Observations and nightjars

Today started with a follow-up observations trip to Grenen along the shoreline, we sat atop one of the dunes at 04:45 am ready for the sunrise which was impressive as ever. I was joined by Mathilde and Timon who joined us for his last day here up in Skagen, determined to find some more birds for his tour list which I'm glad I got to assist with. Overall it was a good observation session, with some nice species, nice weather, and coffee! An increase in Auks (alkefugle) have begun their migration with some identifiable individuals as razorbills (Alk) and other guillemots (Lomvie) but the majority being too far to distinguish a species. 2 Manx shearwaters (Almindeig Skråpe) were seen along the horizon accompanied by an immature arctic skua (Almindeig Kjove), the usual flocks of common scoter (Sortand) with some velvet scoter (Fløjlsand) mixed in and red and black-throated divers (Rød-Sortstrubet Lom). The rest of our observations can be seen on DOFbasen for today’s records in the usual link below.

We returned to base and after some food and energy replenishment returned to bed for a nap. Timon packed and headed up to the lighthouse to see Skagen from above which we recommend to everyone to do at least once while you're here and he said goodbye and headed to town to catch his train. Simon arrived where we went over what needed to be done while he was away and a catch up on the weeks workload, and also prepped us for this evening where we will again be trying to catch nightjars at Sandmilen. We will be joined by a few guests to show the process and hopefully some nightjars the hand. We love bringing people to these experiences as its more important than ever to show the public and increase publicity and education in ornithology. Sadly, this will also be the last nightjar session of the season before they head back to Africa with some now sporting the ring of Denmark. The results of tonight’s ringing will be up on the blog post tomorrow.

People to mention: Mathilde Ducroz, Timon Sørensen, Simon Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Jesper and Margit, Lars Bo, Gitte and jens peder

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen