Dunlin and Swift

Today we enjoyed a clear sunny day over Skagen. The excitement began last night when Mio and Cora captured two Dunlins (almindelig ryle) on their night walk to Grenen, and the rest of us were woken up around midnight for the ringing. They then completed another round to Grenen and caught one more Dunlin. These were all juvenile birds, and were given steel rings to last the wear and tear of life on the beach. We got to see up close the flexible bill tip characteristic of many waders, which is packed with nerve endings to locate food items while probing in the sand.

This morning, myself, Rosemary, Markus, and Simon were joined at World’s end III by Ragnar, and we spent a windy morning counting. We saw many fulmars (mallemuk) migrating, over 400 during the count. We were also happy to see a long-eared owl (Skorvhornugle) flying over the sea fairly close to us. We also saw some nice waders including  oystercatchers (strandskade), redshanks (rødben), Hjejle, Dobbeltbekkasin, and one brushane. Simon, Markus, and Ragnar continued counting after the standardized hours, while Rosemary and I went to read some colour rings in the gull flock.

Hanelie, Louise, Mio, and Cora went out ringing today at Kabletromeln, where it was a bit breezy but they could open most of the nets for the morning, and then opened the rest as the wind died down. They had some highlights including a fuglekonge, grå fluesnapper, and jernspurv. They also got to see some young adders resting in the bushes near the ringing table.

The afternoon was warm; some of us went swimming and most of us had long naps after lunch. We tidied up the apartment together, completed data entry for the day, and feasted on Rosemary’s Famous mac n cheese, which fueled Mio’s current cheese obsession. Louise went out with her mum and kindly brought us back some delicious pastries. I went for a small walk with Mio and Simon, and Rosemary went up the lighthouse tower where she happened to catch a swift (mursejler) and brought it back down to the lab for ringing, where we got to see its amazingly long flight feathers and charming little face.  

Just now the others have caught two natravn and are bringing them back to the lab for ringing; it is already the start of another exciting night!

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area.

Ringing totals:

Ringing KAB today:
Gærdesanger 1
Kærsanger 1
Rødhals 1
Jernspurv 1
Grå Fluesnapper 1
Munk 1
Tornsanger 3
Rørspurv 1
Fuglekonge 1
Gransanger 2
Total: 13