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

Vi vågnede til en rolig morgen, hvor vi delte os op i 2 hold. Judith og Chris blev hjemme for at ringmærke i fyrhaven. Laia og jeg tog ud til Micheal Ancher ved Jennesø. Mange fugle blev det ikke til, da der ikke var gode vejr forhold til at fange fugle. Alligevel var dagen begivenhedsrig, for i første rundte var det noget specielt i nettet. En lille fugl var fløjet i nettet. Jeg var ret sikker i min sag, men sendte alligevel et billede og forhørte Simon om det ikke var en dværgværling (little bunting) jeg havde i hånden. Det kunne han bekræfte. Så jeg blev virkelig glad for at både se og ringmærke ny art! Vi lukkede nettene kl 11:30 da vejrudsigten forudsagde regn.Dværgværling (Little bunting) Ligner meget Rørspurv (Reed bunting) kendetegn: lige næbryg, lys øjenring, mindre end rørspurv og formen på den sorte  smalle øjenstribe.

Der var gang i den da vi kom hjem til stationen, for Conny og Lars havde fundet en krognæb som var fløjet på et vindue ved kirken. Fuglen blev bragt tilbage til stationen til en inspektion, Fuglen var sund og rask, så Michael Ancher ringmærkede den og fuglen fløj væk efter at havde stået model til en masse fugle interesserede tilskuere.

Efter frokost havde vi alle noget forskelligt at lave, Judith som både har fødselsdag (TILYKKE!) og sin familie på besøg fra østrig var ude at gå en tur og efterfølgende få en kop kaffe hos Flemming.

Christian som har en kammarat fra Tromsø på besøg tog ud til Råbjerg mile. Her så de snespurve og rasterende krikænder. Mig og Laia blev tilbage på stationen hvor der var inderdørs opgaver at slå sig til, i det dårlige vejr. Aftensmaden blev lavet af Judiths familie, desserten var hjemmelavet Apfelstrudel fra Østrig.

Om natten prøvede Christian, Vegaard og jeg at fange ugler, uden held.

Ringmærkning (Jennesø + Fyrhavene):

Fuglekonge – goldcrest – 1

Rødhals – robin – 4

Gråsisken – Redpoll – 1

Dværgværling – Little bunting – 1

Gærdesmutte – Wren – 2

Topmejse – Crested tit – 1

Krognæb – Pinegrosbeak – 1

Solsort – Blackbird – 1

Total: 12

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Hansen, Vegard Stürzinger, Conny Jensen, Lars Paaby , Knud Pedersen, Michael Ancher, Jørgen Kabel, Oluf Lou

Today was the birthday of the Grey Lighthouse. It has now 161 years as it is working since 1858.

Our day started with Christian and Judith opening the nets. A bit later, I joined them in the ringing at Kabeltrommelkrattet. Esben went for observations at Verdens Ende 1 and he met Rolf there.
We had to go back and forth from the ringing place to the observatory (hvad du ikke har i hovedet må du have i benene) because of some forgotten stuff (but we managed to get all we needed in time!)
The ringing was really slow so we closed early but before doing that, Simon got interviewed on the TV.

Judith's family visit us in the ringing site and after that, they went for a warm-up walking towards Nordbeach.

The observations from the ringing site and Verdens Ende 1 were more interesting than the ringing today so in between of the rounds, we were doing some observations (also while ringing because one of us was able to look at the birds while the others were ringing). The invasion of Pine Grosbeaks (Krognæb) is still noticed in the area but we have seen some common birds like Eurasian Siskin (Grønsisken) and Brambling (Kvækerfinke) among others.
Michael Ancher was ringing at Jenes Sø as well and he got an Arctic Redpoll (Hvidsisken) in the net!!!

After closing the nets, Judith and I went to Sardinkrattet to sew some nets and also put them down when we finished the repairs.

At the same time, Christian went back to the Observatory and was standing in the laboratory talking and showing our work at the bird observatory (they were some tourists today!). Also, a kindergarten group came by and the kids were petting the birds that Christian showed them (not alive birds).

Later in the morning, Esben joined us at Sardinkrattet. We managed to put down 3 nets! There are 7 more to go but we had to stop due to the wind that was getting stronger. So we head up to the Observatory and eat lunch. We cleaned a bit the kitchen and put all the stuff in order.

After lunch, Judith and her family went to Råbjerg Mile and spent the afternoon there. They walked around the area and they went to the two lakes in order to do some observations. They saw some Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) and after that, they went back to the Observatory.

Meanwhile, Esben and I were entering the ringing data and afterwards, we played some card games and talk to some visitors.
Christian came to eat lunch quiet late and started to enter the observations data. After that, he started to cook our dinner (it smells really good!).
At the same time, Judith came back from the little trip and with Esben are checking rings' data until dinner time.

Simon also is heading to Blåvand to attend a meeting so we had a lot of tasks to go through before he cames back.

After dinner, Vegard (a friend of Christian) came to spend a few days with us.

Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommelkrattet, Sardinkrattet & Jenes Sø):

Musvit - 7

Gærdesmutte - 2

Fuglekonge - 1

Blåmejse - 1

Rødhals - 1

Nordlig Gråsisken - 4

Lille Gråsisken - 19

Hvidsisken - 1

Total: 36

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Hansen, Michael Ancher, Knud Pedersen, Lene Kappelborg, Chrystel & Flemming, Rie Voetmann, Friend Kurt, Farmand, Weatherman
Alois, Franz & Johannes Kloibhofer, Vegard Stürzinger

I dag var det min og Laia´s tur til at åbne nettene, vi sprang på cyklerne  06.15 og trillede ud til Ellekrattet. Nettene var åbne en halv time før solopgang, og vi sad spændte og ventede på hvad dagen skulle bringe. Ligefør vi begyndte første rundte kom resten af stationen. Judidth er igen blevet rask, oven på en omgang feber, så det var dejligt med hendes selskab i felten igen. Chris stod for træktællingen, mens Judia Laia og jeg tog fuglene ud af nettene. Ringmærkingen skete under opsyn af Simons kyndige øjne. Dagens mest spændene fugl var en massiv havesanger, som i stedet for at rejse syd på til Afrika, havde spist sig tyk i havtorn. Selv om vejret ikke kunne være bedre, var der ikke fugle i de sidste rundter. Så vi lukkede nettene ned og tog hjem for at spise frokost.

Highlights fra morgen obs.  6 Krognæb 67 sangsvaner I formation trækkende sydpå. 1 søkonge set af mester fuglekigger Knud.

Efter frokost kom stationes praktikant Stine. Vi opdelte os i hold, Chris intastede dagens træktællling mens  Laia og Judith indtastede ringmærknings dataen. Stine og jeg gik en tur i ellekrattet på en times tid, før vi vendte tilbage til station til en omgang teori. Simon underviste os i de forskellige underarter af gråsiskner. Og hvilke strategier forskellige fugle bruger når de skal udskifte deres fjerdragt.

Efter vores lektion tog mig og Chris ud til Micheal ved Jennesø, for at udskifte spejlnet og opsætte nogle nye. Det gjorde vi i håbet om at fange nogle af de krognæb som er observeret de sidste dage.

En  MEGA uhyggelig aften!?!

Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Robin - Rødhals - 3
Goldcrest – Fuglekonge 1
Blackcap - Munk - 1
Dompap ssp. europaea - Lille Dompap - 2
Redwing – Vindrossel 1

Total: 8

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Esben Hansen, Knud Pedersen, Michael ancher, Jørgen kabel og  Stine.

Today we splitted up, Laia was with Knud out at Verdensende 3 doing sea bird countings and Chris, Esben and Simon were ringing at Kabeltrommelkrattet.

The ringing started with a busy first round with a Common Snipe as a highlight. We see them regularly in the area of the ringing side but having one in the net is very rare. With this good start also the rest of the ringing was quiet divers and had as some specials: Fieldfare (Sjagger), Common Treecreeper (Træløber), Siskins (Grønsisken) and many more. An adult Bullfinch (Dompap) was also very interesting to see. Next to the ringing they also had some good observations! The whole team managed to see the rarity-highlights of the last days – the Pine Grosbeaks (Krogsnæb). There are more and more around in the area every day. Today, there were more than 30 seen around Grenen.  Furthermore, a Woodlark (Hedelærke), two Barn Swallows (Landsvale), Waxwings (Bombycilla) and some flocks of Bearded Tits (Skægmejse) was overflying the ringing side.

The sea bird observations had mostly common species, like many Razorbills (Alk) and Guillemots (Lomvie), Red-breasted Merganser (Toppet skallesluger) and Red-throated Divers (Rødstrubet lom). Very nice was also a big flock of over 80 Snow Buntings (Snespurv) coming very close to their observation point. After the observations Laia joined the others at Kabeltrommelkrattet and they went together to Sardinkrattet. There they took some nets down to start the shutting down of this ‘old’ ringing side.

After the observations Knud went to Skagen to find the Pine Grosbeaks (Krognæb) and he was more than lucky and found them very close.

Picture by Knud Pedersen

Coming back to the station Chris decided to use the little sunshine to go swimming. Laia and me just joined out to the beach. Then we had a good lunch with many sandwiches to be ready for the weakly cleaning-day. After the cleaning was finished we enjoyed the shiny apartment during our daily meeting. Now Esben is preparing dinner and it smells already delicious out of the kitchen.

Ringing (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Common Snipe - Doppeltbekassin - 1
Wren - Gærdesmutte - 3
Robin - Rødhals - 3
Fieldfare - Sjagger - 1
Song Trush - Sangdrossel - 2
Blackcap - Munk - 1
Blue Tit - Blåmejse - 4
European Treecreeper - Nordlig Træløber (ssp. familiaris) - 1
Siskins - Grønsisken - 2
Lesser Redpolls - Lille Gråsisken - 3
Bullfinch - Dompap - 3
Dompap ssp. europaea - Lille Dompap - 3
Reed Bunting - Rørspurv - 1

Total: 28

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

Today Esben, Christian and I went to open the nets at Kabeltrommelkrattet. There was a beautiful sunrise that preceded a really good ringing morning with a lot of variety.

It was nice to see 3 cute Treecreepers (Nordlig Træløber).

Not much later, Oluf joined us and we started the journey pending if his boots will be flooded or not during the ringing due to the rising water level at the ringing site after those rainy days. Unfortunately, the one that got wet was Esben.

After that, Simon joined us with a group of students from University College attending a guided tour. They were learning about bird ringing and afterwards, they played some games at the beach.

Meanwhile, Asger was observing at Verdens Ende 1 (seabirds and land birds). Also, Knud was at Verdens Ende 3 observing (mostly seabirds). All the observers in the field had a busy morning.
Some of the highlights of today were 12 Pine Grosbeaks (Krognæb), Pomarine Skua (Mellemkjove), Little Auk (Søkonge), a lot of flocks of Geese (Gæs) and Swans (Savner) and two Orcas (Spækhugger)!
Simon managed to see the Pine Grosbeaks (Krognœb) while we were taking the birds from the nets. He was really excited about it!  During the last days, he was talking about spotting them every now and then during the days.
During all this time, Judith was working with the radar with help of Asger and Christian while they were on the field. After that, she was working mostly indoors.

Then, all of us went back to the Observatory and had lunch before we went out again this time to Sardinekrattet in order to sew the nets before the closing of the site. We managed to repair up to 5 nets so far.

We collected some berries for tomorrow at the ringing site and then we returned back to the Observatory again.

We were doing indoor tasks (mostly on the computer).

Asger also went home during the afternoon.

Then Simon made dinner for us! It tasted really good!

And after that an evening radar session at Birders' Club.

To finish the day, Simon and Christian went out for a short night catch to Fyrhaven where yesterday Esben and I found a rusting Short-eared owl (Mosehornugle) that we saw flying away from us.


Ringmærkning (Kabeltrommelkrattet):

Sibirisk Gransanger - 1
Nordlig Træløber - 3
Fuglekonge - 3
Lille Dompap - 2
Rørspurv - 2
Blåmejse - 2
Munk - 7
Sortmejse - 2
Lille Gråsisken - 9
Gærdesmutte - 8
Rødhals - 5
Musvit - 1
Sangdrossel - 1

Total: 46

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias, Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, Esben Hansen, Rolf Christensen, Alex Sand Frich, Oluf Lou, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Kabel & Igor