Hello!

Last night, rain was forecasted for the morning, so we decided not to wake up early for ringing or observations for today.  Apparently, meteorology betrayed us, as it did not end up raining much this morning.  However, hopefully a little bit of extra sleep today will keep us fueled for some early mornings and late nights to come.

Robbie, who's been with us the past 2 weeks, also left Skagen early this morning.  It was wonderful working with him and having him around the station.  I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we will miss him!

In the afternoon, I hiked around the nearby nature reserves.  At Ellekrattet, I found a goldcrest (fuglekonge), spotted flycatcher (grå fluesnapper), a sizeable flock of ~15 long-tailed tits (halemejse), and a family of red-backed shrikes (rødrygget tornskade), among the regular assortment of common species.  Meanwhile, Hanelie and Manuel were elsewhere in the reserve, viewing 7 first year red-footed falcons (aftenfalk), hunting and providing excellent viewing!  They also had some waders flying over, including green sandpiper (svaleklire), greenshank (hvidklire), and Eurasian golden plover (hjejle).  I soon encountered Hanelie and Manuel, and they directed me to where the falcons were.  I succeeded in being able to see 5 of the birds.

2 Red-Footed Falcons (Aftenfalk)

As juveniles, aftenfalk are quite similar to Eurasian hobbies (lærkefalk), so it was quite to nice to get close views and note separating field characters like a dark trailing edge to the underwing and a barred uppertail.  As was mentioned in the blog a few days ago, there's been an incursion of aftenfalk here in Skagen the past few days.  Unlike many other birds which follow fairly linear migratory patterns overall, red-footed falcons often venture westwards from their breeding grounds in western Europe and Asia when they migrate to southern Africa in autumn.

Tonight, Hanelie will be on nightwatch, attempting to catch storm petrels (stormsvale spp.) and nightjars (natravn).  Tomorrow morning, we will resume ringing and observations as usual.

That's it for now!

Observations of the day in DOFBasen from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Robbie Lawler, Manuel Tacke, Hanelie Sidhu, Simon Christiansen, Frank Osterberg, our guest Kirsten Bregn

Summer in Skagen really feels like summer these days. So we sit together in the afternoon and think about whether we will go swimming again and whether we will have another ice cream. That is wonderful. Already in the morning the sun is shining and we can enjoy the warm temperatures and the blue sky, you don't have to take a winter jacket, gloves and a hat, but sun cream ;-)

This morning Knud found five of yesterday's Red-footed Falcon Aftenfalk around Skarvsoen, which had spent the night there. These birds were easy to observe and afterwards a color ring could even be recognised on two of them (see photo from yesterday). Now it will be interesting to know where these birds come from: Romania? Hungary? Any guesses?

However, the excellent weather also ensures that the bird migration goes rather unnoticed at the moment, both in the ringing sessions and during the morning observations. This was also the case today: besides one of the Red-footed Falcons Aftenfalk left over from yesterday, a few waders passed over Grenen, including two Grey Plovers Strandhjejle, and Simon heard a Temminck's Stint (Temmincksryle), a Honey Buzzard (Hvepsevage) showed up very nicely at Kabeltromlen.

People: Max Laubstein, Robbie Lawler, Manuel Tacke, Hanelie Sidhu, Simon Christiansen, Frank Osterberg, our guest Kirsten Bregn

Observations of the day in DOFbasen from observers in the area

Ringing total (26) from Kabeltromlekratett:

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger): 3
Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger): 1
Blackcap (Munk): 2
Willow Warbler (Løvsanger): 4
Chiffchaff (Gransanger): 6
Reed Warbler (Rørsanger): 4
Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger): 3
Tree Pipit (Skovpiber): 1
Great Tit (Musvit): 1
Dunnock (Jernspurv): 1
Chaffinch (Bogfinke): 1

Hello dear blog reader,

I am back again after a months absence from Skagen, which I spent at Lista Fuglestasjon. I am very happy to be back. As soon as I arrived I was right on time for nightcatching and as in the last nights, also in the night from yesterday to today, there was an attempt to catch Storm Petrels „Stormsvale“ and Nightjars „Natravn“. Max and Frank took over the night shift with Simon this time. Unfortunately the nets remained empty this time. Nevertheless it was an eventful night. Simon gave a guided tour "Wings in the night": It was about moths, birds and bats. There were also some of these nocturnal flyers, they saw bats, moths and also a Nightjar „Natravn“. And finally a bird was caught, although not one of our target species: Simon caught a Wheatear „Stenpikker“ which he saw through the thermal binocular! Robbie came to see the Wheatear „Stenpikker“, Manuel and I learned of this catch only the next morning. We slept to be fit for the Morning Observation the next morning. After so much night activity there was no ringing today so Manuel and I went to World's End 3 this morning. It was quiet but we had some nice waders: Red Knot „Islandsk Ryle“, Dunlin „Almindelig Ryle“, Redshanks ”Rødben”, Greenshank „Hvidklire” and Golden Plovers „ Hjejle”. The highlight of the Mornig Obs was a Fulmar „Mallemuk” that we saw from very close. It was so warm that I went for a swim before our early Evening Meeting at 13.00 today. The Evening Meeting was abruptly ended after everything was planned: Knud was at North Beach Observing this afternoon and he had some feeding Red Footed Falcons „Aftenfalk”moving slowly east. We all got on our bikes and headed to Kabeltrommle to intercept the Red Footed Falcons „Aftenfalk”. We saw them too and then returned to the bird station. The family bird club had a tour today and they showed us a nice female Sand Lizzard "Ørkenfirben".

1k Aftenfalk. Foto: Knud Pedersen

One of the Red-Footed Falcons that Knud photographeed even showed to have a color ring. It's going to be exciting when we get data on where it was ringed!

Sand Lizzard "Ørkenfirben"

Tonight we all sleep for a change, but tonight around dinnertime we plan to catch Stonechats "Sortstrubet Bynkefugl” near the Lighthouse. So tomorrow morning we will all be fresh in the field again, maybe we will see each other, see you then, take care!

Hanelie

Observations of the day in DOFbasn from observers in the area

People: People: Max Laubstein, Robbie Lawler, Manuel Tacke, Hanelie Sidhu, Simon Christiansen, Frank Osterberg

Hello All!

This is my first blog post of the season since leaving Skagen last August, so I am glad to be back, especially after the last few days.

Following the success of the previous night with the Storm Petrel (Lille Stormsvale) and one Nightjar (Natravn), it was decided to attempt further captures whilst the weather remains in our favor. Unfortunately, the petrels decided not to show, however, a big success came in the form of 2 Nightjars (Natravn). Both birds were caught during the same round with one bird caught in each of the two nets. With this success, there were plenty of happy faces from those who joined us throughout the evening and of course our own.

2 Juvenile Nightjars (Natravn) 

Following the success from the night before, Me and Hanelie took to Kabeltromlekratett for ringing in the morning. With the nightjars caught at 2 am, it was hard to wake up, but we managed, and it was a relatively successful morning. We had all the usual species with some resident juveniles and some clear migrants with some substantial fat reserves which will aid them in reaching their next fueling station along their migration route. Highlights from this morning’s ringing were the Grasshopper Warbler (Græshoppsanger) recaptured from the morning before, a juvenile Tree Pipit (Skovpiber), and a juvenile Icterine Warbler (Gulbug).

Juvenile Tree Pipit (Skovpiber)

Robbie and Manuel were out at the tip on observations this morning but as expected with the prolonged nice weather, movement and migration was relatively slow with some minor wader numbers including some Golden Plover (Hjejle), and a small flock of Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin).

In the afternoon an Adult Montagu’s Harrier was seen along with approximately 4 Red-footed Falcons. Simon also found a Wood Warbler by the tractor track.

Todays Observations on DOFbasen

Ringing total (26):

Kabeltromlekratett:

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger): 4

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger): 3

Blackcap (Munk): 3

Willow Warbler (Løvsanger): 3

ChiffChaff (Gransanger): 2

Icterine Warbler (Gulbug): 1

Reed Warbler (Rørsanger): 2

Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger): 5

Tree Pipit (Skovpiber): 1

Fyrhaverne:

Natravn: 2

People: Max Laubstein, Robbie Lawler, Manuel Tacke, Simon Christiansen, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu,  

Last night was our first night of three continuous nights of attempting to try and catch Storm-Petrels (Stormsvale) and Nightjars (Natravn). It wasn’t until last year that the observatory first started trialing Storm-Petrel catching sessions and it has thus far seen reasonable success, though during my time here last Autumn I witnessed four unsuccessful sessions and thus was pessimistic about our chances last night. My pessimism soon proved to be misplaced as the first time checking the nets on the beach just outside the station proved fruitful. Manuel and I ran towards the net when seeing a bird suspended and we were soon joined by Simon, Andreas, and Sakari who were watching from the dune behind. The other volunteers were woken up and messages were sent out on Zello and we were soon joined by others eager to see the European Storm-petrel (Lille Stormsvale); the lab was full with around a dozen people as the bird was ringed. For several present it was the first time either seeing the bird up close or at all. We soon released the fifth Skagen Fuglestation ringed European Storm-petrel (Lille Stormsvale) which flew back out over Kattegat to join an unknown number of its kin. The crowd dispersed and only the station volunteers, Simon, Andreas and Sakari remained. We returned from the next few rounds empty-handed until we found Nightjar in the lighthouse garden nets. Simon had heard of successful catching of migrating Nightjars in Southern Sweden, but this was the first attempt to catch one at the lighthouse. The bird had been attracted by the call we were playing over a megaphone just as with the Storm-petrels. This time no people made the journey to see the bird being ringed but it was still an exciting and fulfilling moment for the team.

This morning Max and Frank went ringing, with Frank celebrating his newly acquired Danish ringing C license. Manuel and I tried to get some sleep after just having closed the nets after a thrilling night catching session. I didn’t get to sleep for long before being awoken to the news a Bluethroat (Nordlig Blåhals) had been caught out at Kabletrommen. I quickly rushed out toward Grenen passing Simon leading a tour for two members of the public and our guest Jette. We were soon joined by Anders and Dorthe Østerby who were visiting the ringing and bringing some petrel celebration cake to the team, they were understandably excited to see the striking bird being processed at the time. I had not long returned when another announcement was made, this time a Grasshopper warbler (Græshoppesanger) had been found in the nets: the long day and night meant I sat this bird out. Whilst breeding not far from Skagen this was just the third bird ringed in five years, with the last two being Spring birds on 23-07-2017 and 08-05-2021. The nets were soon closed and the team took a sigh of relief as we could all now try and rest in preparation for - hopefully – an exciting weekend of night catching ahead.

Erik Christophersens found a Golden Eagle (Kongeørn) near Nordstrand today, an awe-inspiring bird that shouldn’t be overlooked in the buzz of the great ringing records.

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Ringing totals: 23

Kabletrommen:

Rørsanger: 5

Gærdesanger: 4

Løvsanger: 4

Kærsanger: 1

Nordlig Blåhals: 1

Græshoppesanger: 1

Munk: 2

Tornsanger: 2

Bogfinke: 2

Gransanger: 1

Lille Stormsvale: 1

Natrvn: 1

People: Max Laubstein, Robbie Lawler, Manuel Tacke, , Simon Christiansen, Frank Osterberg,  Knud Pedersen, Erik Christophersen, Andreas Egeland, Dakari Kauppinen, Anders and Dorthe Østerby 

Howdy,

What would a day at the Skagen Fuglestation be without an early morning of fieldwork?  Today, Frank and Manuel left early for Kabeltromeln to open the nets, and Simon and I met them a bit later for the first round of net checks.  Meanwhile, Robbie headed for World's End 3 where he met Knud Pedersen for a routine seawatch.  At the ringing, highlights were a first year common redstart (rødstjert) and a first year yellowhammer (gulspurv).  Neither species is particularly uncommon, but both are splendid to see in the hand.

Robbie and Knud's seawatch did not bear much fruit of the migratory bird variety, save for a single fulmar in the distance.  Numbers of roosting gulls were notably higher than they've been in the past few weeks; over 700 herring (sølvmåge) were tallied).  No goodies like Caspian gull (Kaspisk måge) could be picked out from the masses, but hopefully soon!

Most excitingly, we received some preliminary recapture data from a ringed juvenile Arctic skua (almindelig kjove) that has been seen around Grenen the past few days.

The aforementioned skua faintly showing its ring on its right leg, whilst chasing a common tern.  Photo by Erik Christophersen.

This bird was ringed as a chick at the southern extreme of the species' breeding range in Norway, at Hvaler National Park.  According to Knud, this is the earliest autum arrival record of a juvenile Arctic skua in Skagen, and perhaps Denmark entirely.

After fieldwork, we spent the afternoon enjoying the beautiful warm weather around Skagen.

In the evening, Frank and I installed 2 mist nets nearby in the garden that we hope to use to capture nightjars (natravn).  Tonight, and for some following nights, we will be doing plenty of nightcatching, attempting to capture both storm petrels (stormsvale spp.) and nightjars (natravn) simultaneously).  Wish us luck!

- Max

Ringing totals:

Yellowhammer (Gulspurv): 1

Great tit (Musvit): 2

Willow warbler (Løvsanger): 2

Eurasian reed warbler (Rørsanger): 4

Marsh warbler (Kaersanger): 2

Lesser whitethroat (Gaerdesanger): 3

Common redstart (Rødstjert): 1

Eurasian blue tit (Blåmejse): 1

Eurasian blackcap (Munk): 5

Common whitethroat (Tornsanger): 8

Common chiffchaff (Gransanger): 3

Total: 32

Today's observations in DOFBasen from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Robbie Lawler, Frank Osterberg, Manuel Tacke, Simon Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Erik Christophersen

Together with Frank, who arrived last night and will strengthen our crew in the coming weeks, Robbie, Max and Simon went to cable drums for ringing. The Bergenhusen crew supported us again with the ringing. Knud, meanwhile, sat at Worlds End 3, his sharp eyes fixed on the sea for the Morning Observations. Early in the morning, mild temperatures indicated that it would be a sunny and summery day. Often such days are not very spectacular bird-wise, but some birds still found their way into the net. Black Redstart (Huusrødstjert) is a rather irregular guest in Grenen, usually found more in the built-up area. A Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) already announces autumn, you might say.

When ringing, you sometimes see much earlier that the seasons are changing, suddenly the species composition changes completely within a few days and you notice that something has just arrived. In August, many songbirds migrate rather inconspicuously, but when ringing you usually notice that something is happening quite soon.

Otherwise it was a quiet, sunny day for all of us. Many other people here in Skagen also enjoy it, as the large streams of tourists, cars and caravans indicate. Meanwhile, one of the huge cruise ships arrives in the harbour every day and floods the town with tourists. This is certainly not the most sustainable kind of tourism, but Skagen seems to be a real cruise destination.

Today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Robbie Lawler, Frank Osterberg, Manuel Tacke, Simon Christiansen, with help from Dorothea Engert, Lina Kotschi & Joel Münch.

It was yet another day without ringing, this time due to last night’s activities. It is the season to be excited as we are trying for Storm Petrels (Stormsvale). The mist nets were set up on the beach and we had calls blasting out to sea, but alas there was no catch. We did however see Storm Petrels around the nets (here), the question remains can you count a bird seen through a night-vision camera as a lifer? It is no worries as we will be trying again this weekend, hopefully with a little more success.

Today Manual and I went out to the World’s End for observations. The migration hasn’t hit its peak yet but we were treated to some good views of Black guillemot (Tejst), Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove), and several migrating Golden plovers (Hjejle). We are hoping the migration picks up soon. The local birds gave a good show today, with a Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade) showing well just outside the lighthouse.

Simon took the guests to Cormorant Lake today to check out an area for ringing and give an informal tour. One nest still had a chick left to fledge.

Frank joins us on the team today, which takes us up to four volunteers. He, unfortunately, ruined the pattern of each volunteer coming from a different country, but I suppose another Englishman is okay.

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Robbie Lawler, Manuel Tacke, Lisa Vergin, Simon Christiansen, Dorothea Engert, Lina Kotschi, Joel Münch and Frank Osterberg.

Greetings, birdfolk

Today Robbie, myself, and Manuel (who arrived last night) split up for the day's field work.  Robbie and I left for Kabeltromeln to ring at 4:15 am, while Manuel made it to World's End 3 by sunrise at 5:25 for a seawatch.  The ringing this morning was quite productive, a high proportion of migrants amongst the regular assortment of local breeders.  Unquestionably, highlights were a fieldfare (sjagger), barn swallow (landsvale), and 2 first year common redstarts (rødstjert).  While barn swallow is among the most commonly-seen species in the area (and across the world, for that matter), they don't often swoop low enough to be caught in the mist nets, making today's capture special.

Barn Swallow (Landsvale)

Fieldfare is a species that primarily breeds further north in Norway, Sweden, Finland, etc.  Over the past 2 centuries their range has undergone many expansions throughout Europe however, and they were first recorded breeding in Denmark in 1960.  Today's first year bird was most likely hatched elsewhere, making its way to wintering grounds here in Denmark or further south in Europe.

Fieldfare (Sjagger)

Common Redstart is a species that does breed nearby, but given we haven't caught any juveniles at KAB this season, and that autumn migration has begun, it's very likely our 2 birds today were migrants.  The nominate phoenicurus subspecies of common redstart which breeds here in Europe, NW Africa, and Siberia, is a long-distance migrant, spending the non-breeding season in the northern hemispheric Afrotropics.  We wish these two the best of luck on their journey south.

First year female common redstart.

Additionally, the male redstart showed a great example of a postjuvenile or formative molt limit, which is something that we will look for a lot further into autumn and before the next breeding season in order to age young birds a few months after they've hatched.  For many birds, there's significant selective pressure for juveniles to grow their first set of feathers at once and rapidly, in order to leave the nest as soon as possible and avoid predation in the nest.  Similarly, with a shorter need for parental care, there's a greater chance adults can produce a second brood.  The tradeoff for a rapid, complete, and simultaneous prejuvenile molt is poor feather quality; juvenile feathers are often more susceptible to wear than adult feathers.  So, many species have a partial molt as juveniles, called a postjuvenile or preformative molt to replace some of the poor quality juvenile feathers with more resilient adult-like feathers.  In the photo below, you can see the young male redstart has done just this, with the replaced inner greater covert (and many body feathers) being newer, fresher, and grey in coloration, as opposed to the juvenile brown. 

Meanwhile, Manuel over at World's End 3 had a decent day at the seawatch, with highlights being 2 dark morph Arctic skuas (almindelig kjove) chasing down terns together over the beach at Grenen, a great skua (storkjove) offshore, as well as some northern fulmars (mallemuk) migrating in the distance.

Tonight, we will attempt to catch some European storm-petrels (lille stormsvale) on the beach near the lighthouse.  Wish us luck!  We will post tomorrow if we are successful.

Peace,

Max

Ringing totals at Kabeltromeln:

Gransanger (Common Chiffchaff): 3

Lille Dompap (Eurasian Bullfinch): 1

Tornsanger (Common Whitethroat): 5

Munk (Eurasian Blackcap): 2

Landsvale (Barn Swallow): 1

Jernspurv (Dunnock): 1

Lille Gråsisken (Lesser Redpoll): 1

Musvit (Great Tit): 1

Sjagger (Fieldfare): 1

Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat): 7

Kærsanger (Marsh Warbler): 2

Rørsanger (Eurasian Reed Warbler): 1

Rødstjert (Common Redstart): 2

Løvsanger (Willow Warbler): 14

Total: 42

Today's observations in DOFBasen from observers in the area

People: Max Laubstein, Robbie Lawler, Manuel Tacke, Lisa Vergin, Simon Christiansen, Dorothea Engert, Lina Kotschi, Joel Münch

It was yet another day without ringing today, though the conditions would have not been favorable. Instead, all the volunteers decided to have a joint effort with the observations. We were treated with some great views of an immature Artic skua (Almindelig Kjove), which is presumably the same bird that has been hunting close to shore for a few days now. This dark morph individual is really giving the local terns (ternes) some issues and it is always a pleasure to watch. Beyond the Skua we didn’t have many notable species, though a molting Black guillemot (Tejst) was an interesting sight. The roosting terns had been joined by greater numbers of Sandwich terns (Splitterne), which was some added variation. The sea was relatively empty in terms of migration with a few Fulmars (Mallemuk) being the highlight.

A common Lizard in the sun

Alice left us today and it is sad to see her go, though as with many volunteers here at Skagen she will most likely return. Speaking of returning volunteers - we are rejoined by Manuel today - thus the station maintains three volunteers from three countries.

Beyond the observations not much happened at the station today. Max made good progress with processing a nocturnal migration recording, and the results will appear on Trektellen soon enough: watch this space.

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Alice Scalzo, Robbie Lawler, Max Laubstein, and Manuel.