My day started extra early at two o’clock in the morning, as I went out to try night catch one of the Quails (Vagtel) that have been singing all throughout the Storsig area in the past nights. Already on my first hundred meters in, I heard at least three males vocalising their characteristic trisyllabic song that reminds of water drops. Locating them precisely however turned out to be very challenging, because they usually only sing a few times and then pause for a minute or more. The thermal binoculars I brought with me weren’t of any use, since the overall temperature was already to warm. But somehow I managed and was able to approach one of the birds, the overcast sky and strong northwesterly winds probably helped me get close enough. I found the tiny nocturnal singer in the beam of my flashlight and caught it with the hand net. With the Quail (Vagtel) in hand, I called Alvin to wake him and the others up and meet them in the lab to ring the bird. János and Hannah only had time to take a quick look at the Quail (Vagtel) before heading out to Kabeltromlen, but Alvin and I could take our time to process the bird, which was behaving very calmly, and take good photos. It was my first ever steel ring closed, so now I can call myself a more experienced ringer than I was before. Not only the song, but also the throat and breast pattern proof the bird to be a male; we aged it as 3cy+ (3rd calendar year or older), as it doesn’t show a moult limit in the primaries. As dawn slowly broke, we released the Quail (Vagtel) at the same spot where it was caught and watched it fly off well immediately. What a great experience, I will definitely try again as it worked so well on my first try.

3K+ male Quail (Vagtel). Such a lovely little bird. 

János and Hannah came back early from Kabeltromlen: After opening only very few nets due to wind, and having caught one single bird, they decided to close everything, and were back at the station at 07:00. Alvin tried some birdwatching first, but there was almost no movement out at sea, and so he quit soon after and caught a bit more sleep instead. János and I occupied ourselves with indoor work, Hannah went for a walk to the Pencil first. After lunch, Alvin and I checked some ringing sheets. Our dear guests Anne and Jesper went into town, where they visited the museum and had lunch at the restaurant. Back in the apartment, they watched the flocks of birds resting along the shore, just through the window – one of the most convenient forms of birdwatching there is. Towards the evening, we all went out again. Despite the winds still present, it was quite warm and both Hannah and Alvin had a little swim. After dinner, Alvin picked up Alix at the train station. She will stay with us until the end of June, and we are all so happy to have her back again!

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Hannah Bangard, Anne & Jesper

The morning was rather calm but productive with a small but steady amount of birds per round. Since the standardized migration count was over, we all went to Kabeltromlen or had a sleep in. The best bird of the morning was a Chiffchaff (Gransanger) with an UK ring, but since these rings are literally used everywhere we will need to wait a bit to finde out where it was comming from.

Chiffchaff (Gransanger)

After the ringing Alvin spend some time with cleaning and laundary and Hannah went for a shopping trip. Alvin also found that the chicks of the Great Tit (Musvit) breeding pair in our garden have fletched, so he set up the gardennet to try and catch them. This can be very interessting, as you exactly know who the parents are.

Beside this, there was not much going on birdwise today in Skagen. Both Aalvin and I went for a short seawatch and outside of the lighthouse were he saw two Razorbills (Alk) and two Kittywakes (Ride) and I later had a Black Guillemot (Tejst) resting close to the beach.

Highlights from the observations:
Black Guillemot (Tejst) - 1

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)
Gransanger - 1
Gærdesmutte - 1
Jernspurv - 1
Kærsanger - 1
Rørsanger - 2
Munk - 9
Tornsanger - 1
Rørspurv - 1
Total: 17

Link to today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Hannah, Lars Bo

We chose today for the next scheduled CES session, and since the spring period of standardised migration counts is over now, we could easily split up to do simultaneous ringing at Kabeltromlen. Alvin and I needed to get up at 02:00 to be at Skarvsøen in time, but thankfully we had the opportunity to nap a bit in between checking the nets, since we only caught about two to four birds each round (including a lot of recaptures).

Tired Alvin.

János, Agnes, and Hannah at Kabetlromlen had a surprising first round of ten birds, but afterwards it slowed down for them as well. It was quite windy and chilly with overcast in the beginning, but later it got sunny and warmer. They caught a beautiful male Yellowhammer (Gulspurv). Our guests, Jesper and Anne, also visited Kabeltromlen for a while after listening to all the nice bird songs on their way out.

Yellowhammer (Gulspurv) at Kabeltromlen.

Alvin and I ringed the first baby bird of the season, a Dunnock (Jernspurv) fledgling with not yet fully grown wings. It’s nice to see that now also in Skagen the first young birds start to leave their nests.

First calendar year Dunnock (Jernspurv) – first ringed baby bird of the season.

As always, the six hours of CES ringing were a bit more exhausting than our usual five hours standard, so when Alvin and I got back, we needed some relaxation first. Alvin went for a swim. In the meantime, Jesper and Anne got János and Hannah a lift to the shop, which we are always very thankful for. They also took Agnes to the train station, because, unfortunately, she had to leave us again already. Bye Agnes, we hope you still had some fun days here anyways! Later, Hannah explored the area a bit further, and Jesper and Anne also went for a walk through the town and its surroundings, before preparing a fantastic dinner for us – a delicious Vietnamese dish with sweet potato and spinach. Later during evening meeting, they mentioned an observation they had yesterday evening of what they thought was a Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade). Hearing about this immediately caught our attention, because at this time of year, Grey Shrikes (Tornskade) are very unlikely to come here, however it’s the perfect time for their similar-looking but much rarer relative the Lesser Grey Shrike (Rosenbrystet Tornskade) that breeds in South and eastern Europe and western Asia. When our meeting was done, we rushed straight out to scan the area and check for the bird, although staying in the same spot for more than one day would also have been rather unusual for this species, but the possibility was still there. The only shrikes we saw however were several Red-backed Shrikes (Rødrygget Tornskade) perching on the rosebushes in the evening sun.

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Hannah Bangard, Jesper & Anne

Today was very windy so we only had the nets open for around two hours in the morning. Nonetheless we got three birds, two Blackcaps (Munk) and one Garden Warbler (Havesanger).

Garden Warbler (Havesanger)

Today was also the last day of the standardized migration count of the season which János conducted today, with the highlight being the Fulmars (Malemuk)

Julian is feeling better today as well, being ill yesterday. He had a nice breakfast outside and rested in the morning.

Not being tired enough from waking up early haha, Hanna went for a 10 km run and ended it by swimming in the ocean.

In the afternoon our new apartment guests, Anna and Jesper arrived. We are already looking forward to what you will cook for us tomorrow for dinner since we have heard a lot of good things about that :)

Highlights from the observations:
Fulmar (Mallemuk) - 42

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)
Munk - 2
Havesanger - 1

Link to today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Hannah Bangard, Agnes Hjortsberg, Anna and Jesper Sandfeld

Hello everyone,
My name is Hannah, and I'm visiting my friend Julian at the Fuglestation in Skagen. I arrived on Tuesday, and since then I've been entering the world of birding. So, I'm still a beginner!

As you know from the previous blog post, we tried catching terns (Terne) during the night at the place where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea meet. We set up two nets over a small pond about 10 meters from the sea to be safe. Otherwise, the nets could have ended up in the water because of the waves and the movement of the sand. Afterwards, we returned to our base camp in the dunes and got some sleep. Every 30 minutes, someone checked the nets. Unfortunately, we didn't catch any birds at all. That was disappointing, but it was still worth the attempt.

At 3:00 in the morning, János left for Kabeltromlen to prepare the standardized ringing session, allowing the rest of us to sleep a little longer. He opened all the nets and completed the first round by himself.

One hour later, 400 meters further north, Alvin, Julian, and I closed the nets on the beach. We hadn't caught a single bird, and the wind had become too strong. We had to end the session to avoid any risk of birds being harmed in the shaking nets.

After taking down the nets, Julian and I joined János. Alvin stayed behind for migration counting. Normally, you might call someone a workaholic if they sleep at their workplace. For a birdwatcher, however, it's one of the best things in the world!

Apart from a Manx Shearwater (Almindelig Skråpe) and a Fulmar (Mallemuk), the migration count was rather slow because of the strong wind.

The situation wasn't much different 400 meters inland. In total, we caught nine birds plus one recapture. Three of them were Chiffchaffs (Gransanger), two Reed Warblers (Rørsanger), one Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger), one lesser whitethroat (Gærdesanger), one Common Redstart (Rødstjert), and one Blackcap (Munk).

Inbetween rounds, János heard a Golden Oriole (Pirol) and informed the birdwatching community via Zello. Three birders came by shortly afterwards in the hope of seeing it.

I'm really enjoying bird ringing. Walking between beautiful bushes and reed beds, carefully extracting birds from the nets and then analyzing them is a fascinating experience. I'm impressed by the knowledge and enthusiasm of everyone here.

Back at the station, a woman from Aarhus university arrived to collect some dead birds that the Fuglestation had gathered over the past months. She will examine the plastic found inside them as part of a large research project.

A few minutes later, Agnes from Sweden arrived. Welcome, dear Agnes! She will be staying with us as a volunteer for the next month.

After lunch, I showed her the cormorant lake. During the afternoon, everyone spent their time differently: taking naps, going for bird walks, working on their computers, or simply relaxing.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner cooked by János and finished the day with our usual evening meeting. Since it was Sunday, we also planned the upcoming week together on the whiteboard.

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Mathilde Sund, Hannah Bangard, Lars Bo, Knud Pedersen

We had south winds overnight. This brought in a fishy smell from the harbour, but also a good amount of birds to Kabeltromlen. We ringed many Reed and Marsh Warblers (Rørsanger and Kærsanger) and a couple of Sylvias, but the highlight was an totaly unexpected Red-breasted Flycatcher (Lille Fluesnapper). It even had a broodpatch, which was very fun to see, although we dont think it is a breedingbird.

Lille Fluesnapper with broodpatch

I was on migration count this morning, and after two hours of litteraly no mouvments I desided to quit and went over to the ringing. Just in time for the Flycatcher. I stayed there for an hour, befor I needed to go back and meet with Diana. She is a Post dock from Aarhus University and together we went to Skarvsöen to check the Cormorant (Skarv) colonie on plastic and fishing nets used as material for the nests. It was a nice walk and we had a long talk about birdringing and her job as a Seabird biologist and she took some pictures of the nests for her research.

After Alvin did some birding at WE2, he went on a much needed shopping trip and Julian and Hannah went for a walk to Storsig and Batteriskoven and afterwards for a swim. Next to different indoor tasks, I also analyzed data from my recorder at Grenen and found a Stone Curlew (Triel) calling shortly after midnight on the 5th of June. A great record for Skagen!

Nocturnal migrating Stone Curlew (Triel) over Grenen

The highlight of the day however, was the dinner! Alvin made halloumi burger – so good!

Crazy halloumi burgers

We had big plans for the night. As the wind was down, we thought it might be a good idea to try and catch terns at the tip. We prepared everything and biked out to Grenen. The nets were placed over a small pound that had formed close to the tip, and we made our camp on WE3, where we usually do the migration count.

Net settup at Grenen

We brought some blankets, drinks and a couple of candles, so everything was set for a cozy night outside. Even though we ended up not catching anything, it was still a nice trip and fun to spend a whole night at Grenen.

Link to today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Hannah Bangard, Alix Bortolussi, Anna and Jesper Sandfeld, Agnes

And again we had success with the Nightjars (Natravn)! First, after setting up the four nets, we observed their spectacular flights and song all throughout the area, there were many around. Hidden in the sandy ground, I also found an Antlion (Myreløve), an odd-looking lacewing larva that digs little traps in the ground for ants and other small insects to get caught in.

Nightjar (Natravn) in flight.

Antlion (Myreløve)

Around midnight, Alvin, János and Hannah went back to the car, and I was the only one left outside to check the nets every twenty minutes. In between the rounds, I sat down on a small hill, listened to the Nightjars (Natravn), Woodcocks (Skovsneppe) and Quails (Vagtel), and sometimes also just napped for a few minutes. At 01:40 I had the first Nightjar (Natravn) in one of the nets, by then, I had almost started giving up hope. I called the other to wake them up and headed to the car. On the way however, I saw another Nightjar (Natravn) flying around the second double net, seemingly interested in the sounds we put up on the speakers. I stopped by to see what would happen, and eventually watched the bird fly into the net. When I got to the car, I could surprise the others with this nice double catch. What a great reward for us enduring the sleepless nights and all the biting mosquitoes – now everything was absolutely worth it!

Double Nightjar (Natravn), both 3K+ males.

After ringing the Nightjars (Natravn), we all went out again to take down the nets and pack our stuff. It was 03:00, when Lars Bo drove us home. Today’s ringing team consisting of János and Alvin had to head straight out again to open nets in time, Hannah and I had a few more minutes, since we could leave a bit later for the migration count, enough for a little breakfast. It was tough though out there at World’s End 3, only very few birds, apart from some flocks of Common and Velvet Scoters (Sortand og Fløjlsand), and I had quite a hard time staying awake. I did enjoy close views on two resting Black-throated Divers though.

Black-throated Divers (Sortstrubet Lom).

Hannah left after about half an hour, and went to the ringing at Kabeltromlen. There, they had better luck and way more birds than I, almost forty were ringed overall. The prettiest and most special of them was for sure the second calendar year Red Crossbill (Lille Korsnæb). János called me and I immediately went to see it, Mathilde also arrived just in time. The gorgeous red, green, and grey plumage, and its unique crossed beak make it such a fantastic bird.

Red Crossbill (Lille Korsnæb) ringed at Kabeltromlen.

This was basically where our day ended, because in the afternoon back at the station, we used most of the time to catch up on a lot of sleep that we lacked the past days and nights. Only Hannah went out for a walk in the rain.

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Mathilde Sund, Hannah Bangard, Lars Bo

After coming back from nightjar (Natravn) ringing, we had 5 minutes before going out to set up nets for the morning ringing at Kabeltromlen. Today was the last morning for Dylan and Olga and they ringed their last birds for this season.

Dylans last bird, Ictarine Warbler (Gulbug)

Olgas last bird, Garden Warbler (Havesanger)

The migration count was slow but luckily there was some gulls to look at, resting on the beach.

The rest of the day was spent sleeping for most of us, except for Dylan and Olga who left the station.

In the evening we went to Skagen Kiltplantage again to do some more nightjar ringing. Check out tomorrow's blog to see how it went ;)

Highlights from the observations:
Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) - 1

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)
Kærsanger - 1
Rørsanger - 5
Gulbug - 1
Tornsanger - 1
Havesanger - 2
Munk - 10
Dompap - 2

Ringing (Skagen Kiltplantage)
Natravn - 1
Total: 1

Link to today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Mathilde Sund, Hannah Bangard, Lars Bo, Knud Pedersen

This morning most of the team was at the ringing. It was a steady session with mainly Blackcaps (Munk) but a couple nicer species like Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger) and Icterine Warbler (Gulbug). One of the last birds of the morning though was this female Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade). This is the fifth Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade) that we have caught here this spring which is higher than the previous spring totals of this species. My favourite bird of the day a leucistic Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger). We have seen this same bird hanging around the nets since late April, so it was nice to see it up close one last time. The spring, however, has not yielded a Danish rarity yet so the whole team has their fingers crossed that one makes its way into the nets soon.

Female Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade)

Skagen's famous leucistic Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger)!

János was the only one on the migration count this morning. He had an enjoyable morning with quite a few Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove) and some gulls to look at in detail on the beach. Though the best thing of the morning was a massive flock of over 2500 Velvet Scoters (Fløjlsand)! Almost double the previous day record in Skagen. Unfortunately, they were a bit far out to look for rarer species, but it was still an amazing sight.

After a quick lunch I went on a walk around a few sites like Skarvsøen and Ellekrattet to look for some later spring scarcities. Species in mind were Great Reed Warbler (Drosselrørsanger) and Blyth’s Reed Warbler (Buskrørsanger) as neither had been found in the field yet the spring. However, to my surprise, I was able to find a Bonelli’s Warbler (Bjergløvsanger/Balkanløvsanger)! I managed to get a nice twenty second view of it allowing me to see all the important features. The bird did not call for me though, meaning I could not be certain whether it was an Eastern Bonelli’s (Balkanløvsanger) or Western Bonelli’s Warbler (Bjergløvsanger). I didn’t mind though. As it is still a very nice bird to see in Denmark. The others came out to try and re find it with me, but we had no luck. Maybe it turns up somewhere else in the coming days.

In the late afternoon Alvin also caught a Black Redstart (Husrødstjert) in the lighthouse garden. This is the first nice bird that the net in the garden has caught this spring, so we were all pleased. Plus, it is only our second Black Redstart (Husrødstjert) caught this spring.

Young Black Redstart (Husrødstjert)

Because the wind was low, we decided to go out and try catch some Nightjars (Natravn) over the night. We went a bit South of Skagen to the plantation and set up nets for 11pm and left them out with playback for three hours. We were super happy to find one young male Nightjar in the nets. It is a species we all really wanted to catch because of their amazing cryptic plumage and other very strange features (like combs on their claws!). We were absolutely mind blown by how amazing this bird was, and we hope to catch more in the coming nights. Nightjar (Natravn) catching does require to stay up ll night which can be very tiring! Each year the station tries to catch Nightjars (Natravn) in Skagen which sometimes means that we get some really nice recaptures. At the same site we also heard a few roding Woodcock (Skovsneppe) which was also nice as we haven’t really seen them since late March. My last day here in Skagen has been absolutely brilliant and I don't think I could've asked for a better ending.

Young male Nightjar (Natravn)!

Today was in fact my last full day in Skagen as I leave tomorrow morning to head back to Scotland. I have had the most amazing time here and have learnt so much. Not only have I gained some very valuable skills, I have also met some amazing people that I have been able to get super close to. So, this goodbye is harder than I imagined it would be. I am sure we will all meet up in the coming years again. I also want to thank all the local birders from Skagen who have passed on all their skills to me across the spring. The scene here is very special and I am sure I will be visiting here again soon! I hope you all have an amazing rest of the spring filled with lovely birds.

Today I had the pleasure of sleeping about thirty minutes longer than usual, since I have been lacking a lot of sleep the days before. I joined Alvin and Olga at Kabeltromlen from the second round on, whilst János was out counting at World’s End 3, and Dylan slept in to say goodbye to his family later, who took the plane back to Scotland today. For the ringing, the conditions were almost perfect, with overcast and almost no wind at least in the beginning, but still we didn’t catch as many birds, ten in total. One of them however was a species we haven’t caught yet this spring: An adult female Black Redstart (Husrødstjert). Dylan immediately came to see it after we called him, it was a new species for him to see in hand, since they are rather rare in Scotland.

Adult female Black Redstart (Husrødstjert).

Beautiful red tail feathers.

On his way to the observations, János flushed a Lapwing (Vibe) that was resting on the Sandormtracks. During the count, he also had a Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Mage), five Caspian Gulls (Kaspisk Måge) and a Little Gull (Dværgmåge) resting on the beach. Among the many Fulmars (Mallemuk) out at sea today, he picked out two of the darker (“blue”) morph. Knud joined him a bit later. The biggest highlight came after the count though, when a Long-legged Buzzard (Ørnevåge) was called out approaching Grenen. Our observers had very nice views of the bird as it went straight overhead on a migration attempt and then turned south again. We at the ringing just were on closing round and for some reason didn’t receive the Zello messages. Because of that, we got the information a bit too late to see the Buzzard on its first attempt. But luckily for us, the Long-legged Buzzard (Ørnevåge) came up north again and this time we did manage to see it, just like Dylan who saw it from around the lighthouse. It was a lifer both for Dylan and for Alvin. Within the following hours, the buzzard was seen again and again many times.

Long-legged Buzzard (Ørnevåge)!

Back at the station, Alvin opened the net in the lighthouse garden mainly because we saw the Swallows (Landsvale & Bysvale) flying very low today. We didn’t get one of these unfortunately, but Alvin had a recaptured male Great Tit (Musvit) and realised that the female it’s breeding with in one of the nest boxes was ringed with the very next subsequent ring number on the same day some time ago. It seems like they have been sticking to each other for a while now :)
After some of the station work and much needed napping, we all went out to town to meet Simon at the ice cream shop. He lost a bet the other day when he promised us that there would come a rare raptor, and if there wouldn’t, he’d get us all an ice cream – so here we are, happy that the Long-legged Buzzard (Ørnevåge) turned up today and not before. So we got the ice cream and went to the harbour to enjoy it there. After that, we went to a nice little restaurant, where we had fries, and beer, and nice chats, while the rain pelted on the roof to make it even more cozy. In the end, Simon said goodbye to Olga and Dylan; he’ll go to Iceland with Lisa tomorrow morning to do some field work there, and won’t be here when the two of them leave. After having had so much food in the evening, we didn’t feel like any dinner was needed, so we just went to the supermarket to buy some stuff we need and then headed back to the station. We were all a bit surprised when we realised how late it was already. János spent the rest of the evening re-counting birds in pictures he took during his time in Georgia; he just sat in a chair for a long time clicking black dots on his computer screen. It was very tiring for him, but definitely with it, because the precise numbers were even higher than his previous estimate.

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen