A Horned Grebe (Nordiske lappedykker) and lots of indoor activities

Pablo, Amelie, and Jeppe ringed at Kabeltromlen today and did not have many birds. The season is definitely slowing down, and it is starting to get colder now, too! In total, they caught 19 birds, including 8 recaptures.

A highlight was an online ringing session with Pemille, who joined in via video call with a class of special needs students aged 10–14 years. It was a great learning experience for them, and the students were very interested in hearing more about the birds and our activities here at the station.

Peder Dannow, a birder and photographer from Skagen, came to Kabeltromlen, which was also a nice treat.

Martin and I went to Grenen Sø to put up the trap for the water pipits again. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch any today. Martin went on to World’s End 3 to count migratory seabirds with Knud. They also had a slow morning, with only ~600 birds in total. Their highlight was a Horned Grebe (Nordiske lappedykker) in full winter plumage – oh, how I wish I had been there to see it! They aren't rare, but they are such beautiful birds. Martin and Knud also counted 55 waxwings. It appears they are finally starting to show up in increasing numbers, so we might see them up close again.

After setting up the trap for the water pipits with Martin, I returned to the station to edit the video of Simon’s session on Redpolls (Gråsisken). We will be posting it on Youtube tomorrow and share the link on Facebook, so make sure you check our social media channels in the coming days!

In the afternoon, Amelie went over recapture sheets with Simon. Jeppe studied up on how to identify Common scoter (Sortand) and Velvet scoter (Fløjlsand) in the field – which isn’t as easy as it might seem, especially on a sunny day. He also learned about sewing mist nets, which is a task all of us will be doing in the upcoming weeks. The more nets we fix now, the fewer need to be done over the winter or early spring. Jeppe and Martin also finished organizing the attic above the lab, which is looking quite nice by now. Martin then worked on the records for the Barn own in DOF basen, with two calls that he recorded during the night in early to mid-October. While everyone else was working on station-related tasks, I made a German sheet cake called "Donauwelle" in celebration of Martin's name day: St. Martin! As you can see, the topmost layer is chocolate. What you don't see is the cream layer underneath (with more butter than I will dare mention) on top of cherries, on top of a white and chocolate brown cake layer.

We also watched a video by Ottenby Bird Observatory on identifying Rock pipits (Skærpiber) and Water pipits (Bjergpiber), which isn’t easy, depending on the light and on which part of the bird you see.

Even their calls are quite similar. Martin, who analyzes bird call recordings during nocturnal migration, provided us with a few more details on the sonogram.

Tomorrow is going to be a windy day, so we will be going to Jennes Sø for ringing. Hopefully, we will get a few more birds there – wish us luck!

Ringmærkning (Kabeltromlen):

Blåmejse – Blue tit: 3

Gærdesmutte – Wren: 2

Sjagger – Fieldfare: 2

Munk – Blackcap: 2

Fuglekonge – Goldcrest: 1

Bogfinke – Chaffinch: 1

Total: 11 new birds

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

People: Pablo Macías, Jeppe Overgaard, Knud Pedersen, Amelie Zeller, Martin Grienenberger, Simon S. Christiansen, Christina Stinn, Peder Dannow