Today I went out to the beach where large numbers of seabirds had gathered off of the tip with hundreds of Common Terns, European Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls feeding offshore. Two of the large puddles towards the tip remained today a large flock of roosting gulls had about 90 Lesser Black-blacked Gulls in it which is a pretty high count for the roosting flocks this season.

I then went to Batteriskov to look for a singing Common Firecrest which had been heard the day before and by the others a little while earlier. It was quite easy to hear (if you can hear the high pitched sounds) but not so easy to spot as it mostly hung out high up in the conifers peeking out of the dark places time to time.

Common Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge)

Common Ringed Plover (Stor Præstekrave)

In the afternoon we went to the beach again but this time to ring some ringed plovers to make double ringed plovers. We found some young Common Ringed Plover chicks and ringed them with steel rings so that the ring doesn’t corrode around the water, took some weight measurements and then handed them off to the awaiting Plover parents nearby.

After the plovers we went to take a look at the large roosting gull and tern flock on the beach where we managed to read a couple of colour rings and saw nine Black-legged Kittiwakes rooting on the beach with the Common Terns, Sandwich Terns an Common Gulls.

Tomorrow we will be back out at Skarvsøen for more CES ringing, last time there were many birds with eggs and young fledglings about so we will see how the breeding birds are progressing there!

Highlights

Common Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge) 1

Black Kite (Sort Glente) 1

Common Tern (Fjordterne) 700

Observations from on area today on DOFbasen

Ringing: Grenen

Common Ringed Plover (Stor Præstekrave) 4

People: Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Sidhu, Andrew Jacobs, Simon Sigaard Christiansen and Lisa Vergin

Today we slept a longer bit after enjoying the huge Sankt Hans fire at the beach yesterday night. It was also very windy the whole day. So we started indoor doing some datawork. 

The Sankt Hans fire from yesterday

Later in the morning Lucas' family visited the station to pick him up. It was a bit sad to say goodbye to him after living together for almost four months now. Also Simon and Lisa passed by the station in the morning. 

Later we continued our datawork and Andrew went out to the beach. Out these he found the beach completely fluted because of all the wind.He saw many Terns and Gulls. Among them were two young CommonTerns (Fjordterne). The first young ones we have seen this year.

The flooded beach 

After dinner we could see many Terns flying over the sea, so we went out to the beach to do a little evening seawatch. Out there we saw a young Wheatear (Stenpikker) sitting on the stones. We put out our trap to try to catch it but it didn't work out.

And there were also some Gulls feeding on a dead Seal on the beach. Andrew tried to catch them without success.

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People:Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Sidhu, Andrew Jacobs, Simon Sigaard Christiansen and Lisa Vergin

 Another day, another early morning waking up at the wonderful lighthouse, which we call home. This time, for me, will be the last time I wake up early to open the nets. Waking up before 3 AM, Hanelie and I headed out to Kabeltromlen to open the nets. Despite the incoming weather system, we headed out to Grenen and opened most of the nets. 

 Over the course of the next several hours, we caught 13 birds with the majority of those being likely breeders or young birds. The last bird I rung before I went home for the morning for the last time was a Common Reed Warbler (Rørsanger). This will likely to be the last bird I have in the hand for the foreseeable future, so I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.

 My last bird in the hand!

In the afternoon, we spent the day cleaning the station and catching up on data from our trip to Hirsholmene. We also welcomed back Simon, who was abroad in Iceland, ringing sea ducks with Lisa. We had a long meeting about things which needed to be completed by the end of the month, and we were also lucky enough to have Simon present to us about Infectious diseases and ornithosis.

 Tornsanger Chicks!

Now we are getting ready to head to the annual Sankthansaften festival in town to celebrate the summer solstice.

On a little side note, I would like to thank all those who have made my time in Skagen over the last 5 months great. I hope to see you all again! To all of those in this year's spring crew, it was a pleasure working with you all. Keep in touch! I ended up getting nine lifers over the season, with my favorite being Dotterel (Pomeransfugl). Lastly, I would like to give a massive thanks to Simon for his endless dedication and masterful teaching. I would not be where I am today without him. Thank you, Simon.

 And so, my time in Skagen has concluded, but for those still here, they will have to wait and see what happens tomorrow! I will miss you all, but this will not be the last time I will be in Skagen!

Vi Ses!

Lucas Corneliussen

Ringing: Kabeltromelen

Gærdesmutte 1

Rørsanger 2

Gærdesanger 2

Tornsanger 6

Havesanger 1

Rørspurv 1

Total: 13

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Andrew Jacobs, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Sidhu, Simon Sigaard Christiansen

Hejsa folkens, så er endnu en dag gået. 

I dag vågnede vi op til en helt fantastisk morgen på Hirsholmene. Solen skinnede, og fuglene sang, eller mågerne skreg, burde man nok nærmere kalde det, men skønt var det. Vi brugte den tidlige del af morgenen på at lave en optælling over hele øens bestand af småfugle, samt deres adfærd, for at få en bedre forståelse for hvilke og hvor mange småfugle der yngler på øen. 

Efter det brugte jeg et par timer sammen med Tejsterne ned på molen med kameraet. Det var super fascinerende at sidde midt i kolonien om morgenen, imens de socialiserede, sang og fangede mad til ungerne. Sådan et sted giver en unik mulighed for at kunne opleve fuglene på en helt anden måde end vi er vant til, hvor man virkelig kan komme tæt på og observere deres naturlige adfærd. Desuden fik jeg også et par gode billeder med hjem.

Ynglende tejst på molen  

Tejsten yngler mellem sten og sprækker ud mod kysten, hvilket ikke rigtigt naturligt forekommer her i landet. Derfor finder man dem mest ynglende på moler og havneområder. Der er et par små kolonier rundt i landet, men langt den største er den, vi besøgte på Hirsholmene, så det var en fantastisk oplevelse at se de mange Tejst.  

En af de andre fugle som er til stede på øen, som vi også så en del til, er Skærpiber. Vi ser dem tit på træk her oppe i Skagen i det tidlige forår. Dog er det en sjælden ynglefugl, som også har størstedelen af landets ynglepar omkring Hirsholmene. 

Skærpiber

Derudover blev morgen brugt på at kigge på alle øens mange Terner, Måger og andre Havfugle. Hen mod slutningen af formiddagen fandt vi også lille Kobbersneppe, ude på en af mudder fladerne, samt to topskarv. 

Efter vi havde kigget på fugle og pakket alle vores ting ned, skyndte mig og Cora os ned til vandet for at hapse en hurtig dukkert. Vandet var iskoldt, men selvfølgelig stadig skønt. Tilsidst drak vi en kop kaffe, og spiste et par småkager med kjeld inden færgen gik hjem af.

På vej hjem med færgen

Alt i alt havde vi en helt vildt fantastisk tur, med en masse dejlige fugle og endnu flere gode oplevelser og minder til at tage med hjem. Desuden vil vi gerne give en helt særlig tak til Kjeld, som tog rigtigt godt imod os, og viste os hans meget spændende arbejde omkring overvågningen af øens fugle. 

Nu vil vi takke af for idag, og se frem til hvad der kan ske af spændende ting i morgen 

Vi ses derude.

Higlights Hirtsholmene: 

Tejst 

Skærpiber 

Topskarv 

Lille Kobbersneppe 

Lomvie 

Hunredvis af Terner og Måger 

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Today’s raptor summary from the Skagen area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Sidhu, Andrew Jacobs, Kjeld Tommy Pedersen. 

Another day, another day of paradise in Skagen. As the final day of the ringing season had come to a close the day before, for the first time since my tenure at the station in February, we officially had no more mandated reasoning to go to Grenen. With that, we decided to take our first official non-project day and head south to Fredrickshavn for an adventure!

The day started off well with all of us sleeping in well past our usual wakeup call. Once up, we began to pack our things and begin the journey south to wonderful island of Hirsholm. It was a trip we had been talking about all season, and we were finally able to do it! A good trip to send off my time at Skagen Fuglestation. 

 Our guests, Anne and Jesper were nice enough to drive some of us down to the train station while Tue and Cora took bikes. We then began the journey to the island. Arriving in Fredrickshavn, we quickly walked around the harbour before the ferry left and we managed to see a beautiful 2k male Black redstart (Husrødstjert). Hoppin on the ferry a little later we headed out to the island. Along the way, we managed to see two Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) migrating south. Maybe they are early post-breeding dispersals? As we got further out we also saw many Black Guillemots (Tejst), foreshadowing what was to come. When we arrived at the island, the jetties were lined with guillemots (Tejst), numbering into the hundreds! Wow. We also saw a Rock Pipit (Skærpiber), the only breeding site of these birds in Denmark.

 Once on the island, we were introduced to Kjeld Tommy Pederson, the biologist and ringer of tens of thousands of gulls and terns in Denmark. He showed us to our living arrangements for the evening and we headed out to do some birding. Most of the time was spent admiring the seabird colonies, particularly the Tejst. 

 Sildemåge chick

In the evening, Kjeld offered to take some of us at a time into the colony. Andrew and I went first and we were shown the entire colony as well as had the opportunity to color ring a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Sildemåge). He also showed us the process of ringing the chicks and explained all the projects he works on at the island. A few hours later, the others had the opportunity to do the same! A wonderful experience for all.

Kjeld color-ringing 

Around 10 PM, we all headed to bed in the provided lodging. A great way to spend a day. And so, another day passes for those of us affiliated with Skagen Fuglestation! What will tomorrow bring? We will have to wait and see!

Highlights:

Sildemåge ringing!

700 Tejst 

  Observations from today on DOFbasen

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Andrew Jacobs, Hanelie Sidhu, Tue Baaner, Cora Körbele, Kjeld Tommy Pederson, and our guests Anne and Jesper Sandfeld

Today, the 20th of June was the last day of standarised ringing at Skagen Fuglestation. While the windy weather did not allow ringing in the last days, we were lucky today, conditions were good to go to Kabeltromle and we also needed to do the CES at Skarvsøen. Andrew and I were the first being up to head to the CES, as it takes a while to bike and walk there. We had quite a nice morning with the first 1K Lesser Whitethroats "Tornsanger" in hand, the first 1K Blue Tit "Blåmejse", some first Calender year Chiffchaffs "Gransanger" and else mostly Reed Warblers "Rørsanger".

Bluetit "Blåmejse", 1K. Pictuere: Andrew Jacobs

There was also a surprise for us on the lake, Andrew found a immature male Mandarine Duck "Mandarin-and" on the lake! It is only the 4th record of Mandarine Duck in Skagen, last time, two individuals were recorded in 2018.

Mandarinduck "Manderin-and" at Skarvsøen. Picture: Andrew Jacobs.

There was also a family of Bearded Reedlings "Skægmejse" calling close to our ringing table for quite some time. Unfortunately they did not go into our nets.
In the meantime, Cora, Tue and Lucas had a nice last standarised ringing day at Kabeltromle. They too had mostly first calender-year birds in the nets mostly Chiffchaffs "Gransanger" and a notable number of ten Crested Tits "Topmejse". In the field close to the ringing site, the heated and saw a Grasshopper Warbler "Græshoppersanger".

Grasshopperwarbler "Græshoppesanger", Picture: Tue Baaner

Ringing Kabeltrommle
Munk 1
Tornsanger 5
Rørsanger 1
Kærsanger 2
Gransanger 6
Topmejse 10
Total: 25

CES Skarvsøen
Rørsanger 5
Gærdesanger 2
Blåmejse 1
Topmejse 1
Tornsanger 1
Munk 2
Solsort 1
Gransanger 3
Total 16

Highlights at Kabeltrommle
Grasshoppersanger

Highlights Skarvsøen
Manderin-and
Skægermejse

After ringing, I opened my moth trap, I had already checked the wall in the dark before leaving to Skarvsøen. I had 30 different species in the trap, two of them were new for me, Drepana falcataria "Birkeseglvinge" and Eulithis mellinata "Solbær-havemåler". The Hook tips are a group of moths I really like and Birkeseglvinge was my favourite moth of the day.

Drepana falcataria "Birkeseglvinge". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Eulithis mellinata "Solbær-havemåler". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Anne and Jesper had a nice walk in the morning and enjoyed some Honey Buzzards "Hvepsevåge" and other birds in the area.
In the evening, Andrew, Tue, Cora and I had a nice walk on the beach, the Swifts "Mursejler" were flying low and we saw some Red-breasted Mergensers "Toppet Skakalkeslugger".
Tomorrow we are leaving to the island of Hirsholmene, we will stay there for one night and will do a count of passerines on the island, so we also did some planning in the evening. Now we are exited for the Black Guillemots "Tjeist" tomorrow.

At the station: Tue Baaner, Cora Kørbele, Lucas Corneliussen, Andrew Jacobs, Hanelie Sidhu and our guests Anne and Jesper Sandfeld

Today was yet another windy day so ringing was cancelled and I decided to do a loop towards the beach going through Storsig, Ellekattet, and then Grenen to see what species would be around today. Around the forest there were many Common Chiffchaff, a couple Spotted Flycatcher and some Crested Tits. On the beach there was a large roosting flock of Common Terns and joining them some early returning Dunlin and Sanderling moving along the beach.

House Sparrow roosting on the roof photo Andrew Jacobs

Crested Tit foraging in the forest photo Andrew Jacobs

Sanderling strolling the shore photo Andrew Jacobs

The others went out a bit later towards the forest on the south side of Storsig and also had similar species of forest birds.

In the evening we went down to the beach where it has being blowing west for quite some time now a massive number of Common Terns and Sandwich Terns were swirling offshore by the hundreds with this we figured that it would likely attract some Skuas which it did bring in both two light morph and two dark morph Arctic Skuas which chased the terns quite a bit. A young Long-eared Owl was seen flying out very high over the terns and the water, dispersal in action.

Pair of Arctic Skua chasing a Sandwich Tern photo Andrew Jacobs

Now we prepare for CES ringing and the last day of standard spring season ringing!

Highlights:

Arctic Skua 4 Almindelig Kjove

Sanderling 2 Sandløber

Dunlin 2 Almindelig Ryle

Spotted Flycatcher 2 Gråflusnapper

Common Tern 690 Fjordterne

Long-eared Owl 1 Sovhornugle

Observations from today on DOFbasen

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Sidhu, Andrew Jacobs and our guests Anne and Jesper. 

Because we came home late after staying a little longer at Jerup Strand and it was too windy to open the nets, we used the opportunity to sleep in today. 

Lucas had the idea to go swimming to get really awake so we quickly went into the sea. It was very refreshing and much colder than the last time.

We started our day with some cleaning and Tue went to Skagen to meet a friend. 

Later the rest of us went out birding a bit in the wind. We first went to Ellekrattet the little “forest”. There we heard some Crested Tits. Afterwards we went out to the beach, where we saw some Common Ringed Plovers (Stor Præstekrave). We also looked if we could find any Plover chicks but we couldn't find any. There was also a big flock of Common Terns (Fjordterne) resting on the beach and we could get really close to them. That was nice.

 Common Terns (Fjordterne) 

On our way back to the station we saw a Honey Buzzard (Hvipsevåge) which was flying directly over our heads.

 Honey Buzzard (Hvipsevåge)

Out on our walk we also saw many caterpillars for some of them of the Dark Tussock (Hedenonne). Hanelie also caught an imago of this species. It is quite  interesting that you can see the imago and the caterpillar at once.

Dark Tussock (Hedenonne) Caterpillar

Dark Tussock (Hedenonne) imago

Later Hanelie cooked us a very nice dinner. And we are looking forward to doing some nice seawatching tomorrow to see which birds get blown over in this wind.

Highlights from the observations:

Honey Buzzard (Hvipsevåge) 

very close Common Terns (Fjordterne) 

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Sidhu, Andrew Jacobs and our guests Anne and Jesper. 

Hejsa folkens

I dag startede vi med at tjekke om vejret var godt nok til at ringmærke, men dsv blæste det for meget i den tidlige morgen. Heldigvis blev vinden lidt bedere, så vi endte med at kunne åbne nogle af nettene ved 7 tiden. Vi havde ikke så mange fugle i nettene, men det var godt vi tog ud, for i den første runde havde vi både en skovskade, bjerg vipstjert og en gransanger aflæsning fra Italien. Så det endte alt i alt med at være en super spændende morgen, med en masse sjov.

Skovskade 

Mens Cora, Hanelie og jeg ringmærkede, var Andrew og Lucas, gået ud for at kigge efter lidt fugle. Andrew fandt en Rovterne på stranden, og Lucas så både hedehøg, brushaner og en gulirisk, så det var to meget succesfulde ture som de havde.

Rovterne 

Efter vi alle var kommet hjem tog andre og Lucas også til flagbakken for at kigge lidt på rovfugle. Der var fint gang i både våger, gelenter og ørne. Dog ikke noget ud over det sædvanlige. Dog kom der en Hortulan flyvende forbi, så det var jo noget af en vild overraskelse for dem.

Om aftenen havde vi en aftale om at vi skulle kigge på en redekasse med tårnfalke, for at vurdere om de kunne ringmærkes. Andrew og jeg tog tog lige forbi mine forældres hus på vejen, for at se om vi kunne finde en grønspætte. Den fandt vi dog ikke, men vi så en masse spætmejser, Skovpiber og nattergal.

Lidt efter mødtes vi med de andre ude ved redekassen. Her snakkede ved med Martin, som ejede grunden, og satte en stige op for at se ungernes størrelse. Efter vi kom op kunne vi vurdere, at ungerne stadig skal have lidt tid inden de er klar til at få ring på. Vi glæder os til at vende tilbage.

Tårnfalke unger i reddekasse 

På vej hjem fra tårnfalkene stoppede vi ved Jerup strand for at se om vi kunne find lidt fugle. Her så vi den mest bedårende præstekrave unge sammen med dens forældre. Derudover så vi både klyder og Skestorke, samt en del andre vadefugle. Alt i alt en succesfuldt stop på vejen. Dog blev vi en smule forsinket, da jeg på vej tilbage til bilen opdagede at jeg havde tabt mine bilnøgler på stranden. Efter godt en halvtimes søgen blev de dog fundet og vi kom alle hjem i godt behold, dog en smule senere en planlagt.

Nu ser vi frem til endnu en god dag i morgen på Skagen fuglestation.

Vi ses derude.

Ringing Numbers: 

Gransanger 2 
Løvsanger 1 
Gulbug 1 
Bjergvipstjert 1 
Havesanger 1 
Skovskade 1

Total: 7

Highlights Skagen 

Rovterne 1

Gulirisk 1 

Brushane 2

Duehøg 1

Hortulun 1

Hedehøg 1

Highligts Tues Hus 

Thrush Nightingale 1

Spætmejse 3 

Skovpiber 5 

Highligts Jerup Stand 

Stor præstekrave unge 1 

Skestork 4 

Klyde 2 

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Andrew Jacobs, Tue Baaner, Hanelie Sidhu, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Eric Christophersen, Oluf Lou, Kim Skelmose, Hanne and Jesper

The wind was to strong to open the nets at Kabeltromle today and as the observation season ended yesterday and the windy weather was not really encouraging to go out, we stayed in a bit longer today. Later, everyone went on a walk and Tue, Lucas, Andrew and Cora saw a Montagues Harrier/ Hedehøg in Storsig not far from Ellekrattet, while I was on a walk at Grenen.

Montagues Harrier/ Hedehøg 2K female

Andrew also had a Little Tern "Dværgterne" on the sea close to the lighthouse.

Bird Higlights of today:

Montagues Harrier "Hedehøg

Little Tern "Dværgterne"

Todays observations of observers in the area can be seen here.

I was catching moths with light every night since I arrived here and want to show some highlights of the last days. I am entering the moths everyday on Arter, ObsIdentify and inaturalist so even if there is no list or pictures on the blog, you can keep updated.

Top row from left to right: Deilephia elpenor/ Dueurtsværmer; Hedya nubiferana/ Grå knopvikler; Spilosoma urticae/Hvid tigerspinder

Bottom row from left to right: Coscinia cribraria/ Plettet hedespinder; Zigzagspinder/Notodonta zizac; Pterosoma palpina/ Palpetandspinder

Pictures: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Andrew Jacobs, Lucas Corneliussen, Tue Baaner, Cora Körbele, Hanelie Sidhu and our guests Anne and Jesper Sandfeld