Hi everyone!

Today was another very slow day. The weather was very stormy and rainy as well, so we decided to not do the usual morning observations. But there is also always something to do at the station as well.

However there were hundreds of Mistle Thrushes (Misteldrossel) migrating today, Erik and our guest Lars entered their numbers on Dofbasen, just klick on the link below.

In the afternoon Dante and Lauren went to the harbour. The juvenile Caspian Gull (Levantmåge) is still there. I went in town as well. In the evening we had a really good dinner, made by Dante and Lauren. Hopefully we will have a little more to write about in the next days. Looking forward!

Today's observations of observers in the area

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen the same day

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia

Today we started the day with morning observations at worlds end 1. after a few slow days, today we started to have some birds moving around, with some good number of passerins and sea birds, but the highlight of the day was defenetly a Humpback whale (Pukkelhval) that dante found, and we all (Yehonatan. Lauren, Dante, Joana) watched it several times goes up and diving back down.

 Whooper swans (Sangsvane) flying over,  Yehonatan ben aroia

More and more Blue tits (Blåmejse) every day now

other highlights from today are a immature Golden eagle, (Kongeørn) Great northen diver (Islom), 9 Shags (Topskarv), 120 Mislte thrushes (Misteldrossel), Caspian gull (Kaspisk Måge) and many other great birds.

When we arriven back to the station, the weather started to change after a the calm morning. the wind got very strong with some rain, so we all stayed at the station doing indoor tasks for the rest of the day.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

 Today's raptor summary can be found here.

As usual, the day started with Dante, Yehonatan and I heading out for morning observations from Verdens Endes 1. Our highlights from our 4 hour watch included 103 Skylark (Sanglærke), 1 Carrion Crow (Sortkrage), 1 Goosander (Stor Skallesluger) and 27 Fulmar (Mallemuk).

After joining us at Verdens Endes 1, Lars birded the local area and saw 3 adder (Hugorm) and a female Goshawk (Duehøg). Later in the day, 2 Golden Eagle (Kongeørn), a White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) and a Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge) were spotted from Verdens Endes 1 by Ragnar Smith. Johanna and Simon began preparing the netting site for the season’s ringing which will start very soon.

Cormorant on a nest and Adder by Lars.

In the afternoon, Yehonatan set about mending some pyramid traps whilst Johanna and I headed off to conduct a Fulmar (Mallemuk) survey. Throughout the year, we are walking a number of 10km transect around the Skagen coastline to collect dead seabirds, with a particular focus on Fulmars. These birds are sent to Aarhus University who are investigating plastic pollution and contents in the stomach. Johanna and I also used the opportunity to do a beach-clean and we managed to collect 4 bags of rubbish on our way around as well as 2 Fulmars for the study.

Johanna with two bags of rubbish collected from the Skagen coastline.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Yehonatan, Dante, Johanna, Lauren, Lars & Anette

With sunrise creeping ever earlier, Johanna, Lauren and I started our morning observation at 6:30am. Luckily, yesterday’s heavy rain has melted most of the snow although it still felt like winter up at Verdens Endes 1. Our highlights of the morning were 6 Buzzards (Musvåge), 3 Red Kite (Rød Glente) (hopefully representing the start of the raptor migration), the first White Wagtail (Hvid Vipsjert) of the year, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Sildemåge) (also the first of the year) and 31 Mistle Thrush (Misteldrossel).

Red Kite and gulls by Lars

Meanwhile Yehonatan headed to the harbour to collect some bait for the raptor project we are undertaking here at Skagen Fuglestation. Back at the station, Simon hosted the board of the bird observatory for a productive meeting. 

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia, Lars, Anette

Today's observations by observers in the area

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

Hi everyone!

We saw a lot of really interesting birds today; raptors, owls, a great variety of passerines and waders… but all of them would just stare at us, not moving or flying at all… they were stuffed ones! Simon brought them over, they are supposed to be part this year’s exhibition.

As it was raining all day long, we weren’t out observing, it was a really slow day. We just spend most of the day working on our laptops. Each of us has to prepare a presentation for the others about a specific topic, and I started doing my research on that today. It also turned out that Lauren is really talented in drawing.

Now Lauren and Yehonatan are out in the field nightcatching. I hope they will have success! I will update the blog later when they are back.

Update: They saw one Woodcock (Skovsneppe) but unfortunately didn't catch anything. 

Todays observations of observers in the area

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen the same day

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia

We started the morning going to do morning observtions all of us together (Yehonatan, Dante, Lauren, Joana ) at Worlds end 1 .  We had anoter slow morning with not much going on, good numbers of Red throated divers (Rødstrubet Lom) and a few very distand Fulmars (Mallemuk) and very few passerines

Reed bunting feeding, Grenen. Photo: Yehonatan ben aroia

Later that day our lovely guests Lars and Anette arrived to the station, Dante and Lauren went to look for some birds, with not many around the station right now, and Joana coocked a lovely dinner, i (Yehonatan) went once again to visit the Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge).

 Later the weather got worse with very strong winds and some snow, and we all stayed in.

 A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia, Lars, Anette

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Hi everyone!

Finally it was possible to do the morning observation as its usually done, so Dante, Lauren and Yehonatan went out in the morning for 4 hours. Their highlight was the adult male Goshawk (Duehøg) and a Shag (Topskarv).

I started cleaning in the morning (Saturday is our cleaning-day) and locked myself out of the flat by accident, which was not that nice… But I was glad to meet Michael Ancher, who came around in the morning to bring some things for the stations use, thanks!

In the early afternoon I went out for a long walk again. Unfortunately I didn’t see so many birds, only some Goldcrests (Fuglekonge) accompanying me on my walk threw the forest and a Ringed Plover (Stor Praestekrave) at the beach. Still it was amazing to spend the afternoon in the beautiful, snow-covered landscape, while it was quite sunny and almost no wind.

Iceland Gull by Yehonatan

Dante and Lauren went to the harbour in the afternoon, to see the juvenile Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge) again, which is still there. They saw a Peregrine Falcon (Vandrefalk) as well.

We had a nice dinner together, Yehonatan cooked Lasagne for us.

Det Grå Fyr in the evening

Looking forward to welcome our first guests for the apartment tomorrow!

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen the same day

Todays observations of observers in the area

People at the station: Lauren Evens, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan Ben aroia

It is still feeling like winter here in Skagen… Migration has mostly been thwarted for now. Johanna went for a long walk to Nordstrand and back this morning. She saw 12 Bearded Tits very close (Skægmejse) near the car park at Nordstrand. Yehonatan and Lauren opened the nets opposite the Lighthouse, they did not catch anything but saw a Woodcock (Skovsneppe). Lauren and I went to the harbour around midday, we were pleased to find a juvenile Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge).

Iceland Gull

The same Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge) from the other day was showing well too, both species alongside each other at times.

Caspian Gull (below) with Iceland Gull

Simon, Yehonatan and Johanna successfully twitched both birds, a new species for both Yehonatan and Johanna. 

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

People at the station: Lauren Evans, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd, Yehonatan ben aroia

After the glorious sunshine of yesterday, we thought we’d seen the last of the snow but alas, we were wrong. Heavy snow, freezing temperatures and fog meant the typical morning observations were impossible. As soon as the weather improved slightly, Yehonatan and I trudged through the snow to clear the snow and ice below some nets as well as replenished the seed mix to support the wintering passerines in this cold period. I then carried on to Ellekrattet and enjoyed my best views yet of a very vocal pair of Bearded Tits (Skægmejse).

What a difference a day makes: the Grey Lighthouse (Det Grå Fyr) yesterday evening (top) and this morning (bottom).

Johanna birded the local area while both Dante and Simon checked the large flocks of Common Scoter (Sortand) and Eider (Ederfugle) resting in the Kattegat. They’re highlights were two male Long-tailed Ducks (Havlit) and a winter plumage Black Guillemot (Tejst).

We also received the ringing recovery information for the Swedish-ringed Common Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken) we caught last week with Michael Anker at Jenne sø. It was originally ringed as a first calendar year bird on 7^th July 2021 at Grisgarmen, Degernäs, Sweden.

The original Swedish ringing site and the recovery site (Skagen) of the Common Redpoll (Stor Gråsisken).

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Johanna Veentjer, Yehonatan Ben aroia, Dante Shepherd & Lauren Evans

Today we had a really calm and sunny day at Skagen bird observatoy, a good chance to go out after the snowstorm we had yesterday and expole the snowy area. 

Dante and Lauren went to try and do some sea watching, but as with almost no wind at all, and a very calm sea, not many sea birds we present.

meanwhile i (Yehonatan) went for walk around the staion are, where there is a feeding station for deer, but also many passerines came there to feed and fatten up to handle the cold weather, mostly Yellowhammers (Gulspurv)

Later on Joana Lauren and Yehonatan, went for a trip with simon to look for some raptors in the snow, but unfortunately, did not find any that are roosting at the area.

at that time Dante went to the harbor to look for some special gulls, but had no succes aswell.

we all had a nice evening meeting back at the station, and Johanna made a lovely dinner.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

People:  Yehonatan ben aroia, Johanna Veentjer, Dante Shepherd and Lauren Evans.