It looks as if it was thirsty

Whenever the wind really swirls around the lighthouse, it whistles in the kitchen. Today was exactly one of these days when we had to raise our voices in the kitchen to understand each other ;-)

Nevertheless, Hanelie and Manuel were at World's End 1 in Grenen at half past four. The three hours in the stormy wind from the west brought quite few birds. A Common Rosefinch Karmindompap passing through and later singing briefly was a nice observation, as was the male oriole, which also seemed unlikely to cross the sea and therefore turned away again. The same was done by the very rare Turtle Dove Turteldue, which also turned around in front of the sea and flew quickly and flat back to the west. So it could only be seen by a few birders.

In the morning, the Skagen Bird Festival started with a tour to Hirtsholme and tents from Naturbuttiken and Swarowski. At an open garden, Robbe, Alice, Leona and Simon looked at how to garden close to nature. It was exciting to see what can be done with simple means. Also part of the festival programme was the bird tour, which Gustav led and gave the 25 participants an insight into the local bird life. Meanwhile, the next bee-eater Biæder was reported, it is a good year for this species here. Lisa and Simon were able reconnect with the bird at Gyvelstein and observe it hunting insects.

While Leona, Alice and Robbe were still eating ice cream or trying to find butterflies in Batteriskoven, some questions came up in the station about how to differentiate between dead and living birds and how much birds actually have to drink. Sometimes you just don't really know...

Meanwhile, Marianne and Kurt spent a stormy but very impressive day on Hirtsholme. The fact that you can see the seabirds so close up here is simply a very special experience. It was a great start to the Bird Festival. You can see what will happen tomorrow here and join at short notice. Tomorrow also Zeiss and Leica will show up at the Bird Festival.

Today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area

 Raptor summary of the raptors entered on DOFbasen today

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Manuel Tacke, Leona Gottschalkson, Robbe Cool, Lisa Vergin, Gustav Nyberg, our guests Marianne and Kurt