Fantastic Obs and Funny Dinner

Hanelie and I were today the first ones who got up to open the nets at Kabeltrommeln. Cora joined us for the first round. Because of the quite strong wind, we weren’t able to open all the nets. That was also why we only caught 4 new birds today. But we had a nice Garden Warbler (Havesanger) recapture and for me it was also nice to be back for the first time during my stay here in August at Kabeltrommeln.

Garden Warbler (Havesanger) at KAB

We used the time between the rounds to watch a bit to the sea and also inland. We had some passerines and 2 close Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove), which were chasing a Grey Heron (Fiskehejre). We also used the time to look a bit at other species groups, and we caught some nice grasshoppers like the Steppe Grasshopper (Chorthippus vagans / Steppegræshoppe). At the closing round we found a Golden-dimpeled Ground Beetle/Dyndløber (Carabus clatratus), a very nice and beautiful beetle.

Golden-dimpeled Ground Beetle (Dyndløber/Carabus clatratus)

To come back to birds – the observers, Simon Jr., Markus, Louisa, Rose and Sarah started the count from sunrise, and Knud and Erik joined them. They were very successful and got 246 Fulmars (Mallemuk) in total and a Great Skua as their highlight. Both were lifers for Louisa, congrats!

After ringing and observing we all headed back to the station, some ate something, others went directly to bed for a nap. But Hanelie, Rose and Sarah were so nice and went to the shop in town to buy all the stuff we need for the next days. And they did a huge shopping, because many people eat a lot of stuff in few days.

Cora and I used the afternoon to collect a dead Eider (Ederfugl), which was found by Louisa, Sarah and Rose at Grenen at the morning, and on our way back we found a dead Cormorant (Skav) near the beach by Det Grå Fyr. We put them in the freezer, so that they can be used for scientific purposes.
Meanwhile, Markus and Simon (Lille Simån) decided to go to World's End 3 and they saw a Great Skua (Storkjove) and 6 Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove), so it was a good decision from them to go out again.
Rose and Sarah went out again as well to the top of Det Grå Fyr to have an awesome look over the landscape around Skagen.

view form Det Grå Fyr

After our activities at noon and in the afternoon we were all a bit exhausted, and it came at the perfect moment when Hanelie called us that dinner was ready. She cooked a delicious pumpkin soup and after that awesome dinner we weren’t finished with eating, because Rose baked a very nice cake as a dessert. It’s always nice to be with all the other volunteers at the table and have such nice and funny talks as we had today.
Now Simon Jr. and Cora are out for night-catching and we all hope that they will have success and bring some nice birds back to the station, so that we can ring them to know more about their migration and roosting places. We’ll let you know in the next blog if they caught something!

Ringing totals KAB:

Munk 1

Solsort 1

Kærsanger 1

Gulspurv 1

Total 4

Observation Highlights:

246 Fulmars (Mallemuk)

14 Arctic Skua (Almindeling Kjove)

Great Skua (Storkjove)

Little Stint (Dværgryle)

Today's observations by observers in the area typed into DOFbasen can be seen here

At the station: Hanelie Sidhu, Rosemary Fricke, Sarah Partrige, Mio Brix, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Markus Kemp Clément, Simon Kiesé, Cora Köberle