The Last Day of the Standard Spring Observation Period

Rise and shine! Today was the final day of the standardized observation. After four long months, the standardized period has finally come to a close after today.  It has been a season with some spectacular birds with a pair of King Eiders (Kongeederfugl) in the first months to a Scopoli’s Shearwater (Skopolis Scråpe) in the final weeks! A season of highs and lows we will all never forget!

The observers got up this morning, unfortunately, to find that rain was barreling towards Skagen and meant that we were only able to count in the last hour of the morning. Despite this, we had a nice time reminiscing on the cold, foggy months, especially in March, which made us laugh as it was a similar day today as it was them, only 12 degrees warmer!

 The highlight of the morning were a pair of Little Terns (Dvaergterne) and large numbers of post breeding dispersal Grey Herons (Fiskehejre)!  We also saw Eric Christophersen who happened to be one of the first people we met in the field this spring at Grenen. A nice way to end the season!

 The observation team for the final day! 2 of whom have been here since day 1!

The ringers, Tue and Hanelie, headed out to CES and tried to open the nets, only to find out the rain was coming which led them to rapidly close them. They came home and immediately went back to sleep. 

In the late morning, Oluf came and picked up and took us up and took us south of Skagen to go meet up with the White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) ringers to try and ring a chick! Unfortunately, because the nest is new this year, it was unable to support the weight of Kim so he was unable to retrieve the retrieve. Regardless, it was very interesting to see him try to get up to the nest.

 Kim climbing the nest tree

Once completed, we said goodbye to Simon and Lisa, who are on their way to Iceland to complete fieldwork for the week. We wish them luck! Que into a special edition of the blog this week for updates from their trip as they will be ringing ducks!

Learning about the pulli Havørn ringing process with some "war" wounds from climbing

 In the afternoon, the rain kept us inside and we all took it easy. We expect the next couple of days to be very, very windy so ringing probably will not happen. But this allows us time to catch up on things we have been postponing the entire spring season.  Finally, in the evening, we welcomed Hanne and Jesper to the station. They will be staying as guests for the week. They also, coincidentally, happen to be the very first guests who stayed to the apartment during my first week at Skagen last year! 

And so, another observation season has come and gone at Skagen Fuglestation! What will the fall season bring? We will have to wait and see!!!!

Day Highlights:

Dværgterne 2 

Fiskehejre 49

Day Lowlight: 

The end of the spring season :(

MAJOR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

- King Eider (Kongeederfugl)

- Surf Scoter (Brilleand)

- Booted Eagle (Dværgørn)

- Oriental Honey Buzzard (Tophvepsevåge)

- Black winged Kite (Blå Glente)

- Scopoli's Shearwater (Skopolis Scråpe)

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Andrew Jacobs, Tue Baaner, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Eric Christophersen, Oluf Lou, Kim Skelmose, Hanne and Jesper