After helping to set up the storm petrel nets in the evening before today, I went to bed, hoping to be woken as often as possible from the others to see some exciting birds they caught. After a few hours Sarah came into the room and shouted: „Wake up, we caught a Nightjar!“ We immediately got up and went down to the Lab where this fascinating bird was waiting for us. I'd never held a bird in my hands before, so this Nightjar (Natravn) was the first one for me! When we let him go again, he said goodbye by first flying into Selina's face but then disappearing behind the lighthouse.

The beautiful nightjar (natravn) for which we all got up to see.

In the morning I went out with Sarah to Worlds End III for another morning of migration count. Knud was back today and was a great help with the count. The migration was rather slow, so Knud also kept an eye out for Caspian gulls (Kaspisk Måge). After two hours, he went down to the beach to read some of the gulls' rings. Then Barbara came to relieve Sarah, who went to her well-deserved sleep. The migration picked up speed again, a dark morph Arctic/Long-tailed skua (Almindelige/Lille Kjove) moved to northwest and a Merlin (Dværgfalk) flew in from the sea at high speed. To round things off, a small raptor, most likely Marsh harrier (Rørhøg) came in from the sea.

In the meantime, Lisa, Janna, Gabriel and Selina had ringed some nice birds, for example a Common Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin), a Great spotted woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte) and many Blackcaps (Munk). Barbara and I also came along for the last round so that I could gain some more experience with handling birds.

After a quick lunch, Barbara, Selina, Gabriel and I got in the car to see the reported pair of Black-Winged Kites (Blå Gente) in Midtjylland. I took a short nap in the car and also used the journey to write this blog. It's my first one, by the way, and I'm also the first volunteer from Switzerland at the Skagen Fuglestation and really looking forward to stay here for the next three months until the end of the season. But back to the Black-winged Kites. We got some distant but still very nice views of the pair that was carrying nesting material from time to time. In my opinion it‘s one of the most beautiful raptors existing out there!

In the meantime Janna tried to do our second twitch of the day. A Red-breasted Flycatcher (Lille Fluesnapper) had been called out on Zello. But unfortunately the bird didn't show up again.

In the evening we went up the lighthouse to make our third twitch today. After some minutes waiting, we saw what we had hoped to see: the blood moon! What a nice way to end this day!

Nice blood moon seen from the lighthouse

Ringing totals:

Ringing KAB
Dobbeltbekkasin 1
Stor flagspætte 1
Musvit 1
Rødstjert 4
Sivsanger 1
Rødhals 10
Gærdesanger 1
Gærdesmutte 1
Jernspurv 1
Broget fluesnapper 2
Rørsanger 1
Sortmejse 3
Munk 17
Tornsanger 1
Blåmejse 1
Gransanger 2
Fuglekonge 2
Træløber 1
Total 51

Ringing Fyr 
Natravn 1

Highlights from World's End III
Arctic/Long-tailed Skua (Almindelig/Lille Kjove)
Merlin (Dværgfalk)
Caspian gulls (Kaspisk Måge)
Red-breasted Merganser (Toppet Skallesluger)

Obervations from the area can be found here. 

People:
Barbara Leone, Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Knud Pedersen.

I joined the ringing team this morning and got my first proper lesson in the artful skill of ringing a bird. The day started at 5am, riding our bikes down to Kabeltromlen and putting up the nets. Walking the so-called “rounds” from net to net to check for birds, wearing waders as the sun was rising, was a really lovely way to start the day and get to know the people on the team. One of the ringers morning-routines is also to call out a number of how many birds will be caught on the day and todays guesses varied from high 40’s to 60. The skilled and patient supervisor Lisa showed me how to get birds out of the nets, how to handle the delicate and tiny little birds, and how to ring, sex and age them while making it look easy, which is it not! The sun rose and the nets got busy. Coal Tits (Sortmejse) were the main act with 21 captures, but the best finds were a Tree Pipit (Skovpiber) and a Common Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken) and also known as Mealy Redpoll and both were new species for me. The day ended with exactly 50 birds, which meant that Selina won the daily comp! Congratulations.

One of the many captured Coal Tits (Sortmejse) from today.

Photo of the Common Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken) from today

While some of us were out ringing, the observers also had a pretty eventful morning at Worlds End III (Grenen). They saw Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove), Bar-tailed Godwits (Lille Kobbersneppe) and a Red-necked Grebe (Gråstrubet Lappedykker), but the biggest suprise came in the shape of yet another bat who flew in and landed on the dunes during the counting session. Florian was able to take pictures on the tracks of the bats, which pretty clearly show how it was crawling along the sand, which is pretty cool.

Tracks from the crawling bat. You can clearly see the marks that it's spur-like thumbs have left in the sand. 

This afternoon was spent cleaning back at Det Grå Fyr and with everyone helping, the place is now looking clean and (mostly) sand-free again.

Tonight marks a special night for the team (especially for our Storm Petrel lover, Sarah) as today is the last day that we will be trying to catch Storm Petrels (Stormsvaler) in the beach nets. The plan is to finish with a bang and leave the nets open until sunrise – let’s see if we get lucky.

The hopeful team putting up the last Storm Petrel net of the season.

Ringing totals:

Rødstjert 2
Løvsanger 1
Rødhals 2
Sortmejse 21
Jernspurv 1
Lille gråsisken 5
Stor gråsisken 1
Sivsanger 1
Rørsanger 1
Munk 7
Rørspurv 3
Skovpiber 1
Havesanger 1
Tornsanger 1
Blåmejse 1
Gransanger 1
Total 50

Highlights from World's End III
Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove)
Barre-tailed Godwits (Lille Kobbersneppe)
Red-necked Grebe (Gråstrubet Lappedykker)

Obervations from the area can be found here. 

People:
Barbara Leone, Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen og Lisa.

Last night we put up the Stormsvale and Natravn nets, in the hopes of catching some late Lille stormsvale or Stor stormsvale. We put Florian and Gabriel to work straight away putting up the nets on the beach, and then I took the first half of the night shift. This was mostly uneventful, until I went to do one last round around 1.30 and saw there was not a Natravn but a Myotis bat trapped in the net. This was my first bat extraction and I was glad that  Jeppe was there to provide some company for the extraction, which was a bit long since I was wearing gardening gloves to avoid its rabid jaws. The bat was very agitated and loud and extremely cute. Jeppe and I admired it for a minute and then released it and I was sad I forgot to take a picture! But after I went to wake up Janna to take over the rounds, she immediately found another bat in the net, maybe the same poor soul trapped again! She was switched on enough to take a photo. Simon was glad he didn’t have to come over to extract the bat because he is afraid of them, yet another suspicious similarity with Batman.

In the morning I went with Barbara and Florian to go observing at World’s End III. It was a fantastic morning and Florian is superhumanly observant and very fun to seawatch with. Within about 30 seconds of arriving, he spotted an Arctic Loon (Sortstrubet Lom) and before I turned my scope to look at it he also spotted an Artcic skua (Almindelig Kjove), setting us up for an eventful morning. We also saw one bat flying over the sea, bringing the total number of bats I have seen in Skagen to 2. Sadly the observation was cut short by the rain, which reduced visibility a lot so we left after only three hours.

Janna, Selina, and Gabriel went ringing with Simon this morning, which was also very eventful before the rain. They trapped 26 sortmejse today, in the midst of a large sortmejse influx, which is not occurring every year. They also trapped one each of spotted and pied flycatcher (grå and broget fluesnapper), two rødstjerts, and two havesangers, among many others.

When we came home cold and wet, we smelled some delicious baking and saw that our guest Helle was cooking us a tasty treat of fresh bread! In the afternoon Janna and I went for a cold swim in the rain, and then Helle kindly drove us to the shop. After that I went for a nap, and Gabriel and Janna went birdwatching and saw the first Jack Snipe (enkeltbekkasin). After some data entry and office tasks, the crew are playing cards together and showing off magic tricks, a very cozy atmosphere in the lighthouse.

Ringing totals:

Rødstjert 2
Løvsanger 4
Grå fliesnapper 1
Sortmejse 26
Jernspurv 1
Broget fluesnapper 1
Dompap 1
Havesanger 2
Munk 8
Blåmejse 1
Gransanger 2
Total 49

Highlights from World's End III

Sortstrubet Lom, Almindelig Kjove, Fløjlsand, Dværgmåge, Hjejle, Tejst. 

Obervations from the area can be found here. 

People:
Barbara Leone, Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen, Jeppe and our guests Helle and Johan.

My first blog post and my first time volunteering at Skagen Fuglestation!

It is great to be here and I have already met a lot of awesome people who are teaching me so much: Sarah, Janna, Simon, Simon Jr., and Youri. There is a lovely community, including our guests Helle and Johan, and local birders who often join and help out.

Not an hour goes by without learning something new about birds, moult limits, moths, handling nets, night catching etc. I am also learning that sleep is a smaller part of life here, but who wants to sleep when you can watch birds. I have ringed my first bird ever which was a strong young House Sparrow (Gråspurv)!

Today we woke up to some windy conditions which meant that we had to skip ringing. This gave us an extra hour of sleep before we went to do observations at World’s End 3, in front of a beautiful sunrise. It was my first time doing migration count, and Janna and Sarah were great in introducing me, and luckily we were joined by Knud (thanks for spotting birds and counting the many gulls!) and Ole as well.


Janna and Sarah counting Northern Gannets (Sule) and Common Scoters (Sortand) in the morning sun

A very exciting bird today was a Great Skua (Storkjove), the first one for me, and I even spotted it myself! Besides that, some honourable mentions from the day are Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge), Velvet Scoter (Fløjlsand), Black Guillemot (Tejst), Tufted Duck (Troldand), and Sandormen (the bus that takes people to Grenen) that almost got stuck in the sand. Two migrating Wood Pigeons (Ringdue) flying along the shore were a cute sight. We also enjoyed a couple of Swifts (Mursejler) who still haven’t moved south yet. Whenever we see swifts these days, Janna bids them farewell, wondering if these might be the last of the year. Maybe these two were.

People walking or taking Sandormen to the tip (when Sandormen gets stuck it is definitely faster to walk!)

In the afternoon, Florian and Gabriel moved in, and Barbara will arrive in the evening, so there’s a lot of activity at the station again!

We are going to try to catch Storm Petrels (Stormsvaler) tonight, and hopefully Gabriel, Florian, and Barbara brought some luck with them and we can make up for the empty nets a few nights ago.

But now the smell of Sarah’s cooking is filling the air - time for dinner!

Highlights from World’s End 3:

Storkjove

Kaspisk Måge

Fløjlsand

Tejst

Mursejler

Today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area.

People:
Barbara Leone, Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Ole and our guests Helle and Johan.

Hallojsa and Juhuu- I am back at Skagen Fuglestation!! And it already started with many interesting activities. During the night we tried to catch Nightjars (Natravn) and Storm Petrels (Stormsvale).

Setting up the Stormsvale net

Luckily, there were no people on the beach when we started the Stormsvale playback. A canon of scary noises resounded over the beach, accompanied by red lights of the speaker. That is how aliens appear in movies. During the night, we kept the sky in sight- just in case. Through the scope we were able to spot Saturn and its rings. Later in the night polar lights appeared. When Sarah and I saw pictures, the others had made of the colourful sky, we first thought it would be a joke- in real life we had to look very closely to see them. Over the night they got stronger and we could see the bright lines on the sky. That was very impressive. Together with some shooting stars they created a perfect atmosphere.

Ideal conditions to stay awake

Regularly, we were checking the nets. Between the rounds we looked out for moths that came to the moth trap we built. There were some interesting ones and after rounds with no birds in the net it was nice to see some new moths. Our favourite one was an Ennomos (probably the Canary-Shouldered Thorn/ Elle-Tandmåler) and we accidentally brought in into the house. There it was very clingy, climbing on our fingers and trying to stay in the house. But Selina managed it to bring her new friend outside again.

Our little friend the Thorn

Because the nets stayed empty, Lille Simon and Youri went out to catch some birds with the net. They came back with a Skylark (Sanglærke). So, we had a bird to ring. When it got later, the others went to bed. Lille Simon and I stayed awake to check the nets. Driven by the believe to find a Stormsvale, I was not tired. Sadly, no bird appeared in the nets.

In the morning, we had to say goodbye to Simon (it was nice to see you again, we hope you had a nice travel back) so Sarah is the only one left from the former team. And as it is often when someone leaves, after that there was a cool bird found. They caught a Barred Warbler (Høgesanger) at Kabeltromlen. I counted in the morning with Knud from worlds end 3 and when we heard that, we headed out to see the bird. When we arrived at Kabeltromlen, the ringers were busy with many birds. Besides the Barred Warbler (Høgesanger) there had been around 15 birds in the nets this round. We were all very happy to see this beautiful bird so close. With two Barred Warblers (Høgesanger) caught, this season is pretty good for the species.

1cy. Barred Warbler (Høgesanger)

One Barred Warbler (Høgesanger) later, Knud and I arrived back at the beach. There Knud focused on the gulls and read some colour rings. The sea was very calm and there was not much migration going on. Around Kabeltromlen there were many passerines in the bushes. It was again a good day for Coal Tits (Sortmejse). 265 of them flew through the area and 12 of them got caught.

Around noon we were all back at the station. After some resting and Sarahs daily swim we entered some data. After that I went on a walk to look if some passerines had hidden in Ellekrattet. There were some birds around in the wake of the trees. In the evening we said goodbye to Youri (also have a good travel home :))

Now Selina is cooking some nice food. Let´s see what tomorrow will bring. The weather forecast looks inconvenient for ringing. But maybe there will be some more migration on the sea. Vi vil se.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Høgesanger 1

Gulspurv 1

Rødhals 11

Løvsanger 1

Rørsanger 1

Sortmejse 12

Grå fluesnapper 1

Rødstjert 2

Gærdesanger 1

Tornsanger 1

Rørspurv 1

Munk 3

Lille dompap 1

Gransanger 3

Fuglekonge 1

Jernspurv 1

Total 42

Highlights from World’s End 3:

Rørhøg

Krikand

Islandsk ryle

Kaspisk måge 7

Gråstrubet Lappedykker

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People:

Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen, Youri Van der Horst, Simon Kiesé, Knud Pedersen, and our guests Helle and Johan.

Last night the four of started our group bonding by going out hand catching at the beach. We went to Grenen on the sandworm track and walked around for a while, but all we saw were three Red Knots (Islandsk Ryle) who flew away before we even got close. After a little bit we gave up and stopped by the kiosk to catch a few House Martins (Bysvale) and house Sparrows (Gråspurv), which we brought back to the lab and Selina ringed her first bird! We then delivered the Bysvale back to the kiosk and called it a night.

This morning I went with Selina to open the nets at Kabeltromlen and show her the route where all the nets are. We were joined by Lille Simon, who seems to have finally caught up on sleep just in time for a night of storm petrel catching, and Youri and SSC also joined us. We had a very good day with three different types of tits (Musvit, Sortmejse, and Blåmejse), a few Robins (Rødhals), one adult female blackbird (solsort) looking quite scrappy in wing and tail moult, and a very fine adult Gærdesanger specimen. We also had over 100 sortmejse flying overhead as well as a Havørn (White-tailed Eagle) which passed by very close several times.

Janna went out observing with Knud, where they had a still morning over the sea. Highlights included Lille flagspætte (Lesser spotted woodpecker), Rørhøg (Marsh harrier), Sølvhejre (great egret), and 6 Kaspisk måge (Caspian gulls). Janna even found time to age the resting Sule while Knud read some gull rings.

After lunch together and a swim with Janna, I went to the shop for provisions and Selina went to explore Skagen town while the others went out birdwatching. Lille Simon went to the beach for is final seawatch, and although he wasn’t able to get the nice gull photos he wanted, he was happy to see a carrion crow (Sortkrage) on the beach.

Janna went out along the boardwalks and had a nice time looking at dragonflies, adders, frogs, wheatears (stenpikker), and many passerines flying around.

Then we joined together again for a delicious dinner cooked by Janna, followed by crumble she made with some apples donated from the garden of our guests Helle and Johan. Now we will set out the storm petrel (stormsvale) and nightjar (natravn) nets so Lille Simon can forfeit his last night of sleep to see what we can catch. Janna and I put out a makeshift moth trap (which has nothing on Hanelie’s) so we will check this for a few hours to see if any moths can be tempted.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Solsort 1

Musvit 1

Rørsanger 3

Rødhals 3

Jernspurv 3

Løvsanger 1

Gærdesanger 1

Sortmejse 5

Tornsanger 6

Munk 4

Blåmejse 1

Gransanger 4

Bogfinke 1

Total 34

Highlights from World’s End 3:

Lille flagspætte

Rørhøg

Krikand

Islandsk ryle

Kaspisk måge

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People:

Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen, Youri Van der Horst, Simon Kiesé, Knud Pedersen, and our guests Helle and Johan.

The Milky Way hung hidden by dark clouds over the Støvring plains. Somewhere out there, under the cloak of darkness, the birds were sleeping. But not us. Not tonight.

Simon Jr. - better known in these parts as the Lille Sheriff - tightened his boots, adjusted his headlamp, and gave a nod to his seasoned partner, SSC (Simon Sr.), the old gunslinger of bird science. Armed with torches and trusty handnets that swung like lassos in the night, we rode out to two secret spots near Støvring. The mission? To track, catch, and ring the elusive Great Snipe (Tredækker). And let me tell you, pardner - it wasn’t our first rodeo.

With the stealth of bity cats and the precision of diving gannets, we managed to lasso one Skylark from the shadows. A fine catch. But just as we were admiring our feathered prize, Johan Funder rolled in like a whirlwind from the north. While we were wrangling one, he was rounding up five: three Common Snipes (Dobbeltbekassin) and two Skylarks (Sanglærke). The man’s got bird sense like Indiana Jones got whip skills.

Three Common Snipes (Dobbeltbekassin) and a Skylark (Sanglærke).

Not long after, Lars Bo appeared on the horizon, boots crunching through the dewy grass. The posse was complete.

We saddled up and headed to the second site, where the night’s true treasure awaited: an adult Great Snipe (Tredækker). A rare gem in the ornithological wild west. I had the honor of measuring it myself - its plumage glowed like ancient gold under the torchlight. A moment of awe, etched into memory.

Look at this beauty: Great Snipe (Tredækker)!!!

Two feather generations in the wing: this bird interrupted its moult. The older feathers are more bleached out and brown.

Simon Sr. measuring "Bill-Head". This measurement is very helpful in many waders.

The ride back with SSC was quiet but rich, those kinds of talks that only happen after a night in the field. I grabbed a quick hour of sleep before heading to Kabeltromlen, where Louise and Youri had already opened the nets. The wind howled across the site, and Sarah rode her out to Denmark’s last dune to count seabirds against the crashing waves.

Ringing was slow and birds seemed to be sleeping in. But one Redwing (Vindrossel) turned up in the net, a recapture from July. Maybe an oversummering bird in the Grenen bog. A little mystery tucked into a feathered frame. And watching Louise work, I couldn’t help but smile: she’s learned so much in just one month of scientific bird ringing. Sharp hands, sharp eyes. The makings of a fine field biologist.

Between net rounds, I’d glance out over the sea, past the heads of the counters, scanning the horizon like a sheriff watching for trouble. And then it came—the best bird of the day: a Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove), what a surprise! The phone cell made a loud noise and I grabbed the hearer. It was Sarah, shouting excited words through the breeze: there is a Peregrine Falcon (Vandrefalk) flying over you. When we turned around we could get a quick view on it before it appeared on the horizon. Great one. Otherwise migration count was fun with many Gannets (Sule) and some pretty Velvet Scoters (Fløjlsand).

In the noon, we had to say one more painful goodbye to Louise, who headed back home today. Before leaving she offered me a meal in The Skagen Fuglestation Saloon, look at this burger!

Homemade Veggi Burger

Even though her time at the bird observatory stopped for now, bird migration continued. I just stood in front of Det Grå Fyr to look at birds flying by, when suddenly an Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) appeared. Since the Gulls (Måge) were closer, I decided to take some pictures.

Herring Gulls (Sølvmåge) joined by a Common Gull (Stormmåge) on the right.

A flock of 12 Bar-tailed Godwits (Lille Kobbersneppe) passing by the lighthouse.

Cormorant (Skarv) does not mind the wind.

In the afternoon, Sarah and I – the last people remaining in this ghost town – climbed the lighthouse and had a nice chat with cake and coffee – ehm whiskey – in the shop. Then Selina and Janna arrived. It is nice to see both familiar and new faces at the station!

The august was really fun. Ringing was great with +156% birds caught in comparison to my August 2023. Soon I will have to mount my horse and gallop back to Germany into the sunset. Thanks to all the nice people at the station!

Why did the Lille Sheriff wear two hats? One for the sun, and one for the attitude.

Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper) 1

Blackcap (Munk) 2

People: Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen, Youri Van der Horst, Simon Kiesé, Johan Funder, Lars Bo Jakobsen and our guests Helle and Johan. 

Cora and Simon junior began the day by putting up the nets, and soon Yuri, Lisa, and I joined them for the first round. And what a rining day it turined out to be. The first round already brought some exciting birds, including a garden warbler (havesanger) and a pied flycatcher (broget fluesnapper). 

Not long after Simon senior, Agnethe, Erik, and Jørgen joined us. Almost immediately Simon senior spotted a barred warbler  (høgesanger) in a bush nearby - and soon after, there were two!

The second  round was just as thrilling, with highlights such as an adult male redstart (rødstjert), a tree pipit (skovpiber), and another pied flycatcher (borget fluesnapper). Then, all of a sudden, a Zello call came through: Yuri and Markus had found a barred warbler in the net! We quickly called Sarah and Rose so that everyone could share the experience. Not only did we get to see the bird in its natural environment in the bush, we also had the chance to ring one and admire it up close. 

Barred warbler (høgesanger) caught at Kabeltrommlen

However, the morning was not only smiles - we also had to say goodbye to Markus, Cora, and Rose (we already miss you guys!) We gathered at Kabeltrommlen to wish them farewelll (or rather "see you later"). Just when we thought the day had peaked, Simon Jr. spotted an unusual-looking gull slowly approaching Ellekrattet. It turned out to be a long-tailed skua (lille kjove)! It flew right over our heads, and Lisa and Sarah even saw it from their position at World's end III. What a day!

The long-tailed skua (lille kjove), which flew over Ellekrattet (this amazing photo was taken by Erik Christophersen)

Meanwhile Sarah had a beautiful morning of observations at World's End III, first joined by Rose and later by Lisa. In addition, to the barred warbler and the long-tailed skua, they also spotted redshanks (rødben), greenshanks (hvidklirer), and razorbills (alk). 

After such an eventful morning, we all gathered for an early meeting at the lighthouse followed by a well-deserved nap. When I woke up, I went shopping to prepare dinner. However, just as I had finished unpacking the groceries, we got a surprise visit from Matilde from the restaurant Blink - bearing gifts: lots of food and wine! So instead of my planned menu, Sarah whipped uo a feast while Simon and I entered ringing data. The spread included fish, chickpeas, salad, fish sauce, and corn - and yes we may have sampled a glass (or two) of the wonderful wine. A huge thank you!

Sarah with the huge amount of food we got from Blink (again thank you so much. I was so delicious)

In the evening Simon Jr was picked up by Simon Sr. to go night-catching for great snipe (tredækker). We wish you the best of luck for your night experdition Sarah and I stayed behind and enjoyed a quiet evenin at the station. 

This is my last night here at the station. Time to pack my bags and write in the guest book. Thank you so much for this opportunity to be part of this - it has truely been an honor and a once-in-a-lifetime experience (maybe not once-in-a-lifetime: as you say in danish "jeg har fået blod på tanden" and it is definitely not the last time I volunteer at a bird observatory). 

until next time!

Today’s observations by observers in the area of Skagen typed into DOFbasen can be found here. 

Ringing at KAB: 

1 Høgesanger (barred warbler)

1 Gransanger (chiffchaff)

1 Rørspurv (reed bunting)

5 Tornsanger (common whitethroat)

1 Skovpiber (tree pipit)

2 Havesanger (garden warbler)

7 Munk (blackcap)

8 Sortmejse (coal tit)

1 Kærsanger (marsh warbler)

1 Rødhals (robin)

1 Rødstjert (restart)

7 Rørsanger (reed warbler)

1 Løvsanger (willow warbler)

2 Broget fluesnapper (pied flycatcher) 

1 Musvit (great tit)

total: 40 

People: Simon Käse, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen, Youri Van der Horst, Johan Funder, and our guests 

Water rail
This morning was very foggy when Rosemary and I went to open the nets at Kabletromeln. Lille Simon joined us, bouncing and ready to go after a full three hours of sleep, for the first round. The day was not too busy with birds in the nets, but a slow trickle came by for us and we got to compare closely the Kærsanger and Rørsanger next to each other. On the second to last round, Rosemary and I walked the nets in opposite directions, and where we met in the middle we saw two water rails (Vandrikse) fly into the net. They are a bit big to get caught in the mesh, and one bounced out straight away but we ran for the second one and managed to hold it inside the pocket. Markus and Louise also came over from World’s End III to see the Vandrikse.

Throughout the day we got to hear about the details of the Snipe mission last night. Cora was missing from ringing and count today because she was unfortunately bitten by a cat that she was trying to rescue in a great act of heroism. She went instead to the hospital with Simon where the doctor told her that no medical intervention is necessary. Most importantly, they saw two Ospreys from the car on the way home. The status of the cat remains unknown.
Markus and Louise went observing at World’s End III, where they saw two Sparrowhawks (Spurvehøg), one young Kestrel (Tårnfalk), and some Alk.
We had a lovely group dinner together in town today, where Boss Simon entertained everyone with his stories about prank calling other bird observatories over the phone, which I enjoyed hearing about very much.
I have some parting words to report from our (very sadly) leaving volunteers.
Markus: “Ciao for now.”
Louise: “I’m not that funny.”
Rosemary: “Uhhh… Eat my jorts.”
It has been a glorious summer season and I am very sad to say goodbye to such amazing coworkers. I am sure they will do great things and we will see each other again in the future, especially my soul mate Rosemary, who I am soul-bound to.

Ringing totals:

Total: 14

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area.

Waking up after a night with such a big surprise felt great. I was jumping out of my bed, grabbing my overnight oats, checking the rain forecast and taking may jacket to head out. Still thinking about the odd image from last night, when Cora and I headed to the net in the darkness and we approached the Nightjar (Natravn) and then seeing the Nightingale (Sydlig Nattergal) hanging next to it. What a big surprise!

Smooth Newt (Lille Vandsalamander) at Kabeltromlen.

But that was yesterday and we had high hopes to continue our slide on the slide of happiness. While opening nets at Kabeltromlen we already noticed that the rain last night stopped some migration and numbers would be lower today. That did not stop us from ringing three young female Common Redstarts (Rødstjert). The best round came surprisingly late when we closed and flock of 10 Coal Tits (Sortmejse) decided to get a shiny ring.

Happy ringers with ten Coal Tits (Sortmejse): Simon, Louise, Youri, Cora and Markus.

Coal Tits seem to erupt now, but I’m not sure why. At least until now. Yesterday Falsterbo (Sweden) ringed 22, quite a lot for August and we had 70 flying over Kabeltromlen. A friend of me is currently in Lista (Norway), where they have even more migrating – even a flock with 97 together! I’m excited to see how this pattern continues. All birds we ringed were juveniles, what you can recognize by a moult limit usually somewhere between GC 6-8 and young PC. All birds had a low fat score. I just made this small graph to give you a first impression of our measurements of these influx tits. We like tits!

Wing Length (mm) and Body Mass (g) in the ten Coal Tits (Sortmejse) we ringed today.

The counters had a relaxed morning out at World‘s End 3 with just a little migration but some fun birds. They got good views of a Velvet Scoter (Fløjlsand) – a new species for Sarah! At Grenen one Great White Egret (Sølvhejre) and even more surprisingly a Cuckoo (Gøg) made a migration attempt.

In the afternoon we prepared for nightcatching tonight. That included shopping, napping and finishing all other data tasks.

We just had a nice dinner by Rose and we are preparing now for nightcatching. I will update this during the night, so stay tuned.

Update: 00:36 am

This blog posts might be one of the most up-to-date ones, I‘ve ever written. That’s easily justified by the bird we just caught. Look at this beautiful (adult) Great Snipe (Tredækker)!

Streaked everywhere!

 After passing by Saltum Strand, where we saw two Little Stints (Dværgryle), we headed towards Lerup Klit. Here we met Johan, who ringed quite some Snipes on these fields the past few years. When we went out of the cars we immediately heard the flight call of a Bittern (Rørdrum). After this good start we walked over the field. There were shooting starts and the calls of Red Deer. Then Johan spotted a Great Snipe (Tredækker) in the thermal and just a few seconds later it was in his hand. This bird was ringed by him three days (or nights) ago. It’s good to see it’s doing great and it gaines 5 g of weight in these days. With the for Great Snipes typical fat score of 9 (maximum) it felt like a small canon ball. Just soft and warm.

In total there were 5 Great Snipes on the field, but we‘ll try our luck on another field now. That means I‘ll have a short nap in SSC‘s car now to be fit for Kabeltromlen-ringing in just a few hours. Good night!

Happy night team.

Chiffchaff (Gransanger) 3

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) 3

Garden Warbler (Havesanger) 1

Blackcap (Munk) 5

Coal Tit (Sortmejse) 10

Common Redstart (Rødstjert) 3

Reed Bunting (Rørspurv) 1

Reed Warbler (Rørsanger) 2

People: Rosemary Fricke, Markus Kemp Clément, Simon Kiesé, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Sarah Partridge, Cora Köberle, Simon S. Christiansen, Youri Van der Horst, Johan Funder, Morten Christensen and our guests Grete and Stig.