Record days !

Strong easterly winds mean no ringing… Unfortunately, with no less than 14 m/s, we had to cancel our ringing session in Kabeltromlen from this morning. Esben wanted to try to catch some birds in the lighthouse garden  instead but quickly decided that it was a lost cause when he looked out of the window early this morning.

Christina and I went for migration counting, but instead of going to World’s End 3, we went to Nordstrand to get a better shelter in the dunes. As yesterday, we witnessed an amazing migration of Velvet Scoters ! We counted this morning 512 of them, added to the 662 from yesterday. This constitutes then an unprecedented passage for Skagen. The last big movements of this kind occurred in 1987, with 430 and 579 birds going east on the 17^th and 18^th of March. A more recent observation of good numbers of migrating Velvet Scoters during autumn happened on the 26^th of September 2017 with 446 birds going South-east. We’re looking forward to tomorrow to see how many more Velvet Scoters we’ll see !

Considering the weather, Amelie took a day off to get some rest and a late morning sleep (she woke up at 7 ;-). She used her day working on a document she needs to write for her University, which deals with her stay here and how she’s involved in the Bird Observatory. She also went to town and enjoyed a little shopping time, without forgetting to wear a facemask, a must-do during these corona times ...

Simon had on his side a busy administrative day with a few meetings. He also worked on a new project he will build with Kristina and will be about getting children into nature.

Esben was again working on his engineering courses and will try again to catch some cool birds tonight. Let’s hope he will be successful!

Michael Ancher was out ringing, braving the winds at Jennes Sø and caught a few birds. Results are just below.

Ringmærkning (Jennes Sø):

Musvit – Great Tit - 2

Gærdesmutte - Wren - 1

Jernspurv – Dunnock - 1

Munk - Blackcap - 1

Rødhals - Robin - 3

Solsort – Blackbird - 1

Total: 9

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

People: Martin Grienenberger, Amelie Zeller, Christina Stinn, Simon S. Christiansen, Esben Elgaard Hansen, Kristina Sønderkjær, Mette & Sven, Michael Ancher