Robbie went observing this morning with Knud. The highlights of the day were a Sand Martin (Digesvale) and some Barn Swallows (Landsvale) resting at the tip, one Great Northern Diver (Islom) and a Little Gull (Dværgmåge).

Augustin, Angela and I came for the last two hours of observations to set up the whoosh net and try to catch Snow Buntings (Snespurv) while Rosalina was fixing some nets. Few Snow Buntings were on the beach but we didn't catch any. I hope next time will be successful! 

After lunch, we did daily office work like data entry, checking data... Augustin and I also looked at the night recording: we found many Redwings (Vindrossel) migrating during the night and other birds that we still need to identify.

Folk på stationen: Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Knud Pedersen, Loni og Lars.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF basen af fugle i Skagen

Today i went out to do the migration countings in the morning but the weather conditions were quite bad so i went back home after three hours. The highlights were four Barn Swallows (Landsvale) and a Great Skua (Storkjove). At that time the others checked some data and fixed nets at the station.

In the afternoon Justine and Angela went to Skagen for a bit of grocery shopping and we set up the trap to catch some Rock Pipits (Skærpiber), unfortunately without success. Our guests for the next two weeks went to town and took a walk to Grenen today.

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Rolf Christensen, Loni og Lars.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF basen af fugle i Skagen

Today I went to open nets with Justine in the morning before sunrise and Augustin, Simon, Oluf and Gustav joined for the first round. Compared to the other days, we got a fair amount of birds, mostly Bearded tits (Skægmejse) and Blackcap (Munk), but the highlight of today was definitely the Willow warbler (Løvsanger), which is very late in the season.. most probably the last one.  But the day actually started last night when we caught a Long-tailed duck (Havlit) at Hirtshals øststrand, a female first calendar year which was the first for the station!

Robbie went observing with Knud and they saw a Woodcock (Skovsneppe), which was the second one by the team, on its way to migration. They also observed the highest number (76) of Snow buntings (Snespurv), a Peregrine falcon (Vandrefalk), as well as the first Water pipit of the season (Bjergpiber) which was very nice, and a Little gull (Dværgmåge). A Yellow-billed loon (Hvidnæbbet Lom) was also spotted today at World´s End 1. Today´s numbers were overall low but it was interesting to see the winter residents continue to arrive.

In the afternoon Augustin and I went for the Fulmar (Mallemuk) survey from Gamle Skagen and back to the lighthouse. Although we found many dead birds on the beach, none of them was a Fulmar but we will definitely keep performing the survey few more times until the end of the season. It was interesting to see that we keep finding several birds of the Alkid family, which strenghtens our belief that starvation is not over and that there is an urgent need to further investigate the causes of death in an internationally-joined effort.

Ringmærkning – Kabeltromlen

Blåmejse             5

Dompap               6

Dompap              2

Fuglekonge         1

Gærdesmutte    3

Grønsisken         1

Kvækerfinke       1

Løvsanger           1

Munk                 11

Rødhals               1

Rørspurv             1

Skægmejse         9

Sortmejse           1

Grand Total        43

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, og Gustav Nyberg, Oluf.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF basen af fugle i Skagen

I dag tog alle fra stationen til Kabeltromlen undtagen Rosalina. Hun var på observationsposten, hvor hun fik 3 nye arter; dværgmåge, skovsneppe og gråstrubet lappedykker. Dagens hit blev topskarven, ellers blev der set en del suler og alkefugle.

Vi spottede en spurvehøg mens vi satte nettene op, og håbede på en ringmærkningsdag med et væld af fugle.

Der var stor aktivitet i luften med masser af småfugle og drosler, men på trods af de mange fugle i luften fik vi ikke særlig mange i nettet. Fangsten af fugle var en blandet pose bolsjer, men da der var en sibirisk gransanger i nettet, løftede stemningen sig blandt ringmærkerne.

Den sibiriske gransanger er en underart af gransangere. Den har en anden lyd og fjerdragt, der adskiller den fra den underart af gransangere, vi kender her i Danmark.

Denne morgen var endnu en lærerig dag i felten for mig. Jeg forbedrede min håndtering af fuglene, og blev mere vant til arbejdsprocesserne ved fuglestationen. Jeg har sidste dag i morgen efter at have været her i en lille uges tid. Tiden er gået hurtig, og jeg har oplevet meget på meget kort tid. Derudover har jeg fået nye erfaringer og gode kammerater.

Senere tog Justine ud for at afprøve en fælde til at fange skærpibere. Fuglene kom tæt på fælden, og de var meget interesseret i ormene, men de gik desværre ikke i den. Vi regner stærkt med at være succesfulde i ugens løb.

Da vi alle senere var i samlet flok, gik vi i gang med at rydde op på loftet ved laboratoriet, som nu er helt pletfri.

Ringmærkning - Kabeltromlen

Dompap               2

Fuglekonge         1

Gærdesmutte     2

Gransanger         1

Munk                    2

Rødhals                1

Solsort                 1

Vindrossel           1

Grand Total        11

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, og Gustav Nyberg.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF basen af fugle i Skagen

Today we were back out ringing, though the birds were somewhat reluctant to come into the nets. The highlight was 6 Bearded Reedlings in the last round. Gustav ringed his birds today - which he was very happy about - here is to many more in the future.

Today we received information concerning a Reed Bunting (Rørspurv) we recently had in the nets. From the ringing report we could see it was ringed in Opland in Norway in September 2020. Whilst it is always a pleasure to learn more about the birds we have in our nets, it also demonstrates the value of the work we do here at the station in aiding conservation efforts through furthering the understanding of birds and their habits.

(Chiffchaff - Gransanger)

Away from Kabletrommen Augustin was observing at World’s End 1. Whilst today didn’t deliver similar numbers of birds to yesterday yet another Little Auk (Søkonge) was spotted. A Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) was seen today, perhaps the last for the season.

In the afternoon the team took down some nets in the old Lighthouse garden and in the process spotted a Hen Harrier (Blå Kærhøg), a stunning bird.

Ringmærkning - Fyrhaven

Solsort - 1

Ringmærkning - Kabeltromlen

Blåmejse - 2

Lille Dompap - 5

Dompap - 1

Fuglekonge - 3

Gærdesmutte - 3

Gransanger - 1

Gråsisken - 6

Munk - 1

Musvit - 1

Rødhals - 2

Rørspurv - 1

Skægmejse - 8

Solsort -  1

Vindrossel - 3

Total - 39

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, og Gustav Nyberg .

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF basen af fugle i Skagen

Lisa og Simon har været på Jerup Strand og samle muslingeskaller. De så bl.a. en havørn og en sangsvane. Derefter tog de til Ålbæk Havn og så sortstrubede bynkefugle, og skal have en masse sushi til aftensmad som vi misunder dem meget.

photo: Knud Pedersen

Angela, Justine, Augustin, Robbie og Gustav var ude og observere i morges og de så en mallemuk og flere rider, samt en islom og en søkonge. Der blev også set en sodfarvet skråpe i dag. De satte også whooshnettet op men fangede dsv. ikke noget. Jeg sad ude ved Kattegatbunkeren og tog billeder af ederfuglene men de blev ikke særlig gode.

photo: Christian Andersen Jensen

I dag gjorde vi også rent, men med den skøre rækkefølge af at Justine og Angela besluttede at klippe hinandens hår i stuen efter rengøringen :)

Ebbe og Dorthe gik en tur og så 16 sangsvaner. De har også, på vores opfordring, taget billeder af de døde fugle som de fandt på turen. Der var desværre et par stykker.

Ingen ringmærkning i dag

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Gustav Nyberg, Marie Scotwin, Sophie Andersen, Ebbe og Dorthe.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF basen af fugle i Skagen

This morning we opened the nets at Kabeltromlen for the kids of Ørneklub. We only ringed 4 birds due to the strong winds, but that meant Simon hat a lot of time explaning our work to the kids. They enjoyed it a lot to get so close to a bird! Robbie and Gustav were out on the tip for some morning observations and discovered a resting Great Northern Diver (Islom).

In the afternoon we did some Data entry and ceaned around the bird observatory. After that we went to the city to find some Waxwings (Silkehale) .Our guests from this week Ebbe and Dorthe invited us for dinner today and cooked a delicious fish soup!

Ringmærkning - Kabeltromlen

Blåmejse – 1

Dompap, lille - 1

Gærdesmutte – 1

Sortmejse - 1

Total – 4

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Gustav Nyberg, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Kabel, Ørneklub, Mads Oddenshedz, Anne Dorthe Christiansen, Ebbe og Dorthe.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF basen af fugle i Skagen

The cold winds, strangely enough, have also brought some brave tourists who walk along the beach and visit the Northern tip of Denmark. This is also why this week there has been plenty of activities organised by the Lighthouse, such as guided tours and the opening of our freezer. If you are wondering what that is, you can get a glimpse by looking at the picture but I can also tell you that it is an exiciting opportunity to look at different birds up close, as it happened today when Simon showed and explained the distinctive features of different birds.

As for us, the morning went by very quickly. I opened the nets with Rosalina and Justine, Simon and Robbie joined for the first round. The conditions were not the best, but we still got a good amount of birds, mostly redpolls (Gråsisken). Augustin on the other hand went observing with Knud at World´s End 3 and they saw 5000 razorbills (Alk), one Slavonian grebe (Nordisk lappedykker) and 15 resting eals. He also set up a woosh net trying to catch Snow buntings (Snespurv) but unfortunately he was not successful, because the strong wind made the net tangled up. But we will try again in the next days, so if you are walking along the beach and you are curious about what that is, just stop by and ask us!

In the afternoon, after the opening the freezer, Simon showed u show to repair nets and tonight more activities are to come. Rosalina is going on a night tour with Niels to show families birds and seals on the beach through a thermal camera and we are also going night catching, after a lovely dinner with our guests.

Last but not least, today Gustav arrived and he will stay with us until Tuesday. He is highly motivated to discover more in depth the observations and the ringing, so he is definitely in the good place!

Ringmærkning - Det Grå Fyr

Blåmejse 2

Bogfinke 1

Dompap, lille 2

Dompap 1

Fuglekonge 5

Gærdesmutte 4

Gråsisken 10

Rødhals 6

Sangdrossel 1

Træløber 1

Vindrossel           2

Total – 35

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Gustav Nyberg, Ebbe og Dorthe.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF basen af fugle i Skagen

Today the weather was not good to go ringing so, Angela, Robbie and I went observing to the tip. The conditions were not very optimal but we still observed some nice birds: a Purple Sandpiper (Sortgrå Ryle), a group of Long-tailed Duck (Havlit) and many groups of Razorbills (Alk) coming more and more. The Snow Buntings (Snespurv) and Horned Larks (Bjerglærke) are always around us during the morning.

Dunlin (Almindelig Ryle) observed today at the tip.

After a good lunch, we did a picture session with Simon to age birds that we caught last week. It was a good way to train aging birds!

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF basen af fugle i Skagen

 Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Gitte og Jens Peter Holm, Sophie Andersen og Maria Scotwin, Ebbe og Dorthe, Karin og Marie Christiansen.

I morges var det Justine og Robbie som åbnede nettene ved Kabeltromlen. Simon og Angela joinede dem på første runde, og de fik bl.a. Dompapper og skægmejser.

Augustin og jeg var ude og observere i morges ved Verdens Ende 3, og vi tog ekstra tidligt afsted for at vi kunne sætte ”whoosh”-net-fælden op i håbet om at fange nogle snespurve. Indtil videre har det været uden held.

I eftermiddags har vi haft Sophie og Maria fra Naturbutikken på besøg. De er i gang med at sælge kikkerter og teleskoper nede i museumsbutikken hele ugen og tager afsted på søndag. Simon fik besøg af en gammel gymnasieven og hans kone, og har vist dem rundt i dag.

Jeg har selv deltaget i en event ifm. Det Grå Fyrs efterårsaktiviteter. Det var ”Gittes Værksted” og jeg skulle filme lidt af aktiviteterne i værkstedet som Simon skal bruge til en video lidt senere på året.

Og så fandt jeg en meget stor krabbe på stranden i morges.

Ringmærkning - Det Grå Fyr

Bogfinke - 1

Dompap - 4

Fuglekonge - 1

Gærdesmutte - 7

Gransanger – 1

Sangdrossel – 1

Skægmejse – 7

Solsort – 1

Vindrossel - 1

Total – 24

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Lasse Johanson og Sabine Haakonson, Gitte og Jens Peter Holm, Sophie Andersen og Maria Scotwin, Ebbe og Dorthe.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF basen af fugle i Skagen