Of Shimmering Shrikes

Today we woke up to the first calm day in a while, heading out to do observations at world’s end 3. Today had some new migrants like our first Common Cuckoo (Gøg) for the season. In the mixed Scoter raft today there was a third species; the Black Scoter (Amerikansk Sortand) from North America. There were several species of wader and a good push of migrating pipits and wagtails. One of the European Shags (Topskarv) landed and was feeding offshore briefly giving glimpses between dives.

A distant Black Scoter (Amerikansk Sortand) - Note the large bright yellow knob on the bill. Photo Andrew Jacobs

There was a call about a Black-shouldered Kite (Blå Glente) flying over, however from where we were at obs the heat shimmer was immense and we couldn’t pick out the proper bird, luckily a little later the team at ringing got to see it fly over. The ringers today had a school class that they demonstrated the research procedures that we follow to.

We decided to go to Flagbakken as the day seemed good for raptors and we had a good turnout of birds including a Lesser Spotted Eagle (Lille Skirgeørn) and a Golden Eagle (Kongeørn) mixed in with the other raptors on the move.

After having been at Flagbakken for awhile we got yet another call of an interesting bird; this one of the easter egg painted by Cora, a Woodchat Shrike (Rødhovedet Tornskade). With the shrike’sannouncement we rushed off to Damsted where we saw the shrike bathed in a hazy heat shimmer in the distance, even so the colouration was very bright and bold and we got good looks at the bird as it came a little closer for some attempts of photos through the shimmer, a very nice cooperative bird.

Woodchat Shrike (Rødhovedet Tornskade) - Hanging out in the heat shimmer of the afternoon.  Photo Andrew Jacobs

After the shrike we headed back to Flagbakken for a little while before heading back to the lighthouse, we stopped on the way back at the shrike but it seemed to have already gone to bed, we’ll see if it migrates tonight and what migrants will come in for tomorrow.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):
To be added

Highlights from the observations:
Woodchat Shrike (Rødhovedet Tornskade)
Black-shouldered Kite (Blå Glente)
Lesser Spotted Eagle (Lille Skirgeørn)
Black Scoter (Amerikansk Sortand)
Golden Eagle (Kongeørn)
European Shag (Topskarv)- 2
Common Cuckoo (Gøg) - first of the season

Raptor migration in Skagen today

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Andrew Jacobs, Rasmus Matthiesen-Juhl, Vigo Larsen, Hans, Jeppe Overgaard and Jørgen Hulbæk