God Aften,

In the morning it was quite windy when Solenn and Elena went to open the nets. Never-the-less, they prevailed and opened as many nets as they could but left hose most exposed closed. As expected with the higher winds in the morning, ringing was again slow following the recent trend of the past few mornings. With peaks of 2 birds per round every round we made the decision to close early and head home for a few hours rest before this evening of another attempt at catching the Great snipes (tredækker) near Aalborg.

Whilst at the ringing the Pallid Harrier (Steppehøg) was seen again quite close to Kabeltromlen along with a could Marsh Harriers (Rørhøg) and a Peregrine Falcon (Vandrefalk). Hanelie was also out Observing and also saw the Pallid and Marsh Harriers but apart from the resting sanderlings (sandløber) and Dunlins (Almindelig Ryle) there was nothing else of note or in noteworthy numbers. A Rosy Starling (Rosenstær) was also seen near Kabeltrolen after we had closed the nets so Max had rushed out to see if and got to see his first Rosy Starling. 

Simon came and took me Hanelie and Solenn to his mother’s house where we met Lisa who had been at home for a while. After this we went to Simons fathers place where he had very kindly offered to cook a BBQ for us as sustenance for the night ahead. From there we went to lindenborg, Simons father joined us for the first few hours and we met Oluf there. The rest I will leave to the blog writer to write about of partial success.

Pallid Harrier: Erik Christophersen

Rosy Starling - Erik Christophersen

You can see more of Eriks Pictures of the birdson his blog.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Rødstjert: 2

Havesanger: 2

Rødhals: 1

Rørsanger: 2

Total 7

Local DOFbasen observations

People: Max Laubstein, Simon Christiansen, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Solenn Boucher, Lisa Vergin og Oluf Lou

Hello everybody !

Yesterday was my first volunteering day at Skagen Bird Observatory, which was quite busy : sincere apologies for the late update on the blog !

Sadly no storm-petrel (Stormsvale) decided to visit us in the night from Thursday 1st to Friday 2^nd ; however Hanelie, who was on nightwatch, woke us up at 5am for she had found a new Nightjar (Natravn) attracted in the nets by some audio lures. What a great start of the day !

Frank and I then headed to Kabeltromlen, where Elena and Max later joined us until midday, while Hanelie went for a well deserved resting time. We got several different species, mostly redstarts (Rødstjert) ; but also a willow warbler (Løvsanger) subspecies, P. t. ssp acredula. We also got visited by a pallid harrier (Steppehøg), hovering above Kabeltromlen, as well as a goshawk (Duehøg) hunting around – although none of them visited the nets !

Pallid Harrier (Steppehøg) Photo by Erik Christophersen (https://ecskagen.blogspot.com/)

After a good lunch and some more naps, Simon and Henrik took us and Karin for bird watching on Jerup beach at 4pm, much to Elena’s delight : there she managed to see her very first oytercatcher (Strandskade), sandwich terns (Splitterne), turnstones (Stenvender), curlew sandpiper (Krumnæbbet Ryle) and little stint (Dværgryle)!

We stayed there until 6pm and counted individuals of the 13 wader species observed there. Simon then gave a final lift to Karin to the train station, where she started « migrating home ». Safe travels and thank you for joining us these past 2 weeks !

There was no night shift that night : instead, we celebrated Hanelie’s birthday around a well-appreciated barbecue (the first one that happened since June) under the stars. Happy birthday again !

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Solenn Boucher, Simon Christiansen, Michael Ancher, Karin, and our guest Henrik

Local observations of the day in DOFBasen

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge): 1

Robin (Rødhals): 1

Redstart (Rødstjert): 9

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken): 1

Willow Warbler (Løvsanger): 3

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger): 1

Chaffinch (Bogfinke): 1

Blackcap (Munk): 1

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger): 1

Garden Warbler (Havesanger): 1

Total: 20

Ringing (Nordstjernevej)

Blackbird (Solsort): 1

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger): 1

Chiffchaff (Gransanger): 2

Coal Tit (Sortmejse): 1

Blue Tit (Blåmejse): 1

Great Tit (Musvit): 4

Siskin (Grønsisken): 1

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken): 7

Total: 18

Ringing (Fyrhaverne)

Nightjar (Natravn): 1

 Total: 39

Hej!

After our success with a Leach's Storm-Petrel the night of Aug. 29/30, we decided to try catching storm petrels again last night.  I had nightwatching duties, while the rest got some sleep.

I'll quell your anticipation now: we did not catch any storm-petrels.

However, after putting on some audio lures for shorebirds in the early hours in the morning, we caught a single Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle) juvenile.  Additionally, while it was still dark, I had seen some nightjars circling above the nightjar nets.  When I went to do the final net check & close just at sunrise, I found one nightjar (natravn) caught in the net!  

A knot and a nightjar may not be Leach's Storm Petrel, but they're timelessly pleasant birds nonetheless, so all-in-all it was a successful night!

Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle)

Worldwide, there are several subspecies of Red Knot, Calidris canutus, all breeding in high latitudes of the northern hemisphere.  Here in Denmark, two subspecies occur on migration: canutus, which breeds in central Siberia, and islandica, which breeds on islands in extreme northern Canada and northern Greenland.  These two subspecies appear highly similar, and only show subtle morphological differences (with much overlap).  While we likely can't identify this bird to subspecies, it's fascinating to think that it was born just a few weeks ago in a place as far away as the Canadian arctic, Greenland, or Siberia.

In the morning, Hanelie and Simon went to Kabeltromlen to ring, catching a Jay (skovskade) as a highlight, and some more goldcrests (fuglekonge).  

Frank and Elena went to World's End 3 for a brief seawatch as well, and heard a spotted redshank (sortklire) flying over.

Two of our guests, Pia and Jan left today in the afternoon.  It was lovely having them here.

In the evening we welcomed our new volunteer Solenn, who will be staying here until December.  We'll be attempting to catch storm-petrels again tonight, so hopefully we succeed and can give Solenn a warm storm-petrel welcome to Skagen!

Have a good night!

Max

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Solenn Boucher, Simon Christiansen, Karin, and our guests Henrik, Pia, and Jan.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge): 3

Chiffchaff (Gransanger): 1

Redstart (Rødstjert): 7

Lesser whitethroat (Gærdesanger): 1

Marsh warbler (Kærsanger): 1

Common whitethroat (Tornsanger): 1

Eurasian Jay (Skovskade): 1

Ringing (Stranden, Det Grå Fyr):

Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle) 1

Ringing (Fyrhaverne)

European Nightjar (Natravn) 1

Total: 17

Observations of the day in DOFBasen from observers in the area

Hej out there!

The night from Tuesday to Wednesday, we set up the nets to catch Storm Petrels (Lille Stormsvale) and Nightjars (Natravn) again. It was my first night shift here at the Bird Observatory in Skagen and I was really looking forward to it. Checking nets at the beach at night, while the stars are glowing above you and the light tower throws its light on the beach is just extremely special and beautiful.

We set up three nets at the beach and positioned a speaker at each of them. Two speakers played Storm Petrel's sounds while one produced a mixed sound selection of Storm Petrel, Leach's Storm Petrel and Swinhoe's Storm Petrel (Mørkrygget Stormsvale)

To one of the two Nightjar nets there was also a speaker added, which played Nightjar sounds

My shift started at 10 PM. For the first hours our guests Pia, Henrik and Jan joined us. Unfortunately, this period only provided us empty nets. Karin, Hanelie's mother was a bit more persistent, but after the net round at 1:15AM she left as well. What a pity!! Because at around 2 AM the first bird was caught! It all started with a juvenile Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle) I was extremely happy as I haven't had too many waders in my hand yet. Nevertheless, I decided not to change one sound file into wader sounds yet to give the Storm Petrels a bit more time.

I rang Frank we rang the Dunlin and Frank could lay down again. However, he couldn't rest for long because an hour later another bird in the nets at the beach was caught.

I was very excited and thought we finally caught a European Storm-petrel. I have just seen a black bird with webbed feet. I immediately called Frank again who ran down at the beach in a few minutes. That's the point where everything started: the bird seemed too big for a European Storm-Petrel. It was too big for a European indeed, because it wasn't one...  It was a Leach's Storm-Petrel!

Extremely excited we rang Simon. He must have jumped out of his bed really fast when he got the message.

Leach's Storm Petrels were only ringed 6 times in Denmark prior to this record, but the previously ringed birds were all individuals brought in by ships or found accidentaly on land. Read more about these in this article (in danish).

The European breeding colonies are limited to a few small islands, like Ireland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the West coast of Great Britain.  They are only coming to the land to breed, the rest of their life they spent over the oceans.

Its the 54th Leach's Storm Petrel observed in Skagen, but the first time ever in Denmark that a bird is caught in a mistnet.  

What a great success to catch it here at the bird observatory! A few birders of Skagen were informed and were joining the ringing and photo session of this wonderful bird.

At 5 AM, when I was actually out to close the nets, we trapped a Nightjar. And on the beach in the Storm-petrel nets, a Common Ringed Plover (Stor Præstekrave) was caught.

In addition, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. What an impressive, beautiful and successful nightshift!

While I was going to sleep, the rest of the gang went ringing. All in all ringing was slow. The highlights were a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte), a few Redstarts (Rødstjert) and the first two juvenile Goldcrests (Fuglekonge) of the autumn season! 

Migration count was slow as well. Common scoters  (Sortand), Velvet Scoters (Fløjlsand), Yellow Wagtails (Gul Vipstjert), Tree Pipits (Skovpiber) and some shorebirds were observed.

Today night, we will set up Storm Petrel and Nightjar nets again. Stay tuned- maybe there is a Swinhoe's Storm Petrel in the net;)

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Stor Flagspætte: 1

Rødstjert: 2

Grå Fluesnapper: 2

Løvsanger: 1

Munk: 1

Tornsanger: 1

Havesunger: 1

Fuglekonge: 2

Ringing (Grenen):

Almindelig Ryle: 1

Stor Stormsvale: 1

Natravn: 1

Stor Præstekrave: 1

Total: 15

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

People: Max Laubenstein, Hanelie Sidhu, Frank Osterberg, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen, Karin, Pia, Jan, Henrik.

Hi everyone!

As you know us night active volunteers already there was no thought of going to bed yesterday evening. I was at the cormorant lake yesterday morning and Frank in the afternoon and there are still a lot of waders that are not ringed so far! After our sucessfull first try catching waders at the cormorant Lake, Max, Frank and I were keen on trying it again! Elena stayed at home for a good night sleep to be fit for ringing with Simon the next morning.This time we had the luxury to be driven to Nordstrand by Simon which was much more comfortable than carrying everything on our bikes. As we were not so well organised as last time, Simon was also so kind to bring us stuff that we realized we had forgotten when we were at the lake. This evening also Karin joined us, at least for the first round in which we caught a Common Snipe. It was a quite good night, nine birds caught in the wader nets, two with flashlight and net. We we were hoping for a spotted Redshank or a Ruff, as we observed these species during the day, but therefore we had no luck. Nevertheless, three Dunlins, seven Common Snipes and one Redshank.

Common Snipe "Dobbeltbekkasin"

Dunlin "Almindelig Ryle"

Redshank "Rødben"

That is not bad and a good opportunity for Max and me to train ringing with steel rings and measuring some waders, supervised by Frank. Unless the last night, in which we were sweating at the cormorant lake, it got quite cold in the first hours of the day. So the warm bodys of the waders and the coffee were very welcome. At five thirty in the morning, Simon came to pick us. I was still full of energy due to to much coffee and would not have been able to sleep. So I joined Simon and Elena for ringing at Kabletromlen.

Simon observed a Merlin and a juvenal Hen Hen Harrier during the ringing. The first round was quite good, but then it slowed down a lot. We got some Robins and Redstarts wich was nice.

Redstart "Rødstjert"

My energy also slowed down and when we came back to the station, I was very tired and fell in bed immediatly. Max and Frank tidyd up the lab today and changed the nightjar nets, Elena did the data entry. Tonight, there will be a nightshift again, which Elena will take. We will try to catch storm petrels and nightjars! And we will ceep you updated in the next blog of course. Now, Karin is cooking for us and we are looking forward to a nice meal and an exciting night.

See you tomorrow, take care!

Hanelie

Ringing (Skarvsøen):

Dobbeltbekassin: 7

Rødben: 1

Almindelig Ryle: 3

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gransanger: 2

Løvsanger: 5

Rødstjert: 6

Rørsanger: 1

Gærsanger: 1

Rødhals: 4

Tornsanger: 3

Havesanger: 1

Blåmejse: 1

Total: 35

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Hanelie Sidhu, Frank Osterberg, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen, Karin, Pia, Jan, Henrik.

First of all, apologies for the late update.

Overall the day was rather slow, in the morning the planned ringing was canceled due to high winds and the others took to Worlds End 3 for morning observations while I went straight back to bed, which, was much needed and enjoyable. In the morning, observations were also slow, excluding the expected movements of Common Scoter (Sortand), a few shorebirds such as Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle), Red Knot (Islansk Ryle) and Sanderlings (Sandløber) down on the pond, as well as some barnacle geese (Bramgås) were the highlights of the morning.

In the afternoon, Me, Hanelie and Simon took our PANT into town and did some shopping with our payback. Hanelie took a trip to Skarvsøen to see how many shorebirds there were and how many there were to see if it was worth catching them in the night as we did previously. With the Spotted Redshank (Sortklire), Ruff (Brushane) and a few other species we decided to go and try our luck once again in the hope of plenty more Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin) but also, particularly for the Spotted Redshanks and Ruff. I also took a trip out to Skarvsøen in the evening taking the path through Jenne Sø and saw good numbers of Spotted Flycatchers (Grå Fluesnapper), Whinchat (bynkefugl) and our 3 resident juvenile Red-Footed Falcons (Aftenfalk).

https://dofbasen.dk/search/result.php?design=table&soeg=soeg&periode=dato&dato=29-08-2022&omraade=stor&stor=588&obstype=observationer&species=alle&sortering=dato

People: Max Laubstein, Simon Christiansen, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Karin og our guests Henrik, Pia og Jan.

Good evening,

The events of today's blog actually begin in the late hours of the 27th, as Frank, Hanelie, Simon, and I walked around fields near Lindenborg, SW of Aalborg, in search of great snipes (tredækker).  We saw several common snipes (dobbeltbekkasin), but all flushed before we could succesfully catch them.  Furthermore, not one great snipe could even be seen amongst them.

However, the night was far from a failure.  Like last time we searched around these fields, we incidentally caught a Eurasian skylark (sanglærke) and a corn bunting (bomlærke).

Processing a sanglærke

The highlight came when Frank, Hanelie, and Simon (I stayed at the car for the last check) checked the last field, and found and caught a pair of common quail (vagtel)!  Getting to see these birds in hand was truly special, and easily made up for the lack of snipe.

Male & Female Common Quail

Common quail, and all other European, Asian, and African quail, pheasants, and partridges, belong to the family Phasianidae (except for 2 African species: Nahan's and Stone partridge).  Unlike what the English names suggest, "quails" in the Americas belong to an entirely different, and quite-distantly related family called Odontophoridae. 

The subspecies of Common quail found here, C. c. coturnix in particular is highly-migratory, breeding throughout the western Palearctic, and wintering in the Afrotropics and parts of the Indian subcontinent.  Quite an incredible journey for such an awkwardly-shaped bird, that at first glance seems like it would be a poor flier.

In the afternoon and evening, we welcomed our 3 new guests, Henrik, Pia, and Jan, did some cleaning, and untangled a tangled mist net. 

Tomorrow, Elena and I will head to World's End 3 to do a seawatch, and Hanelie and Frank will go to Kabeltromle to ring.

Farewell!

Max

People: Max Laubstein, Hanelie Sidhu, Frank Osterberg, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen, Karin, Pia, Jan, Henrik.

Ringing totals (Lindenborg) :

Eurasian skylark (Sanglaerke): 1

Corn bunting (Bomlaerke): 1

Common quail (Vagtel): 2

Observations of the day in DOFBasen from observers in the area 

Hey there!

As Hanelie already mentioned in her last blog, she could discover a good number of waders at Cormorant Lake! Therefore, we decided quite spontaneously to start a night catching experiment to ring some of them.

We packed all the stuff and left the house at around 11 PM. Packed with chest waders, ringing stuff and food for the night we started the walk to Cormorant Lake. The air was warm and wet, so it was an exhausting walk (which seemed to me never-ending). But we arrived, completely sweaty, tearing off our clothes.

After putting on our chest waders we fought ourselves through the reed to the lake. This was really adventurous as we sank into the mud and sometimes it felt like we were stuck.

Arriving at the lake we figured out where the waders are resting and where we should build up the nets. That’s the point where it started to get difficult for me. After a few minutes of walking through the lake, I recognized that my rubber boots and my chest waders must have some holes because my feet started to become wetter and wetter.  So finally, the (brownish, marshy) water was up to my ankles which made me feel quite cold and uncomfortable.

It took as quite a while to figure out where to place the nets for the best output. We also put out speakers with wader sounds to attract the birds. But already while doing this Frank managed to catch a common redshank (Rødben) with his hands and a snipe (Doppeltbekkasin) and another common redshank (Rødben) were caught in the nets we had already built up.

We were out there for more than one hour and before starting the first round we had to ring the already caught birds.

It was interesting to measure the waders as there are far bigger than the passerines and there is an additional measure: the length from the tip of the beak to the back of the head.

We started with our regular rounds at approximately half past one. However, they took quite a while as we also tried to flush the birds to make them flying towards our nets.

The effort was worth it: all in all, we caught 12 birds.

We made four rounds and closed at around 7:30 AM. I wasn’t joining the last two rounds as I was really wet, cold and exhausted. However, observing the others walking through the lake from the shore was a quite spectacular view, which made me laugh quite often. Especially, when Max jumped after a snipe (Doppeltbekkasin), spitting out the marshy water.

We came back at around 9 AM and slept the whole next day. In the evening the others took the train to Aalborg to catch some Great Snipes (Tredaekker). Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to join after last night catching session. See in the next blog if and how they succeeded!

The wader catching at Cormorant Lake was worth it for sure and we probably would have caught some more birds if we already had known where to place the nets. It is very likely that we will repeat this in the next couple of days. So, stay tuned.

Ringing (Skarvsøen):

8 Snipes (Doppeltbekkasin)

3 Common Red Shanks (Rødben)

1 Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle)

Total: 12

Observations of the day in DOFBasen from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen.

Hello all!

Today Max and I opened the nets in Kabeltromle. Elena and Frank came to the first round. Observations we made together today from Kabeltromle, we saw quite a lot of Velvet Scoter "Fløjsand". On the first round I had a Barn Swallow "Landsvale" on the south side. We don't catch them that often so it's always nice to have one in hand. We also had two Spotted Flycatchers "Grå Fluesnapper" and Pied Flycatcher "Broget Fluesnapper" and a very young Yellowhammer "Gulspurv".

Spotted Flychatcher "Grå Fluesnapper"

Simon also joined us came later at Kabeltromle. And Alfrida and Karin and Jørgen and Igor also paid us a visit. But there were not so many birds in the nets. When we went home we had lunch, Data entry and then it was time for a big cleaning, because tomorrow on our regular cleaning day we probably won't have so much time. The reason for this is, that when I went to Cormorant Lake today to see the Spotted Redshanks "Sortklire",  that Knud observed yesterday, I saw many other waders besides them: Lots of Common Snipes "Dobbeltbekkasin", Common Redshanks "Rødben", Golden Plover "Hjejle", Ruff "Brushane", Common Sandpiper "Mudderklire"....

Common Snipe "Dobbeltbekkasin", Spotted Redshank "Sortklire" and Yellow Wagtail "Gul Vipstjert"

And tonight we will try to catch at least a few! So we are again night active and tomorrow we will sleep in and also fill up energy for the next night, because then we will go again to Lindenbourg for Great Snipe chatching. We will tell you in the next blog how the night went. Take care, see you then!

Hanelie

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Gulspurv: 1

Landsvale: 1

Rørsanger: 1

Gærdesanger: 1

Tornsanger: 3

Havesanger: 2

Løvsanger: 5

Grå Fluesnapper: 2

Broget Fluesnapper: 1

Total: 18

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen.

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

God Aften!

Unfortunately, this blog will begin with the sad news of a unsuccessful night attempting to catch the Storm Petrels (Stormsvale) and Nightjars (Natrvan). Although the last few attempts have now simply resulted in the sleepless nights for the unfortunate soul that has the night duty, we still plan to continue and hope to bring you more records of Storm Petrels. We will continue to attempt these catches in the night till around the 10^th of September. Lars Bo Jacobsen, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl and Anders Rasmussen also attempted some Great Snipe catching at Herredsenge this night where the snipes had been sited previously, but also, unfortunately, was unable to secure any on this occasion.

In the morning, Me and Elena took to Kabeltromlen while Hanelie went observing out on Worlds end 3. On the way to open the nets me and Elena were treated to a Nightjar (Natravn) flying around above the Sandworm track and two low flying, calling Cranes (Trane) whilst we opened the nets. The ringing throughout the morning remained relatively slow, but this allowed me to spend more time helping Elena get into depth about moult strategies and sexing of the species we encountered throughout the day. Highlights of the ringing include a juvenile Whinchat (Bynkefugl), Spotted (Grå fluesnapper) and Pied flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) and some new adult Common Whitethroats (Tornsanger).

Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper)

Whinchat (Bynkefugl)

During the ringing, we also managed to test out the new pop-up `photo-lab’ which will allow us to take more standardized images when photographing birds for aging and sexing for our Digi-guide.

In the Morning observations, Hanelie had some good Common Scoter (Sortand) movement, along with plenty of Greenshank (Hvidklire), Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin), Golden Plover (Hjijle) and Whimbrel (Smorspove).

In the afternoon, Simon used some free time to demonstrate the aging methods of skull ossification which can be used in the autumn to identify juvenile species often harder to age based on plumage characteristics alone.

After the skulling session, we went down to the beach and played some Volleyball closely followed by a swim and the weekly shop.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Whinchat (Bynkefugl) 1

Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) 2

Reed Warbler (Rørsanger) 2

Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper) 1

Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) 1

Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger) 1

Blackcap (Munk) 3

ChiffChaff (Gransanger) 1

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) 1

Total: 13

Observations of the day in DOFBasen from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Elena Turac, Simon Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Karin, Alfrida