The wind was to strong today to allow us to open the nets, so this morning only Manuel and Leona got up, courageous enough to face the weather and sit at grenen for morning observations. Migration was quite slow once again, on land and sea, but they saw a few Fulmars (Mallemuk) far at sea, and Gannets (Sule) quite close to the shore. But it was good training for Leona, she got to recognise a few birds, and participated in clicking them for the first time. She also saw a Turnstone (Stenvender) for the first time. Hanelie and I woke up a bit later, we enjoyed a nice night of sleep and were up for some computer work. Hanelie worked on the picture archive and sent a few emails, meanwhile I sent a few applications for university.

Saturday is cleaning day, so in the late morning we all cleaned thoroughly the apartment. We had lunch, and we sat in the conference room with Simon to check a few pictures from ringed birds. Leona and Simon revised the ringing data, I sent one more application, Hanelie went out to make a phone call, and Manuel entered data.

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

People:  Simon S. Christiansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Manuel Tacke, Leona Gottschalkson.

As always, when the wind is not too strong, we open the nets for ringing in the very early morning. Today Alice and Leona got up at half past three to have everything ready before sunrise. That is the standardised monitoring procedure. As the sun rose over the Kattegat, Simon and Hanelie joined for ringing and Manuel stared counting the usual four hours right at Kabeltromlebakken today.

During the morning, quite a few people joined to the "meeting point" Kabeltromle: birding, exchanging news, being surprised what is retrieved from the nets. Today some rarer guests came to the table in the cloth bags and are ringed, measured and weighed: A Wood Warbler Skovsanger, two Barn Swallows Landsvale, Spotted Flycatcher Grå Fluesnapper, Grey Wagtail Bjergvipstjert and the first Icterine Warbler Gulbug found their way into the nets. A nice variety of a good ringing morning.

Some beautiful species passed by the site while observing, too. A Golden Eagle Kongeørn is always a great species to see, otherwise you would have to travel several hundred kilometres, two Great Northern Diver Islom right over our heads were great to watch and a Spoonbill Skestork is not seen here every day either. A male Golden Oriole Pirol made a brief appearance on the tree tops of Ellekrattet and was great to see for a few observers, a real splash of colour.

Our guests Lisbeth and Vilhelm also stopped by the ringing site on their morning walk, get a close-up look at some Lesser Whitethroats Gærdesanger and also take a walk to the "tip".

For BirdLife Denmark we take our sound recorders out to different places at different times and record "soundscapes". Unfortunately, one of our Olympus recorders disappeared this morning near Grenen car park and we need it back. If anyone has seen it, please contact us!

The afternoon we spent indoors resting, entering data and making lunch. Robbe took the time to enter some data from a recorded night out at Kabeltromlen from 25th to 26th of April, which you can find here. Remarkable is that we managed to find a screeching Barn Owl Slørugle - a nice spring record. You can listen to it on Xeno Canto. 

Ringed Birds at Kabletromle:

Løvsanger: 18

Gærdesanger: 9

Broget Fluesnapper: 4

Landsvale: 2

Grå Fluesnapper: 1

Skovsanger: 1

Tornsanger: 1

Gulbug: 1

Rødstjert: 2

Bjergvipstjert: 1

Munk: 5

Havesanger: 3

Bogfinke: 2

Solsort: 1

Gransanger: 3

Total: 54

Hi everyone!

Before I started writing this blog, I ate a few joke biscuits (German: "Scherzkeks") to make my work go more smoothly.

So let's start with today's adventures of your five brave volunteers. There was no ringing today due to the strong wind. Nevertheless, Alice and I took over getting up early and headed for the morning observation at Verdens Ende 3. On the last stage of our walk to the observation point came the sign that would change the course of the rest of the day: While Alice and I walked fearlessly side by side towards the end of the world, Alice had an appearance: God showed himself to her.

The appearance

And he did not show himself to me, who was only a few meters away. You will see what drastic effects this had later in the day. But first, we took up our position and looked through the telescope at an empty sea. For 3 hours we waited without highlights and could observe more Common Terns "Fjordterne" than usual. In the third hour, we were joined by reinforcement: despite our warnings of a slow obs, the intrepid Manuel came with his telescope. Four observers also took up their posts a few meters from us. Among them Michael from Naturbutikken. They had observing success on their side and saw a Red-footed Falcon "Aftenfalk"! Unfortunately, we heard about it a little late and did not see it. Alice and I went back after three hours while Manuel took the fourth hour and saw some Fulmars "Mallemuk". Robbe meanwhile checked the nets in Kabletromle, as we hadn't ringed today or the last few days and it was so windy. When Alice and I arrived at the station, we met the first person who had been blessed with a present from God today: Leona had stayed at home this morning and had had a ten-hour night's sleep! This is a real rarity at a bird observatory and is considered by us to be the first gift from God of the day after Alice's revelation in the early hours of the morning. Full of energy Leona now set off to Ellekrattet. Robbe soon returned and we went through some videos of our most daring adventures for this autumn's recruitment video. Undaunted, I then sat down in front of the laptop to start entering the sheer mass of data we had collected today at Verdens Ende 3. But then a visitor knocked on the door: Mogens presented Manuel Gods' second stinking gift of the day in a plastic bag: He had most likely found wulf "Ulv" Shit!  A little later we told Simon the good news on the phone, who told me to put the plastic bag with the valuable contents in the freezer so that Aarhus University could check the DNA to see if it was really from a wulf "ulv". When I came out of the lab, the others had also gathered in the yard, because we were planning to have brunch in town today and finally try out Danish Smørrebrød. While four of us stood and talked, waiting for our full team to be ready to leave, Robbe got the third gift from God tucked into his jacket pocket. An unknown generous donator, who we would like to thank once again, slipped a grant for our Smørrebrød brunch into the pocket of the befuddled Robbe and praised our work. Thank you, we like to hear that and a little praise also encourages us. So the five of us cycled into town against the wind blowing straight at us and had delicious Smørrebrød and desserts in the Smørrebrød Cafe.

Manuel, Leona and I then went grocery shopping. In the afternoon, Robbe had a meeting for University and Alice got the fourth of Gods presents from a local: A dead viper for the Raptor-Catching Project. Thanks! When Manuel, Leona, and I came back from the supermarket, I took the three Kilos of potatoes we had bought out of my backpack. The fact, that these turned into at least eight Kilos of potatoes when I opened the storage cupboard is, I think, not due to Gods goodness, but to our mismanagement in doing groceries, at least concerning potatoes. We spent the rest of the day mostly inside with data entry, picture archive, nocmig and napping for some of us. Two friends of Robbe arrived in Skagen and they found a Great Reed Warbler "Drosselrørsanger" at the Cormorant lake! And Lisbeth and Vilhelm reported seeing God in the third figure, in form of a White-tailed Eagle "Havorn", very close at Batteriskoven. They also saw Black Kites "Sort Glente" and a Spotted Flycatcher "Grå Fluesnapper". Afterwards, they visited Skagen Odde Museum and had lunch in Skagen Bryghus.

And the end of the story: I am now the only black sheep in this house among all these enlightened people, who did not receive a gift from God today. However, I come to the conclusion, that I have also benefited from Gods goodness and so I decide that I am not completely abandoned by God after all and can also go to bed with peace in mind. I hope, you come to the same conclusion.

In any case, I wish you a good night!

Hanelie

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

Klik her for at se opsummeret observationer af rovfugle i Skagen

People: Simon S. Chistiansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Manuel Tacke, Robbe Cool, Leona Gottschalkson, Lisbeth Drassech, Vilhelm Michelsen

Today Alice, Robbe, Manuel and me went to laser shooting at Worldsend 2 again. This time Rasmus found the birds on the radar for us. We split up that two of us observed and the other two managed the laser shooting. We were able to shoot some raptors and divers. While observing we were able to hear a Grasshopper Warbler.

The Highlights at the observations were a Short-eared Owl, a Pallid Harrier and the first Red- backed Shrike. At 8:00 I was replaced by Hanelie because I had an job interview, which went really good. :)

When the others came back from laser shooting and observations we finished the Wingspan game. Alice won!

In the Afternoon we had a raptor lecture (røvfugle) by Knud Pedersen. For the lecture our guests Lisbeth and Vilhelm, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen and Jan came over. We learned a lot about the identification, ageing and sexing of different buzzards, kites and harriers. The presentation was with a lot of good pictures of different ages and sexes so we could see really well the different features and characteristics of each species.

Raptor lecture with Knud

In the evening Lisbeth and Vilhelm cooked a nice dinner for us and we were invited over to their apartment.

After not being in Skagen for a few days, Manuel was even more looking forward to the observations on Nordstrand this morning. Beautiful sunny weather somewhat concealed the fact that ice was still visible on the bicycle saddle in the early morning.

Together with Knud and later Robbe, the keen birders enjoyed the just arrived and intensely singing Common Whitetroats Tornsanger in the dunes at Nordstrand. The migration was slow, but at least there were two Great Northern Divers Islom to marvel at. They are on the move to their breeding grounds in Island (and maybe North America?). It is really strange to see this large divers migrate with their beaks wide open. A phenomenon you rarely see in the similar Black-throated Divers Sortstrubet Lom and almost never in Red-throated Divers Rødstrubet Lom.

As the morning wore on, the raptors took off, especially Common Buzzards Musvåge and some Red Kites Rød Glente soaring high. There were already hopes as to whether a rare guest might mingle with the common species today. A somewhat atypical 2. CY Hobby Lærkefalk briefly put us all into some excitement already as it's a good time for Red-footed Falcon Aftonfalk...

Meanwhile, Leona and Hanelie opened the nets around Kabeltromlen at dawn. Together with Oluv and Alice they were able to get a Sparrowhawk Spurvehøg out of the net as one of the first birds. Very exciting. Otherwise it went well too and the nets stayed open all morning. At the end of the session they got no less then 85 birds out of the nets, a really good number. Among them no extraordinary rarities but Redstart Rødstjert, some Flycatchers Grå Fluesnapper and Wheatear Stenpikker are not daily catches and beautiful to watch them from close.

While we were preparing lunch, the rumour of the morning became reality: an immature Steppe Eagle Steppeørn was on its way towards the tip. A great species and a lifer for most of us. We sped off in all directions, Hanelie and Robbe had excellent views of the bird at Saftevandsbakken together with many other birdwatchers; Leona, Alice and Manuel managed to connect with the bird briefly afterwards. At least a short sighting. In the afternoon the bird hasn't been relocated, probably went southwards again. Maybe we will see it back with the next migration attempt the upcoming days?! This bird counts as the 11^th record for Skagen!

Picture: Knud Pedersen

Skagen continues to live up to its reputation as a paradise for rarities (and their followers ;-)

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i DOFbasen af observatører i området (Today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area)

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

Ringmærket fugle ved Kabeltromlen (Today's ringed birds at Kabeltromlen):

Spurvehøg 1
Sangdrossel 1
Solsort 1
Stenpikker 1
Bogfinke 2
Munk 7
Jernspurv 1
Tornsanger 2
Rørspurv 4
Gransanger 5
Broget Fluesnapper 1
Rødstjert 4
Rødhals 5
Løvsanger 22
Gærdesmutte 1
Gærdesanger 18

Total: 85

People: Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Robbe Cool, Leona Gottschalkson, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Oluv Lou, Lisbeth Drassech, Vilhelm Michelsen

Today, I sacrificed myself to do the morning observations while the others could sleep a bit longer after the long barbecue evening we had yesterday. Surprisingly, I arrived 10 minutes before sunrise at Nordstrand. I had to start the morning observations alone, but Jorgen Hulbaek and Hanelie came to rescue me. Hanelie was still in here sleeping mood: apparently, she was still wearing her pyjamas when she arrived. We saw more birds than the last days with some thousand meadow pipits "engpiber" and nice observations of black-throated divers "sortstrubet lom". Big numbers of gannets "sule" were passing by as well.

Brun Sandspringer

We stayed a bit longer to enjoy the birds without having the pressure to count them and continued our day in Batteriskoven. There, we found many flycatchers, for Hanelie the first spotted flycatchers "grå fluesnapper" she saw. Earlier in the morning an Ortolan bunting "hortulan"  was found and Hanelie tried to see it. Unfortunately the bird was only present for some minutes so by the time she arrived, the bunting left already. Once I came back, I took a nap and went through the nocturnal flight call recordings, but there are still a lot of mysterysounds the analyze whereby Manuel will help me. Before I could answer all the data, Leona called me because a red-breasted flycatcher "lille fluesnapper"  was found in Batteriskoven, a new species for us all. And this showbird made us all happy.

Leona was also happy to see the wood warblers "skovsanger" there. Alice spent her day on writing applications and taking care of the recorder for the soundscape project. In the evening, we were happy to welcome our new guests Lisbeth and Vilhelm.

Let’s hope that we can break the curse of the slow migration tomorrow!

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

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

People:  Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Robbe Cool, Leona Gottschalkson, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Lisbeth Drassech, Vilhelm Michelsen

Today there was no ringing due to the strong wind.  We joined Gustav and Hanelie on the seawatch at Worldend 3. We had a White Wagtail, White Wagtail ssp. yarrellii, a Yellow Wagtail and a Yellow Wagtail ssp. thunbergi.

Morning observations at Worldend 3 - Photo by Raya Mathiak

After the observation I was finally able to go check out the town with my friend Raya. I bought Puffin and Herring Gull Socks!

Haneli, Robbe and Gustav went to Batteriskoven to see a Wood Warbler, which was a lifer for Hanelie. Also they saw a Pied Flycatcher. After checking out some other places for birdwatching Haneli went back to check if the nets were still in good condition because of the strong wind. Meanwhile Alice send out some applications for universities and cleaned the birdbags.

In the afternoon we cleaned the station bikes and put oil on the bike chains.

Robbe decided to cook with natural ingredients today, so he collected nettles and dandelions. We then ate chips while extracting dandelion petals.

Extracting the dandelion petals while eating chips - Photo by Leona Gottschalkson

The finished Nettle- Dandelion Risotto - Photo by Robbe Cool

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i DOFbasen af observatører i området.

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

Persons at the station:  Simon S. Christiansen, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Robbe Cool, Leona Gottschalkson, Raya Mathiak, Gustav Nyberg, Carsten Math Iversen, Lisbet Harms Lavsew

Dagen bød på endnu en ringmærkningsdag. En dag fuglefolkene havde store forhåbninger til efter gårdagens massefangster i nettene og observationer af store grupper af småfugle i de levende hegn, men fuglene havde andre planer. De pjækkede fra ringmærkningen og smuttede i storcenteret. I nettene var de I hvert fald ikke og tilbage stod Alice, Robbe, Leona, Raya og Simon og trillede tommelfingre.

På trods af det, holdte Raya sin første fugl. Det blev en Løvsanger. Det var hun vældig glad for, og hun nyder at få lov til at se fuglene helt tæt på.

Imens de andre ringmærkede, skød Hanelie og jeg med laser ved Verdens ende 2. Vi håbede på nogle store flokke af rovfugle, vi kunne skyde og som samtidig ville dukke op på radaren. Det er ikke altid, de to ting lige spiller sammen. Det viste sig at være vanskeligt, da trækket mod nord kun præsterede enelige spurvehøge, der fløj uden for radarens rækkevidde.

Foto: Erik Christophersen

Senere tog jeg til Batteriskoven I håbet om, at der skulle være en Hvidhalset- eller Lille fluesnapper. Heldet var ikke med mig denne gang, men det skal nok ske. One day.

Til slut kan jeg dufte Alice’s mad. Det skal nok blive fremragende. Tak for I dag og velbekomme.

Ringmærket fugle ved Kabeltromlen:

Gransanger - 1

Løvsanger - 2

Munk - 9

Rørspurv - 1

Bogfinke - 1

Sangdrossel - 1

Total: 15

Klik her for at se dagens observationer indtastet i DOFbasen af observatører i området.

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

Personer ved stationen:  Jesper Pedersen, Simon S. Christiansen, Jørgen Hulbæk Christiansen, Oluf Lou, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Robbe Cool, Leona Gottschalkson, Raya Mathiak, Gustav Nyberg, Carsten Math Iversen, Lisbet Harms Lavsew.