The Skagen Bird Festival Begins!

Today marked the day that the Skagen bird festival would begin with opening ceremonies at 10:00 am. I went out to the observations at world’s end 1 with Lucas this morning where we had a good number of Northern Fulmar (Mallemuk) fly past as well as a pair of Little Tern (Dværgterne), there was a Black Tern (Sortterne) milling about the tip and a purple coloured 3k+ Common Rosefinch (Karmindompap) dropped down to sing for a bit. A lomg-eared Owl (Mosehornugle) flew across possibly one of the local ones. After we headed back to the lighthouse to get ready for the event. A little later the ringers saw a European Bee-eater (Biæder) fly past which was in good enough lighting to see the colours this time which was great.

Long-eared Owl (Mosehornugle) photo Andrew Jacobs

We went to the harbor to check for an interesting gull which we did not end up finding unfortunately and then rushed back for the start of the event. Simon gave a good opening speech and was interrupted by a White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) that flew directly above briefly. Many people showed up for the event which had presentations and tents with displays going throughout the day. Tue and Cora led a tour which had 60 people around the area looking for some birds.

Later on I went with Jana, Jørgen Hulbæk and Jeppe Overgaard to look for gulls with rings and interesting plumages at the harbor again where we found a very interesting pale gull which superficially gave the impression of a Glaucous-winged (Gråvingetmåge) type bird so we moved to a closer spot where we could pick out the details better, it had slight traces of black in the primaries and striations across the mantle that made it look better for a very worn European Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) over a hybrid Glaucous-winged (Gråvingetmåge) type from North America. We also found a 2k Great Black-backed Gull (Svartbag) with a ring from Norway. A third unusual bird was a 2k Great Black-backed type bird that had very dark secondaries, an elongated frame and a very unusual European Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) type tail with a white base with thick black band at the base completely unlike a typical Great Black-backed Gull tail. Some Black Guillemot (Tejst) hauled out on the rocks were also nice to spot at the harbor.

A European Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) pretending to be a Glaucous-winged Gull (Gråvinget Måge) probably photo Andrew Jacobs

A ringed Svartbag photo Andrew Jacobs

A Putative Great Black-backed (Svartbag) x European Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) hybrid photo Andrew Jacobs

When we went back the crew tried out the new football in the field as a big flock of Canada Geese (Canadagås) went over. Now we prepare for day two of the bird festival.

Ringing

Bogfink 3

Glbug 4

Kærsanger 1

Rørsanger 1

Havesanger 1

Observation Highlights

European Bee-eater (Biæder)

Black Tern (Sortterne)

Little Tern 2 (Dværgterne)

Short-eared Owl (Mosehornugle)

A European Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) pretending to be a Glaucous-winged Gull (Gråvinget Måge) probably

A Putative Great Black-backed (Svartbag) x European Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) hybrid

Observations today in Skagen on DOFbasen

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Andrew Jacobs, Janna Ouedraogo, Lisa Vergin, Jeppe Overgaard and Jørgen Hulbæk.