Week 30 starting off strong

We are welcoming clouds and a bit of wind back to Skagen after a few hot days recently. This meant working today was a much less sweaty affair! Hanelie and I opened the nets at Kabeltromlen half an hour before sunrise, and were joined by a number of people throughout the session. Simon was there early morning, followed by Daniele who helped with the rounds, Emma later on, as well as Mikkel, Erik, Ornella, and Gino who came to watch some of the action.

Hanelie giving Gino a good cuddle!

The morning was dominated by Common Whitethroats (Tornsanger) on the rounds. We had an early highlight - this stunning male Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken).

Lesser Redpoll – Lille Gråsisken

Meanwhile, Emma started the migration count this morning, seeing a Whimbrel (Småspove), a couple of Wigeon (Pibeand), and a Velvet Scoter (Fjølsand). Knud came to assist the monitoring and together they saw a fourth calendar year Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge)! He took over for the latter half so that Emma could join us for the last few rounds of ringing, where we bookended the day with a juvenile Dunnock (Jernspurv), which was showing a nice set of contrasting spots on its greater coverts.

Juvenile Dunnock – Jernspurv

Ringing totals

Musvit 2
Rødhals 1
Kærsanger 2
Gærdesanger 1
Rørsanger 1
Blåmejse 1
Jernspurv 1
Tornsanger 10
Rørspurv 1
Munk 1
Gransanger 3

 Total 25

After the ringing session Hanlie and I took garden tools to some shrubbery growing too near the nets, to prevent them catching on vegetation Wihle simon had the task to try changing a cable of the station’s radio tracking receiver, which is used to pick up signals from radio tagged birds. Despite a good effort, and help from Mikkel the problem seems to be with the antenna, which will have to be replaced in the near future instead.

Our radio tracking receiver

We volunteers have still had no luck with the Long-legged Buzzard (Ørnevåge) yet, but we have been hearing reports of it resting on the ground near Hulsig, so maybe we still have a chance!

Link to todays observations in DOFbasen from Observers in the area.

Highlights at the ringing:

Lille Gråsisken
Kærsanger
Jernspurv

Highlights for morning observation:

Kaspisk Måge
Småspove
Fjølsand
Pibeand

At the station: Emma Fabre, Hanelie Sidhu, Rosemary Fricke, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Erik Christophersen, our Italian guests Daniele Lavicoli and Ornella Cobianchi,  and the guests in the apartment Louise, Nor and Mikkel Østergaard.