Skagen sinks into deep fog

Good evening dear blog readers,

I woke up at a quarter past five today ready to be at Observation Point in time for sunrise, the plan was for Robbe and me to take the Morning Obs today. I looked out the window and that plan seemed to have sunk somewhere in the thick fog. It did not improve as the morning progressed either. So that meant sleeping longer for all of us, and that was nice for a change. Simon was not deterred by the fog to get to the bird station early. At 6.30 he was with us and sat down to work. But in the courtyard he made a nice observation: On the roof of the bird station sat a lot of starlings, which had probably come down in the fog and had found a nice resting place here. Loudly they welcomed the morning.

We, on the other hand, had a late breakfast. Alice made porridge and I learned from Alice and Robbe how delicious it is to put a piece of chocolate in the bottom of the bowl, which then melts through the warm porridge. You should try it sometime too! It turned out to be a quiet day. After breakfast Marion worked a bit on her master thesis, I remembered the report I have to write for university and Robbe and Alice relaxed a bit, but also worked on the evaluation of the Nocturnal Flight calls. In the late morning, Thomas Kjær from Aarhus University came to work with Simon and Lene to find a suitable place for the radar, with the help of which and with a laser binocular we will soon determine the flight altitude and speed of seabirds. Then, Marion, Alice, and I went to the attic to get the poles for the nets in Kabeltrommeln, because soon the ringing will start, and honestly, we can't wait anymore. Simon, meanwhile, took Robbe to town and drove him to the bike repair shop, where Robbe picked up his repaired bike and Simon did some shopping. Meanwhile, Marion, Alice, and I rode loaded bikes to Kabeltrommeln. We managed to get 43 small middle poles, 80 big poles, and 8 water poles there in two trips.

Further, the fog hung low but we heard some birds along the way, for example, we observed many Blackbirds "Solsort" on the way to the bird station and many Chaffinches "Bogfinke" near the bird station. Robbe made similar observations, seeing a large mixed flock of Linnets "Tornirisk", Bramblings "Kvækerfinke" and Chaffinches "Bogfinke". With the fog, they had all come down. The three of us got back to the bird station earlier from Kabeltrommeln and soon, Simon came back as well. On our way, we had already laughed about our growling stomachs, so I prepared lunch. Robbe came back just in time when the food was ready. In the afternoon, the board of the bird observatory had a meeting in the conference room. In the meantime, Robbe went through the whole night recordings, I worked a little more on my report and glued a broom. Alice informed herself about Master´s degree programs. At five in the afternoon, we had a very nice evening meeting with Susanne and Bjarne. They used the foggy day to visit the Skagen Art Museum. Just when they went out of the car, they were welcomed by a loud Great Tit "Musvit". After the museum, they had coffee and cake in town and went on a walk in Skagen. Tonight, they went to Skagen Fish House for dinner. We also had a very good dinner. Marion cooked us the best vegetarian burgers for dinner we ever had. Tomorrow will be a windy day, 11- 14 m/s  from the south-east. Therefore, we hope for cool birds during the Morning Obs.

Cross your fingers for us! Take care,

Hanelie

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: People: Simon S. Christiansen, Robbe Cool, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Marion L'Huillier-Hunsinger, Susanne Olsen and Bjarne Johansson