The day started as usual with the ringers going to kabeltromlen and the observers going to Worlds End 3. The counting never really started as there were quite few birds migrating and roosting out, but we still managed to pick up nice species such as Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Måge), Pale-bellied Brent (Lysbuget Knortegås), Common Merganser (Stor Skallesluger) and Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) and our neighbour Ole came out and visited us, this time I remembered to bring a scope for him, so he could join us.

Identifying gulls is a sadomasochistic exercise, yet we persist, here we are trying to document a strange lesser black-backed gull (Sildemåge)

But during the counting we got a message that a Stilt Sandpiper (Klireryle) was found in Vestamager! Second record for Denmark since 1998 and it is one of my dream waders!!! We started planning if we should twitch the bird and we decided to do it. We returned to the station and while the others were getting ready, I went out on a guided tour with two American birdwatchers from Michigan. We went out to Grenen and we managed to see a very nice Black Guillemot (Tejst), Merlin (Dværgfalk) and a very nice Gannet (Sule). They were just as pleased with the outcome as I was, I was a bit afraid that there would be any birds to show due to the way too nice weather. We came and I said my goodbyes and then it was roadtrip time with the whole SKAF gang. But the worst case scenario happened as we received a message that the bird hadn’t been seen for a long time and people were looking for it. So before we got too far we decided to turn around and instead go to Lille Vildmose near Aalborg.

Augustin and me - BWA (Birders With Attitude)

hough there were no Stilt Sandpiper, we still managed to see some really nice birds! Golden Eagles (Kongeørn), Common Crane (Trane), Black-necked Grebe (Sorthalset Lappedykker), Whooper Swan (Sangsvane) and some really cool views of stag Red Deers (Kronhjort).

Looking at the many birds of Lille Vildmose

After Lille Vildmose I took over the wheel from Frederik who had been driving for last 4 hours and then we went to a spot where I knew a pair of Eurasian Eagle Owls were roosting, and got some really nice views of sitting on the ground while three kestrels (Tårnfalk) were mobbing it.

Looking at Eurasian Eagle Owl, everyone are happy

The star of the show!

When everyone were satisfied with the views we went straight back Skagen, got some nice pasta with tomato sauce cooked by Augustine and then straight to bed (Though im still up writing this blog-post, c’est la vie).

Goodnight!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Rødhals - European Robin: 1

Rørsanger - Eurasian Reed Warbler: 3

Tornsanger - Common Whitethroat: 1

Havesanger - Garden Warbler: 1

Gransanger - Chiffchaff: 3

Total: 9

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Augustin Sticksel, Frederik Johansen, Mara Glane, Ole and Birgitte

Hi all!

Today was off to a great start as I smashed one of our three remaining bowls, and a rain shower delayed our birding duties. Luckily the rain passed… unluckily the bowl didn’t unsmash. But by 06:00, we were out at Grenen opening the nets and setting up the scopes.

The observation team had a quiet morning, with a Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge), Northern Shoveler (Skeand), and Pintail (Spidsand). The highlight of the morning was a second calendar year Long-Tailed Skua (Lille Kjove), which hung around for a few minutes, although unfortunately this bird couldn’t be spotted by the ringing team from Kabeltromlen.

The observation team making sure all angles are covered.

The ringing started with high hopes, as many passerines were spotted in the bushes on the journey to the site. However, bird numbers quickly dropped off after the first round, ending the day with 11 new birds ringed. The species included the usuals of Greater Whitethroat (Tornsanger), Reedwarbler (Rørsanger), and Blackcap (Munk), as well as a Robin (Rødhal), which are becoming a regular as autumn sets in.

We can finally go around Kabeltromlen without mosquito nets!

After lunch Ragnar and Fredrik had their sites set on a slightly different type of sea-watching: fishing! They bought some gear and set off to Højen Fyrvej, where they caught a mackerel. They are currently out as this blog is being written, trying to catch enough to feed the hungry volunteers, who can eat for 5000.

In the afternoon, we were joined by our guests Ole and Birgitte for a skull ossification masterclass by Lisa. The skulls of young birds take time to fully ossify, or harden with bone, similarly to young babies. This means a difference in the colour of the ossified and unossified cranium can be seen in a “limit,” and be an incredibly useful tool when ageing birds in the hand in autumn. Lisa demonstrated this on some donated specimens, and it was fascinating to see the different ossification limits and patterns between species. Thank you Lisa – we’re looking forward to testing out these methods in the field from tomorrow!  

The team being shown the partially ossified skull of a young blackbird.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Munk: 5

Rødhals: 1

Rørsanger: 4

Tornsanger: 1

Total: 11

If you wanna learn more about the current volunteers, or previous volunteers, then you can learn more about them here!

Link to todays observations in Skagen

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Augustin Sticksel, Frederik Johansen, Mara Glane, Ole and Birgitte

Hej!

Today, instead of catching birds at Kabeltromlen, we caught some leaves, reeds, and a lot of wind. After catching three birds (one of them a beautiful Redstart / Rødstjert) and spending four hours with open nets, we decided to close them. The vegetation around the nets was getting quite high, so Rosa trimmed all the reeds back down after I closed the nets. Now, we're prepared for a better ringing day tomorrow (hopefully).

The boys had a nice morning at World End's 3, spotting a Great Skua (Storkjove), two Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove), and two Fulmars (Malleuk). Augustin was pretty happy to get some more practice identifying the Fulmars.

In the afternoon, Rosa, Augustin, and I went on a walk along the beach to Nordstrand. We saw many adorable Sanderlings (Sandløber) and Common Ringed Plovers (Stor Præstekrave), a Bar-tailed Godwit (Lille Kobbersneppe), and two little seals chilling on the beach.

Seal laying on the beach

On our way back through the dunes, we took the opportunity to bring some poles left out from the CES ringing back to the station. We also got a nice view of a Marsh Harrier (Rørhøg).

Augustin and I looking over the cormorant lake for some grebes.

Then we had a chill evening with a nice pasta dinner with our guest at the station.

Until tomorrow!

Ringing totals (Kabeltromlen):

Gransanger - 2

Rødstjert - 1

Total - 3

Link to todays observations in Skagen

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Frederick Johansen, Augustin Sticksel, Ole & Brigitte and Mara Glane

G'day ladies and gentlemen

I hope your day has been just as good as mine, or better!

So get ready for a nice day-telling from all of us to you :)

Last night we attempted to catch storm-petrels (stormsvaler). It was Augustin who took on the heavy duty to be the nightwatcher and keeping an eye on the nets the whole night. We didn't unfortunately catch any storm birds, but we caught three common ringed plover (stor præstekrave).

Meanwhile at around 23 our new volunteer, Mara, arrived all the way from Germany!

Today I started going to world's end three together with Ragnar. Later Augustin and Knud joined our observation. Today there weren't as many gulls on the beach as there were yesterday. We didn't have 12 (!) Mediterranean gulls (Sorthovedet måge) but we had around three of them today, which was quite nice anyways. The observation also gifted us a beautiful Black Scoter (Amerikansk sortand) which layed close in skagerak and gave some good veiws. Later ROC called out a roosting Shag (Topskarv) on zello. It was quite active fouraging, so it was limited how good the views ended up being. Our guest Ole came around 9 am to try and get the Black Scoter and Shag, but without any luck unfortunately. Hopefully he will get some more success tomorrow when he joins the obs with us.

We didn't spend that much extra time after the standerdised-observation-period ended. That meant Ragnar and I got to finish, and sending our rarity commity bird descriptions on both the Brown booby (Brun sule) and the Balearic shearwater (Balearskråpe) and some more.

The ringing, let by Rosa, Mara and Simon gave a good surprise. It concerned not one, but two eisvogels (kingfisher, martin pescador, alcedo atthis, isfugl)! But otherwise the total couldn't keep up with the coolness from the kingfishers.

Later we all went on a driving trip to show Mara a bit of Skagen. Ragnar and I hadn't taken our scopes with us, so of course there were a shit ton of birds. But anyways, we then went to do some shopping, and now we have eaten a lovely lasagne made by Rosa, and we're all ready for tomorrow's surprises.

Ringing totals (night catching):

Stor Præstekrave – 3

Ringing totals (Kabeltromlen):

Tornsanger - 1

Gransanger - 3

Løvsanger - 1

Grå Fluesnapper - 1

Isfugl - 1

Munk - 4

Rødhals - 5

Rørsanger - 3

Total: 19

If you wanna learn more about the current volunteers, or previous volunteers, then you can learn more about them here!

Link to todays observations in Skagen

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Augustin Sticksel, Mara Glane, Ole and Birgitte and Frederik Johansen

1/9 is the first autumn day in started with the usual routine of going to Worlds End 3. The day didn’t bring about another rarities BUT we completely blew apart the old Skagen-record for Mediterranean Gulls, with 12 individuals counted at the same time! All of them 1k birds, no nice adults, but still cool to see so many of this once quite rare bird in Denmark! Of other nice birds was a Common Kingfisher that flew by us before sunrise at the OP. My first ever seen in Skagen, same goes for Frederik. Of other rarities was the fact that the entire observatory was out doing the obs, so everyone got a share in fun that is counting migration as we had no one with a C-license at the Kabeltromlen today. With nice observations of arctic skuas and other seabirds it was still nice, though there was no migration. Everyone went back when the obs stopped, but me and Frederik stayed longer since a trawler was heading towards harbour with a bunch of fulmars following, so we tried to see if we could find another Balearic Shearwater or something better, but no dice, except 18 fulmars

SKAF's emotional support pet - Igor, has probably seen more bird species than most birdwatchers

Ezra had to leave though as he had to return to the UK, we wish him safe travels and good luck with all future endeavours, it was nice having you here! After the obs me and Frederik went through Ellekrattet where we found a quite late brood of Icterine Warblers with younglings getting fed. We hope they have a safe travel to Africa, if not, we hope that they will make some rarity finder very happy somewhere.

The finnstick - here implemented expertly by Frederik Johansen

At the station we all took long naps and Hans had to leave, it was a great joy to have him also, had we hope returns soon and bring some more rare birds with him to Skagen. We then got ready for storm petrel catching and greeted the new guests that were going to stay at the Apartment, Ole and Birgitte, who are going stay with us for the week and along with them Mara our new volunteer from Germany also joined us! Two people left, three more arrived, There is always people at the station, an international revolving door.

Prepping the nets for storm petrel catching

Now we wait for a Storm Petrel to be caught, otherwise fingers cross for a good morning obs!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Total: 0

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

A lot of birders today came out to Verdens Ende 3.

Ragnar, Frederik and me went out observing this morning and were joined by a lot of Danish birders that came with the high hopes of seeing the Bown Booby (Brun Sule) which unfortunately didn’t show up today. But we still had a great time out on the dune and got a great view on a Long tailed Skua (Lille Kjove), one Red-necked Phalarope (Odinshane) and several Mediterranean Gulls (Sorthovedet Måge)! But the biggest highlight by far was Igor:)

The most handsome dog in Skagen!

Ezra and Rose were ringing with Oluf, they unfortunately didn’t catch big numbers of birds but the ones they caught were very cool! They managed to ring one Kingfisher (Isfugl), Nortern Wheatear (Stenpikker), Common Redstart (Rødstjert), beautiful birds!

Ezra ringing the Kingfisher.

In the afternoon we entered our data, gave the apartment a good cleaning and relaxed a bit. Right before dinner Ragnar and Frederick spotted a fishing boat coming in from the sea and found two Fulmars (Mallemuk) that were following it. We had dinner with Mikkel because hes sleeping at the station tonight.

Hans Christophersen took a picture of Rose and me carrying the scopes back to the station before dinner.

Link to todays observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Fredrik Johansen, Ezra Sherwell, Oluf Lou, Hans Christophersen, Augustin Sticksel, Mikkel Høegh Post.

Hi everyone,

With sunrise getting later Rosa and I had the luxury of an extra 15 minutes sleep in this morning as we only had to be out by 5am for ringing. We were kindly joined by Oluf to head up our ringing efforts which, while slow and steady, produced a nice selection of species,  the highlights being redstart (Rødstjert), whinchat (Bynkefugl) and wheatear (Stenpikker).

A first year Whinchat (Bynkefugl)

Meanwhile, Augustin, a new volunteer from Germany who arrived in late last night joined Ragnar, Fredrik and Hans out at Worlds end 3 for some seawatching which produced a return visit and some good views of the brown booby (Brun Sule) as well as a total of 15 arctic skua (Almindelig Kjove), 1 great skua (Storkjove), a little tern (Dværgterne), several little gulls (Dværgmåge) and mediterranean gulls (Sorthovedet Måge), and 37 wheatear (Stenpikker) being the highlights.

Sunrise with the observers at World end 3.

After lunch, several of us headed west, largely on our own separate walks with a goshawk (Duehøg), several redstart (Rødstjert) and good numbers of whinchat (Bynkefugl) and wheatear (Stenpikker) the highlights. On my way back I called into a small patch of largely coniferous woodland towards the southwest which produced crested tit (Topmejse), tree pipit (Skovpiber), spotted flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper) and a juvenile great-spotted woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte) to add to the days totals.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Gransanger:      1                                                                                                                                                                  

Stenpikker:       2                                                                                                                                                                  

Tornsanger:       3                                                                                                                                                                  

Munk:                   5                                                                                                                                                                  

Rødhals:              1                                                                                                                                                                  

Rødstjert:           1                                                                                                                                                                  

Rørsanger:         3                                                                                                                                                                  

Bynkefugl:          1                                                                                                                                                                  

Løvsanger:         4

Totals: 21

Link to todays observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Fredrik Johansen, Ezra Sherwell, Oluf Lou, Hans Christophersen, Augustin Sticksel.

Hi folks!

Since Ragnar last updated you, yesterday evening, Ezra and I went out to Grenen for some night catching. During the day the flooded pools were full of terns and wader species, so we were feeling optimistic, however we arrived at 22:00 to a nearly empty beach! After trying our luck with a few flighty dunlin (Almindelig Ryle) and sanderling (sandløber) we came across a common tern (Fjordterne), which we were able to catch and bring back to the station to ring and take biometrics of – a new species to catch and see up close for both Ezra and me.

A first year common tern (Fjordterne).

After a slightly later night and shorter nights sleep, we were up once again for ringing and observations. The ringing was a little slower than the past few days, with 15 new birds captured, and highlights being a sedge warbler (Sivsanger) and two spotted flycatchers (Grå Fluesnapper). A nice addition to the session was an excellent view of a red footed falcon (Aftenfalk), which Ragnar and Simon spotted coming off the sea, before flying right over our heads, giving us incredible views to see identification features like the dark “cap.”

Towards the end of the session, I got a very exciting phone call – the brown booby (Brun Sule) was back!!! Having missed it the other day I was very excited to say the least, and after failing to identify it confidently from the juvenile gannets from Kabeltromlen, I ended up cycling and running to Worlds End 3 to great the boys and the booby (yay!!!). Ragnar and Fredrik then stayed for an extra 3 hours to help birders view the bird, while we closed the nets at Kabeltromlen.

The observing team doing what they do best.

After a bite to eat, Ezra and I headed out on separate birding escapades to Sandmilen, both seeing decent numbers of tree pipits (Skovpiber), crossbills (Lille Korsnæb), stonechats (Vestlig Sortstrubet Bynkefugl), whinchats (Bynkefugl), yellowhammer (Gulspurv), and kestrels (Tårnfalk). Meanwhile, Ragnar and Fredrik cracked on with some admin, before heading back out to Grenen, for a bit of additional sea watching. This time they spotted a bat species and a wryneck (Vendehals), which is an uncommon autumn visitor to Skagen.

One of the many beautiful views from the higher sand dunes South of Skagen.

We’ve had a brilliant few days, as the autumn season gets underway, so lets see what surprises tomorrow brings with it!

Ringing (Fyrhaven)

Fjordterne: 1

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Løvsanger: 2

Gærdesanger: 2

Rørsanger: 4

Munk: 2

Tornsanger: 2

Sivsanger: 1

Grå Fluesnapper: 2

Total: 16

Link to todays observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Fredrik Johansen, Ezra Sherwell, Simon Sigard Christiansen, Hans Christophersen, Birthe Christophersen.

We thought it was over but then it wasn’t.

Today started with me being rudely awakened by Frederik at 0545, reminded me that we were getting late for migration count, but we still managed to be there at 0618, just in time. It was a quiet morning, but in the far distance we see a fishing trawler heading towards Skagen harbour, surrounded by fulmars (Mallemuk) and gulls maybe something else could be following it? I said “let’s see who finds the rare shearwater first” he answers “let the best man win”. Well, he won, at 0906 while counting fulmars, he called out “Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe)” and I get on the bird, it looks like Balearic Shearwater (Balearskråpe)! Apparently he also had said it for himself (We heard it on his Dictaphone), so we put it on Zello as a possible, and then it landed. When it flew up, we got good views again and got it filmed as it disappeared towards VNV. Another rarity! Two rare seabirds in three days is almost unheard of, especially considering it follows in the heels of the Brown Booby from 26/8. This bird, if accepted by SU (the rarity committee in Denmark) would be 98^th record for Denmark and 38^th record for Skagen, and the first in seven years for Skagen. What a day.

But now I got that out, the ringers went to Kabeltromlen and there plenty of birds in the bushes and they caught 25 birds, an adult Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) was exciting.

After the migration count we went back to the station to look at videos and I got ready for potentially my first guided tour this season! As a large cruise ship came into the harbour, we were advertising for a Bird Walk tour around in the nearby area, but sadly nobody wanted, even though the sign should have pulled in at least one aspiring birdwatcher, but c’est la vie.

Would join a bird walk, when reading the sign?

The rest of day was admin work, chores with Rosa having trouble with the hose and some light birding at Højen Fyr to see if a hattrick could be achieved, but not today. Hans had also been out and about, counted all the sanderlings between Grenen and Nordstrand, picking up his wife in Aalborg and managed to find a Black Kite (Sort Glente)! We are waiting for it to arrive up here.

Squeezing the last juice out of the day at Højen Fyr

We got some ice cream to celebrate for everyone and we got to say hello to Hans’s wife Birthe, who is going to stay here till Friday. Also good to see new faces around here, tomorrow we will be joined by Augustin, who has been here before, new old faces are also always good! Now its late in the afternoon, Rosa and Ezra have gone out night catching, hopefully they succeed, but you’ll find out tomorrow!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Kærsanger (Marsh Warbler) - 1

Rørsanger (Reed Warbler) - 5

Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat) - 4

Tornsanger (Common Whitethroat) - 6

Havesanger (Garden Warbler) - 1

Gransanger (Chiffchaff) - 2

Løvsanger (Willow Warbler) - 6

Broget Fluesnapper (Pied Flycatcher) - 1

Total: 26

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

People at the station: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Fredrik Johansen, Ezra Sherwell, Simon Sigard Christiansen, Hans Christophersen, Birthe Christophersen.

After the greatest observing succes yesterday with a magnificent BROWN BOOBY (brun sule) found by our very own Ragnar, then our hopes for today were HUGE!

The morning started with Ragnar and I going to world’s end 3 to observe and Ezra, Rosa and Simon going to Skarvsøen for CES ringing.

The ringing period gave a good amount of birds. They never had a round with less than 10 birds and they caught a beautiful Kingfisher (Isfugl) as one of the first birds. They also had a flock of 14 common buzzards soaring above the site at 11 around the time they had to take down all of the nets for maintenance.

The observing where quite slow today. There was no migration over the sea today compared to yesterday, but the passerine migration disappointed today even though the weather forecast had said it should have been a good day for it. But we managed to get some good species anyways like a calling wood warbler (skovsanger), which was pretty cool! Later Hans joined us for the migration and sometime after Jørgen and Igor came by.

Hans hadn’t seen much but counted many roosting terns on the beach. And a cuckoo and some arctic skuas.

Over the seas as well as on the beach as mentioned before, there were a huge present of common tern with around 832 in total! 700 over the seas at one point in the early morning.

After ended migration count, Ragnar and I went to look after warblers. We started off at Kabeltromlen where we had a good amount of willow warbler (løvsanger), whitethroat (tornsanger) and more of the common species. When Kabeltrommel warbler mission was completed we went to Ellekrattet and had not one, but two wood warblers foraging in the tree crowns and just a fair amount of warbler individuals.

When lunch had been consumed we went out to the area around Buttervej and looked for passerines there. We had a skulky reed warbler, one of the last red-backed shrikes (rødrygget tornskade) this year, a garden warbler (havesanger) and some wheatears (stenpikker) and stonechats (sortstrubet bynkefugl).

Hans had been on a loooong walk (or several walks) around Skagen. First to count the nice terns and waders at Grenen and Nordstrand and then down to stokmilen to look after the beautiful swallowtails (svalehaler) which had been around the area for a long time until some time last week or the week before. No success unfortunately.

Ezra and Rosa have been on their own individual birding mission but didn’t add many new species to the day’s total.

This late afternoon and evening we have been completing chores that needed to be done and now we are ready for the new adventures of tomorrow!

Goodnight.

Today's CES ringing data from Skarvsøen:

Water rail / Vandrikse 1

Kingfisher / Isfugl 1

Blue tit / Blåmejse 5

Willow warbler / Løvsanger 6

Chiff Chaff / Gransanger 3

Reed warbler / Rørsanger 24

Marsh warbler / Kærsanger 1

Garden warbler / Havesanger 1

Lesser Whitethroat / Gærdesanger 1

Whitethroat / Tornsanger 4

Blackbird / Solsort 1

Robin / Rødhals 1

Reed bunting / Rørspurv 3

Total: species (13) and amount (52)

Dagens observationer i Skagen

People: Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Fredrik Johansen, Ezra Sherwell, Simon Sigard Christiansen, Hans Christophersen.