This morning, Simon, Mette and I went ringing at Kabeltromlen again after not having been there for ten days. We used today for an opportunity to train me for C-license. There were surprisingly many birds in the nets and a great variety of species. Overall a lot of first calendar year birds (birds hatched this spring). My personal highlight was for sure the Crested Tit (Topmejse), because it was my first time seeing this fantastic bird in hand. We also had a juvenile Common Redstart (Rødstjert).

1K Crested Tit (Topmejse)

1K Common Redstart (Rødstjert)

The ringing area has changed a lot since I was last there: The young, green reeds have grown a lot, and the water has receded, it’s mostly mud now, and there’s only a few puddles of water left; soon the waders won’t be needed anymore. Simon left us after the rining, because he has to go to Germany today. On his way he found a "flock" of the orchid Marsh Helleborine Epipactis palustris (Sump Hullæbe).

Marsh Helleborine (Sump Hullæbe)

As we were closing nets, the Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib) was suddenly called out as moving northeast – just in our direction! It has been reported from further south earlier in the morning, but now it was coming closer and closer according to many messages on Zello. After we were finally back from closing round – I almost stressed out a bit – we immediately scanned the area with our binoculars. Only we could not find the big vulture, although others had seen it at Grenen not long before. Since we had quite many birds waiting, I decided we must process these first. At some point, I randomly turned around while still having a Great Tit (Musvit) in hand – and there it was! The giant, dark bird slowly flew past us in that exact instant! It came very close, before moving southwest towards Ellekrattet, and we had amazing views on it, way better even than what we experienced yesterday. Incredible. We now also received the data from the Spanish ringing centre, after having read the vulture’s ring number from photos and reporting it. Now we know it was ringed as a chick on 30th May 2023 at Rascafría near Madrid.

Map showing where the Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib) was ringed, and where it has been reported in Denmark. The distance between Skagen and Rascafría in Spain is over 2.140 kilometres!

At 10:20, we were done with ringing and biked back to the station. After a little nap, I spent most of the afternoon with making the station fresh and ready, and preparing everything for the two summer volunteers who would arrive today. Brian from California arrived in town at 16:30, Mette picked him up. Welcome to the station! After getting everything settled, we went out, and I got to show him around in the area. On our walk he got his first four lifers already. After that, I went for a little grocery shop to make dinner later. Juliane, the second new volunteer from Germany, had a lot of trouble with her trains unfortunately, and ultimately was delayed until 00:20. But in the end she finally made it, and that’s what matters! I’m looking forward to having a great time with this new team!

People: Julian Helbig, Simon S. Christiansen, Brian Browne, Juliane Rößler, Mette Breede

Alix and Alvin left this morning. At around half past ten, Simon came by to pick them up, and it was time for me to say goodbye to my dear team members, fellow birdwatchers and great friends. I wish them the best of luck and a fantastic time at Ottenby, their next destination, and Lista later this year. We’ll meet again, that’s for sure, and I’m already looking forward to that day! For now I’m left all alone at the station. I’ll miss my team. But of course I’m also looking forward to meeting the new summer team tomorrow evening. When Simon was home again, there suddenly was a Zello call by Claus F. Madsen that let excitement rise quickly: A possible Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib) just south of town! After being seen by other people too, it could be confirmed as one. Simon tried to find it from his home, but he couldn’t. He got a little nervous and headed for his car, then drove south to Hulsig Hede as fast as he could. Down there, he met Jørgen Kabel, and together they re-found this super rare and enormous bird, and had some of the best possible views on it, as it slowly flew just past them. The vulture is wearing a ring from Spain and will thus be accepted as the first spontaneous wild Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib) ever for Denmark (category A).

Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib)!!! Photo by Jørgen Kabel.

Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib) in the sky when Jørgen took the picture above

During all that, I was stuck at the station, since I didn’t have a possibility to leave Skagen fast enough. But at around half past twelve, Simon came up to the station again to pick up Mette B. and me. Unfortunately though, we couldn’t find the vulture again after that, and it has also not been seen by others. We spent quite some time scanning the area from one of the southernmost watchpoints, but without any luck. Only a big flock of Lapwings (Vibe), a singing Quail (Vagtel), a family of Stonechats (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl), some Starlings (Stær). A little bit disappointed we drove back to the Station, although we already knew before that we would have needed a lot of luck. But then at 15:00 the vulture was seen again, already at Nedermosen! This time Mette and I could go together in her car, since it has been fixed in the meantime. As we knew the bird was moving south again, we first drove past Engklit and then to the northern part of Hulsig Hede. From the hills there, you can have a great overview over the area, and we scanned for quite a while, before finally spotting the Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib)! What an excitement, what a chaos!

Hulsig Hede

It was very far away though and only moving further south, so we decided to try and follow it. We went all the way down to Råbjerg Mile, but lost the bird somewhere along the way, and couldn’t find it again. Still we were really happy with this observation, a lifer for all of us. After all of that I had a late lunch, later Simon came over for an evening meeting with only the two of us. In the evening, the Cinereous vulture was actually found again, going for roost in the dunes at Hulsig Hede – what a sight! Many people, including Simon, went out again to see it there. Chances are it will move up again tomorrow, so we all should definitely keep our eyes out for that and have our fingers crossed!

The Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib) in roost. Photo by Erik Christophersen.

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

People: Julian Helbig, Simon S. Christiansen, Mette Breede, Jørgen Kabel, Knud Pedersen

In the morning we showed Alix the documentary that was filmed with us in April, because she hadn’t seen it yet. It was fun to watch once again, and still we’re all quite happy with how it turned out. Apart from going into to town once, and looking at some lovely shops there, Alvin and Alix had to spend most of the day with all the tasks left before leaving Skagen tomorrow: Packing, cleaning, archiving pictures, booking tickets – you name it. 

Alvin also had his final talk with Simon, while I was typing in ringing data with Mette. After that, we all went out into the garden to play the so called Viking Game, which basically translates to hitting sticks with sticks. But as primitive as this might sound, it is actually very fun. Embarrassingly, we as the volunteer team lost the first round to Simon and Mette, but we took revenge and defeated them in a second round, proving we do have that Viking blood run through our veins.

The Viking Game!

Later, Mette had to go to the car mechanic to fix a flat tire. Simon finally took the annoying floor lamp from the station’s living room with him to get rid of it. For now we’re lacking a lamp there, but since the days are so long at the moment, we don’t need it yet. 

In the evening, we all went out for some time. Alix and Alvin even did a little seawatch at Grenen, where they had an Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove), while I was preparing dinner. It was very windy for them, and they got pretty cold.

A lot of gulls roosting and foraging along the shore.

After dinner, we had a cozy little campfire in the garden. We were grilling marshmallows and writing glow words into the windy summer night air, while a big peachy full moon slowly rose over the silvery horizon.

SPRING26

People: Alvin Johansson, Alix Bortolussi, Julian Helbig, Simon S. Christiansen, Mette Breede

This morning Alvin and I took a slow morning and slept in while Julian was out « quailing » around Ellekrattet and Storsig. 

He managed to hear 3 Quails (Vagtel) and even flushed the same bird twice in a row while getting close, but no luck. He also had some very nice and close encounters with Nightjars (Natravn). These birds have been displaying and breeding in the area for a while now and we have often heard and seen them, with their peculiar flight and sounds!

Later in the day, we went on a walk around Ellekrattet to try and find the Red-Rumped Swallow (Rødrygget Svale) and Crested Lark (Toplærke), but without success. The walk was fantastic though as is usual in such a beautiful place. 

We also made a cute little field flower bouquet during our walk to garnish the dining table at the station! 

Wildflower bouquet from the lighthouse area

In the evening Julian made us all a nice dinner with a home-made stuffed « pull-apart » bread and salad which we all enjoyed very much!

People at the station: Alvin Johansson, Julian Helbig, Alix Bortolussi 

Julian was out, trying to catch Quails (Vagtel) again, in the night, but sadly Alix and I did not get any wake-up calls. Instead we went birding at Grenen in the morning. There were many Gulls, plenty of juvenile Black-headed Gulls (Hættemåge) and a few cute terns resting on the beach. There were also two Temminck's Stints (Temmincksryle) that landed on the beach before flying out to sea. It was very warm and humid, and shortly after realizing we had not brought any rain jackets, an ominous dark cloud approached us, luckily it just passed to the west of us, and we did not get rained on. We saw some pretty cool thunder out at sea though.

Thunder-clouds out at sea

When we got back, we checked the moth trap and opened the garden net for a little while.

Ground Lackey (strand-ringspinder)

For lunch Alix and I went to the restaurant De 2 Have and ate a scrumptious meal.

View from the restaurant terrace

In the afternoon we did a big deep cleaning of the station so the summer team has a clean place to be when they arrive :) After that Julian went for a swim in the calm sea.

I had just published this blog and was sat in the station kitchen by the Lighthouse doing computer work. Suddenly heard multiple Red-rumped Swallow (Rødrygget Svale) calls just outside the open window. Went to check and it flew just a meter away from the window! Ran out quickly but could not find it again around the Lighthouse. Knud and Erik arrived soon after and together we went to the parking lot out at Grenen because we thaught that it could be together with the oather swallows there. And after some looking I found it again. We walked a little more closer and suddenly there was a lark in the middle of the parking lot. Knud immediately called it out as a Crested Lark (Toplærke). Both of them could be observed nicely for the rest of the evening. Verry unexpected ending to the day! 

Red-rumped Swallow (Rødrygget Svale)

Ringing (Det Grå Fyr)
Gransanger - 1
Munk - 1
Total: 2

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

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, Alix Bortolussi, Julian Helbig

Today, waking up early did in fact work out for us just as planned, and we biked to Skarvsøen at 02:40 to open nets for another session of CES. Along the way, we heard a Quail (Vagtel) singing from Ellekrattet – maybe it’s time for me to go out “quailing” again tonight… There was almost no wind today, and we caught quite a few birds, especially on first and second round. We had many newly fledged birds among them like Chiffchaffs (Gransanger) and Lesser Whitethroats (Gærdesanger). And also the very first ringed bird in active primary moult of the season: A Blackbird (Solsort) moulting its inner three primaries.

Freshly fledged Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger).

Blackbird (Solsort) in active moult of primaries.

At one point, I saw a Water Rail (Vandrikse) fly under one of the nets. What a shame it didn’t go in, it’s one of the species that all of us would love to see in hand, after hearing them squeak, and grunt, and screech in the reeds almost every day. Whilst ringing, we also enjoyed watching all the young birds in and around the lake, like the Red-necked Grebes (Gråstrubet Lappedykker) and all the baby Cormorants (Skarv). We had many wading birds like Greenshanks (Hvidklire), Curlews (Storspove), Wood Sandpipers (Tinksmed) and more fly over us, as autumn migration has already started for them. Simon also came by to join us for a bit. He has been on the radio this morning talking about birds and drones on radar. In the end, we got very warm in the sun, and after the six hours done, we felt we needed a good refreshment. So after closing nets, we packed our stuff and walked up to Nordstrand to go for a swim there. What a privilege to have the refreshing sea always in reach! Swifts (Mursejler), Honey Buzzards (Hvepsevåge) and a White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) were circling high up in the blue sky as we enjoyed our bath in the waves of Skagerrak. Back at the station, we met Simon, and did some planning with him, since we won’t see him tomorrow. After lunch, I went for a little walk around the lighthouse before taking a good nap. After that I went for a longer round through Storsig, but couldn’t find anything interesting. Alvin made a whole wok pan of fantastic gnocchi for dinner, and as a desert we had some lemon sorbet I made, topped with water mint that I picked at Skarvsøen yesterday when cutting the reeds there.

Lemon sorbet with water mint.

People: Alvin Johansson, Alix Bortolussi, Julian Helbig, Simon S. Christiansen

This morning started out a bit messy as all 3 of us (Alvin, Julian and I) overslept and ended up being way too delayed to conduct the CES ringing session we had planned on doing. In the end, after deciding we were too late and after a few more hours of sleep, we got up and spent some time with our beloved János who was leaving in the late morning. 

We were all so sad to see him leave, and it was hard to see such an important part of the spring team leave us! We all enjoyed multiple months together and working on many projects, but now it was time for him to go back to Germany to prepare for his next adventure, Mongolia!! We all wish him well and thank him for all he taught us. 

After his departure, Julian set off to go trim some vegetation at the CES site while Alvin and I went on a walk on the beach to try to located some Ringed Plover (Stor Præstekrave) nests or chicks, and we got lucky to find one nest with 4 eggs! 

Ringed Plover nest with 4 little eggs! 

We will be monitoring this nest and hopefully the chicks will be successful and Julian and the Summer Team can go ring these small guys later. 

On the way back we went swimming as the day had gotten quite warm, and so did Julian before coming back from the CES site at Nordstrand. 

In the meantime, Simon was going some big spring cleaning and organising in our attics at the station and in the lab. 

The day ended with a nice meal made by Julian, and we all got some rest, as now a team of only three… 

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

People at the station: Alvin Johansson, Julian Helbig, Alix Bortolussi, Simon S. Christiansen

In the morning Julian woke up to bake some choklate bunns, and together with the blueberry cake that Jànos made yesterday we had enjoyed Jànos life changing Gull (Måge sp.) presentation.

After that me and Alix made flower crowns and I also baked a bread.

Julian started working on the design for the station T-shirts and Janos packed his things and wrote in the guest book sice he is leaving tomorrow :(

For dinner we had haulumi burger and after that we went out to look at Gulls (Måge sp.) Continuing the gull presentation but actually applaying our new skills in the field.

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, Alix Bortolussi, Simon S. Christiansen

János was the only one of us to wake up early, he went out birding at Grenen and had several different waders there such as a Whimbrel (Småspove), Curlews (Storspove), a Grey Plover (Strandhjejle), Temminck’s Stints (Temmincksryle), Greenshanks (Hvidklire) and Redshanks (Rødben). He came back at six and made a fantastic blueberry cake which I woke up to. Togehter, we released the poor pigeon which has recovered a lot since we caught it in the lighthouse garden, after having prepared water and food nearby. We will observe its behaviour closely in the next days and hope that it will do well.

The pigeon is finally out again :)

At eleven, Simon came by and held us a little presentation about his trip to Iceland, and the field projects going on there. Søren Leth-Nissen and co. are in town again at the moment, and also came to listen to Simon’s presentation. Thank you for all the cake, Søren! :) Simon showed us some fantastic pictures, and talked about the highly interesting activities, especially the water bird ringing and tagging. Now we’re all inspired take a trip to Iceland ourselves one day. Later on my little lunchtime walk, I noticed how the weather has changed a bit: It’s still very warm, perhaps even warmer than before, but the air feels pleasantly fresh and less heavy.
After János woke up from his nap, he and I visited Maj Lou’s great exhibition at Skagen Fyr which she hosts together with a fellow local artist. We were greeted with wine by Maj and Oluf, and looked at all the beautiful pieces arranged on the different floors of the landmark. Then we moved further into town to have some ice cream together and wait for Alix and Alvin to join us for pizza on the beach. On the very same beach, the big and famous Sankt Hans fire was lit sending the witch to Blocksbjerg and delighting the huge crowd watching this special event.

Pizza on the beach.

Big fire, big crowd.

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Alix Bortolussi, Simon S. Christiansen

While Julian and Hannah stayed out all night to try and catch Quails (Vagtel) again, we others had a lazy morning sleeping until 7 am, followed by a long breakfast. After breakfast, Alix and Alvin had to visit a doctor in town as Alvin had a red mark on his leg that might be Lyme disease. They also went shopping, and then we celebrated midsummer, putting extra effort into lunch, and Alvin and Alix even bought themselves some fish.

At some point in the morning, a young Whitethroat (Tornsanger) flew against the window, but seemed fine and flew off after a bit.

Common Whitethroat sitting by the window

It was also the first day Simon was back from his trip to Iceland, so it was good to see him again.

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

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People at the station: Alvin Johansson, Julian Helbig, János Schadl, Alix Bortolussi, Hannah Bangard, Simon S. Christiansen