Bread or fish

Hej!

Motivated and packed in multiple layers of clothing, all four of us ventured out to do the migration count today. Knud also joined us a little later. We settled, nice and comfy on the dune, with the wind thankfully not blowing in our faces, but coming from the south. Migration of Scoters, Kittiwakes/Ride and Alcids was good for the first hours, but declined quickly, simultanious with out feet and hands starting to freeze. The only real highlight today was a Great Skua/Storkjove. I was actually able to identify it, before the others spotted it, this is a first for me and I am really happy about that :). The rest of the migration count was quiet birdwise and after scanning through the gulls and our final hour we packed up and went back to the station.

Scopes up at World's End 3

It started raining just as we got back, so our plans of going to the harbour had to be prosponed a little. Thomas, Eleanor and I went on our way as soon as the rain stopped. We got to the harbour as it was already getting dark. Gull feeding was fun nevertheless and someone even turned on the big lanterns for us. Attracting the gulls was another challenge as we had quite the competitor on the other side of the harbour. A huge concentration of gulls was forming around some workers loading up a trolley with fish. Only some of the gulls noticed us throwing out the bread and even fewer decided that bread is potentially nicer than the fish. Among the Herring Gulls/Sølvmåge that listend to our calls was one Caspian Gull/Kaspisk Måge and a couple of Black-headed Gulls/Hættemåge. We called it a success and went on into the city.

Our strong competitor in attracting gulls - spied on through binoculars

Always a fun activity feeding the gulls

Now that it was proper dark, we could enjoy all the christmas lights that lit up the shopping street and in the store we bought some stuff for our christmas bakery on sunday. On the way to the store, Eleanor almost crashed though a window into a bank, but luckily there was a pillar in the way. Reckless driving - not with us, we only hit pilars, curbs and forklifts (almost).

On our way back to the lighthouse, we saw a Short-eared Owl/Mosehornugle flying over the fields. So I tried catching it. I opended a net in the lighthouse garden and played the owl's calls. I felt a little bit creeped out, while I was waiting behind a nearby bush in the dark, alone.... I saw the owl flying for a brief moment, but it never found its way to the net. Maybe next time.

Highlights from the observations:

Great Skua/Storkjove - 1

Caspian Gull/Kaspik Måge - 6

Ringing (Jennes Sø - Michael Ancher):

Rødhals - 1

Gransanger - 1

Fuglekonge - 1

Musvit - 1

Træløber - 1

Nordlig Gråsisken - 1

Lille Gråsisken - 2

Stor Dompap - 1

Gulspurv - 1

Total = 10

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Thomas Weston, Eleanor Harris, Mara Glane, Ragnar Smith, Knud Pedersen.