More Birthday Celebrations

Hanalie and Isis were up long before sunrise to open the nets at Kabeltromlen this morning. It was yet another very quiet morning, but they were pleased to catch three more cute little Coal Tits (Sortmejse) and the second Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) of the season.

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger)

Hanalie was ‘in charge’ of the session and will hopefully now be able to upgrade her ringing license to a C-Permit. Simon Sr also joined and was accompanied by Helga who was interested in seeing the ringing. In between rounds there was plenty of time to fix the tent which was damaged in last week’s strong winds. It is now upright at least even if it is a little wonky!

Simon Sr and Helga also walked down the Sandormen track and managed to find the Bluethroat (Blåhals) which has been seen in the area for a couple of days. Isis and Hanalie also ran down to see it in between rounds; definitely not a bird to miss!

Bluethroat ssp. cyanecula Photo: Margit Madsen

Up at World’s End 1, Simon Jr and I spotted Simon Sr on the Sandormen track through our scopes. And then, just in front of him, we saw something colourful move in the bushes. It was the Bluethroat (Blåhals)! Otherwise it was also a very quiet morning for us at the migration count with low numbers of all the species counted. We did however see six Shags (Topskarv) and four Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove) which was very nice. There was hardly any wind at all, a really nice morning, and we both agreed that it was the warmest two degrees that we’d ever sat out in!

The afternoon was spent cleaning, entering data and catching up on some much-needed sleep ready for this evening’s celebrations. Yesterday we all enjoyed celebrating Simon Jr’s birthday and today the festivities continue as this evening we will be celebrating Jørgen Hulbæk’s 70^th birthday. We have heard that there will be music and lots of food and we are very much looking forward to celebrating with the other guests. Happy birthday Jørgen!

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Since writing the above our afternoon managed to get even better! Just as we were relaxing inside we heard over Zello that a Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) had been spotted from Flagbakken. Immediately, we all dashed outside and were were very kindly given a lift by a friend of Magnus. We stopped on the way when we saw a group of local birders all with their cameras and scopes pointed at the sky. And then we saw it! A stunning Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente)  circling high above our heads alongside a Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge). It was a new life species for Simon Jr, Isis and I so we were all very very happy!

Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) photo by Eric Christophersen

We returned to the station now even more ready to celebrate and enjoyed an evening of great music, food and company to celebrate Jørgen's birthday.

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet):

 Total: 12

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: Hayley Land, Isis Khalil, Hanelie Sidhu, Magnus Houen Lauritsen, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen, Eric Christophersen, our guests Oliver, Margit and Claus, Jørgen Hulbæk and birthday guests.