that light in the dark. We hope to see you again!

When we came home, we started cleaning the attic and organized it, so everything is prepared for the new season in spring. During cleaning, we found this game and of course had to try it out ;).

After that, Martin and Pablo went for a refreshing swim in the sea and caught a Rezorbill (Alk) with bare hands! As the bird seemed to be weak and unhealthy, they released it back to the ocean. We hope that it will get well again.

After sunset, Jeppe and I made our way to do some night catching. The conditions seemed to be very good to catch some Woodcocks (Skovsneppe) and we actually almost caught one twice… Tomorrow we will give it another try.

After our tour we were happy to be welcomed with a lovely dinner from Pablo. He made tortillas for us, which is a Spanish omelette with potatoes, delicious!

Click here to see today's observations entered in the Dofbasen by observers in the area

People: Jeppe Overgaard, Knud Pedersen, Pablo Macías Torres, Martin Grienenberger, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Knud Pedersen, Erik Christophersen, Flemming & Christel, Lars & Lone Madsen, Amelie Zeller

Ringmærkning Fyrhaverne:

Blåmejse – Blue Tit - 1

Grønirisk – Greenfinch - 7

Skovspurv – Tree Sparrow – 1

Total: 9

Ringmærkning Kabeltromlen:

Blåmejse – Blue Tit - 21

Dompap, Lille (europaea) – Wester European Bullfinch - 1

Gærdesmutte – Wren - 2

Musvit – Great Tit - 6

Rødhals – Robin - 2

Sangdrossel – Songthrush - 1

Solsort – Blackbird - 3

Vindrossel – Redwing – 1

Total: 37

After two days without going to Kabeltromlen, today we went there ringing. However, Jeppe did not come ringing but instead helped out Knud with the migration counting. He had the chance to learn about seabird identification and they even had a counting record for the season: more than 2000 Common guillemots (Lomvie)! Also, Jeppe spotted a group of 10 Long-tailed ducks (Havlit).

At Kabeltromlen, Christina and Amelie opened the nets and Martin and I came for the first round. We caught a Ring ouzel (Ringdrossel) and it turned out to be the same individual at we ringed the 1 ^st of November. It was good to see you again! 

In the end, we all had a nice morning ringing and right before closing the nets and we were fortunate to get some beautiful Bearded tits (Skægmejse), one for each!

Once back in the lighthouse we decided to open the two nets in the garden for one hour. We played some bird calls close to the nets which were enough to attract one Greenfinch (Gronirisk) and one Chaffinch (Bogfinke) into the nets.

In the afternoon we all attended a masterclass about Redpoll (Gråsisken) taxa identification. Simon provided us with some valuable information regarding ID, ageing and sexing of Redpolls that you will also be able to watch in a video that will come soon (keep an eye on our social media). We even put into practice what we learned with one quiz for ID and another for moulting, so you can also challenge your birder skills. Now we only need to catch some in the nets tomorrow.

Our guests, Lars and Lone joined us both ringing and counting enjoying a big flock of 125 Snow buntings (Snespurv).

For the first day in 30 years, there were no tourists today in the tip due to the new corona restrictions. We all hope you are safe and that you can visit us soon.

Ring marking (Cable drum + Lighthouse):

Rødhal - Robin - 2

Gærdesmutte - Wren -1

Skægmejse  - Bearded tit - 3

Sortmejse - Coal tit - 2

Blåmejse - Blue tit - 6

Monk - Blackcap - 2

Vindrossel - Redwing - 1

Bogfinke - Chaffinch - 1

Grønirisk - Greenfinch - 1

Total: 19

Click here to see today's observations entered in the Dofbasen by observers in the area

People: Jeppe Overgaard, Knud Pedersen, Amelie Zeller, Martin Grienenberger, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Erik Christophersen, Lars & Lone Madsen & Pablo Macías Torres

Pablo and Amelie opened nets to ring in the lighthouse garden this morning where Jeppe and I joined them a little later. We actually caught several birds, including a few Tree sparrows (Skovspurv) and even a House Sparrow (Gråspurv).

In between rounds, Amelie and Pablo checked all remaining sheets:

We closed nets at noon, and Amelie uploaded the volunteer recruitment video on Youtube. She also updated the ringing guideline with new information about the two subspecies of Bullfinches (Dompap) and their respective wing lengths. I baked coconut macaroons while everyone else went to the beach for a walk and to watch seabirds.

I went out afterwards and watched a couple of Razorbills (Alk) feeding only 20 meters from the shore - I'd never seen them that close before!

Jeppe had the opportunity to learn about the different bird species. They saw a Purple Sandpiper (Sortgrå ryle), a Long-tailed duck (Havlit), Common scoters (Sortand), Northern gannets (Sule), and Razorbills (Alk), which were actually quite close to the beach. They even saw a beautiful ringed male Eider (Edderfugl):

Afterwards, we all went to Gammel Skagen to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the horizon:

Simon had a meeting with the director of BirdLife Denmark today as well as a meeting with the financial director. A radio tag arrived in the mail which we will use to show to visitors on the next guided tours. This radio tag is different from the GPS tags that we put on the Blackbirds (Solsort) for the ICARUS project. There was another tracking project with Robins (Rødhals), which got radio tags glued to their back rather than put on as a harness.

Lone and Lars went out to visit Martin and Knud at World’s End 3. The migration count today was much better than it has been recently: They saw 2000 Kittiwakes (Ride), 150 Red-throated divers (Rødstrubede lom), a flock of Snow Buntings (Snespurv), as well as a small flock of four Coal tits (Sortmejse) coming in from the sea. The highlight was an adult peregrine falcon (Vandrefalk) that came in over the water as well, and it even had a color ring on it!

Photo by: Knud Pedersen

We are looking forward to going ringing at Kabeltromlen again tomorrow. The weather looks great for the next few days – fingers crossed that we get lots of birds in the nets!

Ringmærkning (Fyrhavn):

Munk – Blackcap: 1

Blåmejse – Blue tit: 3

Musvit – Great tit: 1

Gråspurv – House sparrow: 1

Skovspurv – Tree sparrow: 7

Bogfinke – Chaffinch: 1

Grønirisk – Greenfinch: 1

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

People: Pablo Macías, Jeppe Overgaard, Knud Pedersen, Amelie Zeller, Martin Grienenberger, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Lars & Lone Madsen

I dag har været en blæsende dag. Dette har ikke hold Martin og Pablo fra at tage til Kattegatbunkeren for at tælle fugle. I den første time var der nok fugle at se på, dog kommer der ikke mange fugle forbi de efterfølgende timer.

Eftersom ringmærkningen udgår grundet vejret, bliver Amelie og jeg hjemme for at arbejde på ICARUS projektet. ICARUS er forkortelsen for International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space. Her på stationen påsætter vi skånsomt en lille GPS-sender på solsorte, som sender informationer til en antenne der bl.a. kan fortælle os hvor den pågældende solsort opholder sig. 
Det lykkes os at få skruet og banket på nogle brædder, så vi nu har en flot ny antenneholder som er placeret ved Det Grå Fyr.

Antenneholderen er boret sikkert fast med antennen i toppen. Fremtiden vil fortælle os om vi har bygget den høj nok til at opfange de nødvendige signaler. 

Christina har haft en fridag, som hun har brugt på at færdiggøre en ny video om fugle som trækker om natten. Den bliver udgivet i den kommende fremtid.

Vores gæster Lars og Lone, kom forbi med en død Lomvie (Guilemot) som vi tog et kig på. Den bliver en del af de andre døde fugle som vi opbevarer i vores fryser.
Hen på eftermiddagen gennemgik Pablo vores indsamlet data for Dompap (Bullfinch). Det viser sig, at siden den første august i år har fuglestationen fanget og ringmærket over 150 Dompaps. Dette er rekord for stationen.

Jeg tager selv på en cykeltur rundt i området for at finde rønnebær, dog uden held.

Derfor vil jeg gerne komme med en lille efterspørgelse. Hvis I derude, stadig har rønnebær i haven, og gerne vil donere lidt til fuglestationen siger vi gerne ja tak. Vi vil bruge dem til at indfange Silkehaler (Waxwing) som vi gerne vil ringmærke. Man kan komme forbi fuglestationen med dem og hvis vi ikke er hjemme, så lig dem gerne ude foran døren.

Sidst på aften holder vi et møde om dag-i-dag samt planer for i morgen. Efter mødet var der personlige beretninger om gode fugle oplevelser.   

I morgen forsøger vi med ringmærkning ved Det Grå Fyr og der vil være folk ude for at tælle fugle.

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

Personer: Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Christina Stinn, Martin Grienenberger, Pablo Macías, Lars & Lone Madsen, Amelie Zeller og Jeppe Overgaard

There’s no better introduction than how Jeppe summarized how he felt this morning : “I’m very tired, but I need a coffee, some fresh air and a bird in my hand and I’m happy.”

The team started the day with such a feeling for a cool and sunny morning. Although the numbers of new ringed birds were quite low, the ringing team enjoyed a good quality time. As always, Simon shared his precious knowledge which was particularly appreciated by everyone, including our guests Lars and Lone. The guys played a little game of how many birds they would get on the first round and the winner was the one with the closest guess, which ended up being Jeppe!

1st bird of the day: Fieldfare - Sjagger

Since our tent at Kabeltromlen is broken, the guys managed to bring back to the lighthouse al of our stuff there and it was a hell of a ride !

They closed the nets due to the weather and few birds, only to come back to the lighthouse and open the garden nets! They had only 8 birds but that still included 5 species, such as Greenfinch (Grønirisk) and Tree Sparrow (Skovspurv). It was the occasion for Lars and Lone to take an active part in the station: while Lars took over the net supervision and helped taking care of the GPS-tags, Lone helped Pablo with writing down the ringing data on the data sheets and gave a hand to Jeppe with closing the nets.

Meanwhile, Simon and Christina went to John Pedersen’s. John generously gave us the bike from the late Mogens Fed. It will for sure get a new life like before, when Mogens used it for birdwatching in Skagen.
They of course stayed a bit at John’s enjoying a coffee (black for Simon and with milk for Christina if you care ;-) and talked about birding in Skagen.

On my side, I went as usual to World’s End 3 with Knud looking for some migrating seabirds. As the previous days, the numbers of alcids remained low in comparison with those we had 2 weeks ago. But still, we enjoyed a very nice morning with a rather good diversity and some nice of those nice moments I love on migration spots when each spotter is announcing flocks coming from almost everywhere in front of him. And we did indeed, with several nice flocks of Geese, Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) or Hooded Crows (Gråkrage).

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing office stuff. Simon even had some help from Chris the Elephant!

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

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen+Lighthouse):

Bogfinke - Chaffinch - 1

Gronsisken - Greenfinch - 3

Blåmejse – Blue Tit - 4

Dompap, Lille (europaea) – Eurasian Bullfinch - 3

Skovspruv - Tree Sparrow - 1

Munk - Blackcap - 1

Sangdrossel – Song Thrush - 1

Vindrossel – Redwing - 1

Sjagger – Fieldfare - 3

Total: 18

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Christina Stinn, Martin Grienenberger, Jeppe Overgaard, Pablo Macías, Lars & Lone Madsen, Amelie Zeller

This morning started with Christina and me waking up for opening the nets, but then being uncertain about whether we could open or not, as the weather forecast and the radar were difficult to read this morning. In the end, we decided to go and open (an hour after sunrise) and that was a good choice! We only had some small showers of rain and saw some beautiful rainbows.

We definitely had a Blue Tit (Blåmejse) day today but also caught some Bullfinches (Dompap) and a flock of seven Bearded Tits (Skægmejse).

When we were on a round, we also saw some Waxwings (Silkehale) flying over quite close.

Our guests Lone and Lars really appreciate joining us in the ringing and like watching us doing our work and asking interesting questions.

Jeppe had a good feeling about today because he made a big progress in bird extraction and ringing. Here you can see a happy Jeppe after extracting his first Blue Tit (Blåmejse)...

...and when he ringed his first Bearded Tit (Skægmejse).

When we came home we were surprised by Martin who prepared some sandwiches for us for lunch, thanks Martin!

Martin and Knud spent a successful morning counting about 400 Razorbills (Alk), 400 Guillemots (Lomvie) and 400 unidentified Alcids. They also went for a little walk at Grenen Sø to look for Water Pipits (Bjergpiber) but could only observe some Jack Snipes (Enkeltbekkasin). Highlights for them were a Great Skua (Storkjove), a Fulmar (Mallemuk) and two Great Northern Divers (Islom).

As there are some technical problems with the DOF Basen App, Martin wasn’t able to enter the data directly in the field and had to do some very time-consuming data entry in the afternoon.

While Pablo was preparing a delicious fish soup for us, Simon and I were downloading the first tracking information about our GPS-tagged Blackbirds (Solsort). Now we can check, if they are all alright! One of them already changed its location from the Lighthouse Garden to a place close to Kabeltromlen.

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Christina Stinn, Martin Grienenberger, Jeppe Overgaard, Pablo Macías, Lars & Lone Madsen, Amelie Zeller

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

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):

Blåmejse – Blue Tit - 24

Dompap, Stor (pyrrhula) – Eurasian Bullfinch - 3

Fuglekonge – Goldcrest - 1

Musvit – Great Tit - 1

Rødhals – Robin - 2

Rørspurv – Reed Bunting - 1

Skægmejse – Bearded Tit - 7

Sortmejse – Coal Tit – 1

Total: 40

This morning we said goodbye to Chris, who was helping us for two weeks. We wish he has a safe journey and all the best in the future. Skagen will always welcome you.

Sadly, today the heavy wind and the rain forced us to stay inside. So, no ringing or counting today. After catching up some sleep we tidy up the field station. In the evening we arrange a meeting and discuss about tomorrow’s plan (hopefully we will go ringing if the weather allows us) and we split different tasks for the week. Lastly, we go through some ringing pictures and double check the information we noted down in the field. This is always a great way to share knowledge and to learn something new about bird ageing and sexing.

We hope to get the nets open tomorrow and luckily catch some nice birds despite the wind.

People: Martin Grienenberger, Amelie Zeller, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Jeppe Overgaard, Chris Ketola, Pablo Macías, Lars & Lone Madsen

Our team keeps growing! Last night, Pablo arrived at Skagen Fuglestation and will remain with us for a couple of weeks. We are looking forward to getting to know him better and learning a lot from each other about birds, birding, and – well, birds. Welcome, Pablo!

Since our group is quite large now, we were able to split into three groups today: Martin and I went to World’s End 3 to count migratory seabirds. It was a slow day for us, with the highest counts of a few hundred Alcids and around two hundred Common Scoters (Sortand). However, it didn’t rain on us and the wind was also quite mild.

Esben and Amelie went to Jennes Sø to ring with Michael. Chris, Jeppe, and Pablo ringed at Kabeltromlen. They opened the nets a bit later than usual because of rainy and windy weather at dawn. It was quite a slow day at both sites, with only 15 new birds at Kabeltromlen and 12 new birds at Jennes Sø.

However, a Ring Ouzel (Ringdrossel) was caught in the nets at Kabeltromlen – so exciting! Erik was there to take a beautiful photo:

Jeppe took the opportunity of the slow day to practice handling and ringing birds at his own pace. It is a much more stressful experience to do this when there are many birds in the bags that need to get processed before the next round. Chris’ last bird today was a Great tit (Musvit) – well, I guess it could’ve been a Blue tit (Blåmejse), which is definitely worse!

We are sad to have to say goodbye to Chris tomorrow. He was with us for only two weeks but became an integral part of the team during his stay with us. We will surely miss him and hope that our paths will cross again at some (birding) point in the future - perhaps in the Amazonian jungle...?

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):

Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 4

Gæ­rdesmutte - Wren: 1

Rødhals - Robin: 1

Blåmejse - Blue tit: 1

Vindrossel - Redwing: 1

Solsort - Blackbird: 2

Ringdrossel - Ring Ouzel: 1

Munk - Blackcap: 2

Musvit - Great tit: 2

Total KAB: 15

Ringmærkning (Jennes Sø):

Stor Flagspætte - Great spotted woodpecker: 1

Rødhals - Robin: 2

Vindrossel - Redwing: 1

Solsort - Blackbird: 1

Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 3

Blåmejse - Blue tit: 1

Skovspurv - Tree sparrow: 1

Musvit - Great tit: 2

Total Jennes Sø: 12

Overall total: 27

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

People: Chris Ketola, Martin Grienenberger, Pablo Torres, Jeppe Overgaard, Esben Hansen, Knud Pedersen, Michael Ancher, Amelie Zeller, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Erik Christophersen

Først og fremmest vil jeg sige, at jeg er rigtig glad for at være tilbage på fuglestationen og ser frem til den næste måned og de oplevelser der kommer.

Dagen har været præget af et vidunderlig vejr med masser af solskin. Vores lørdag begynder med en dejlig skyfri himmel og en smuk solopgang.

I dag delte vi os op i mindre grupper hvor Chris og jeg mødes med Michael ved Jennes Sø, Christina, Amelie og Esben tog ud til Kabletromlen og Martin tog sammen med Knud ud til Verdens Ende 3 for at tælle havfugle på træk.

Ude ved Jennes Sø oplever vi et fåtal af fugle som flyver i vores net. Dette betyder at vi har god tid til at ringmærke og tale om de fugle som vi fanger i nettene.  
Jeg er stadig ny indenfor ringmærkning, så det er dejligt med god tid, således den erfarende Chris kunne rette ind på min nuværende forståelse af de elementer som ringmærkning indebærer.

Ude ved Kabletromlen oplever Christina, Amelie og Esben det samme. Der er ikke så mange fugle i nettene, derved har Christina, Amelie og Esben muligheden for at nærstudere de fugle som fanges.
Der bliver i løbet af formiddagen fanget en god flok blåmejser (Blue tit). Jørgen der er dukket op med Igor, hjælper med til at få nedskrevet data på blåmejserne. Ligeledes bliver der fanget solsorte som Amelie tog med sig, da der skal tages flåter fra dem.

Tilbage på fuglestationen åbner vi nettene i vores lille have. Vi fanger bl.a. Skovspurv (Tree sparrow), Kvækerfinke (brambling) og Blåmejse (Blue tit). Chris fik muligheden for at ringmærke hans første Skovspurv (Tree sparrow). Vi fik ligeledes set på fugle fra fuglestationen.

Sidst på eftermiddagen bliver der tjekket op på dagens genfangster, hvor vi kigger på fuglenes historik og sammenligner de biometriske mål fra da de bliv mærket og senere genfanget.

Her til aften vil vores nye frivillig Pablo ankomme, hvilket vi alle ser frem til.

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen)

Blåmejse (Blue tit)                           18

Bogfinke (Chaffinch)                        2
 
Dompap (Bullfinch)                          2

Gærdesmutte (Wren)                       2

Gransanger (Chiffchaff)                   1

Gråsisken (Redpoll)                         1

Munk (Blackcap)                              1

Musvit (Great tit)                              6

Rødhals (Robin)                              4

Rørspurv (Reed Bunting)                1

Sjagger (Fieldfare)                           4

Skægmejse (Bearded tit)                1

Skovspurv (Tree sparrow)              3

Solsort (Blackbird)                          1

Vindrossel (Redwing)                     1

Ialt                                                  48

Ringmærkning (Jennes Sø)

Gærdesmutte (Wren)                     2

Rødhals (Robin)                             2

Vindrossel (Redwing)                     1

Fuglekonge (Goldcrest)                  1

Topmejse (Crested tit)                    1

Sortmejse (Coal tit)                        1

Blåmejse (Blue tit)                          2

Musvit (Great tit)                            9

Gråsisken (Redpoll)                       20

Ialt                                                  39

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

People: Chris Ketola, Martin Grienenberger, Knud Pedersen, Amelie Zeller, Michael Ancher, Esben E. Hansen, Christina Stinn, Jørgen Kabel og Igor, Erik Christophersen, Jenne & Jeppe Overgaard