Long legs, long bills

Last night we went to Jerup, a place half an hour south of Skagen, to try to catch and ring some waders. Luckily, Lars took most of us including the equipment with him in his car. Rose and I took the train, so we met around 11 pm at the beach. There was a thunderstorm over the Kattegat giving the night a nice atmosphere. When the nets were set up, we walked along the beach and I spotted birds in the thermal. It did not take long until this beautiful Oystercatcher (Strandskade) was under Cora’s hand net. We measured it, it got a shiny ring and we released it soon after.

Markus having the Oystercatcher (Strandskade) under control.

In the next round we got pretty close to a Greenshank (Hvidklire), but it walked so quickly, that we could barely keep up. A Redshank (Rødben) was more relaxed, so we took the opportunity to grab it. A new species in hand for most of us!

Long red legs: not the only feature to identify a Redshank (Rødben).

One more: this young Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle) was the third wader species tonight. Super cute Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle) accepting us as his friends.

The wind picked up, so we had to take down our wader net. Fortunately, there was one more Redshank (Rødben) and Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle). What a nice night!

Kindergarden: young Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle) on the left and young Redshank (Rødben) on the right.

Back at the station, I really appreciated the long nap. It was very windy, so we could not open our nets at Kabeltromlen. Standing the storm, Sarah and Markus headed out to WE3. The northerly winds killed migration once more, but the birds that fly in this wind are good ones. It started with a Manx Shearwater (Almindelig Skråpe) which came in a nice distance, always a great bird. Even though the observation was a bit more tricky, the next bird was even better: a Sabine’s Gull (Sabinemåge) headed northwest. Markus made a nice drawing of it documenting the most important features – congrats!

After waking up, Cora and I started packing the nightcatching stuff back in order. We also opened the net in our garden, when suddenly Johanna and MHL (Magnus) showed up. It was very nice to see them again and we had a nice chat. Then we also caught a House Sparrow (Gråspurv) and a Tree Sparrow (Skovspurv). It was the first bird ringed by Magnus since spring 2024 at the station, but his measurements were on the spot!

Sometimes I wonder if I should mention everything that we did today. There is so much stuff that repeats, much of them is fun. That includes swimming, shopping, data entry, eating etc. Louise was on a wedding, so she was not at the station, but we look forward to having her back here tomorrow. Saturday is cleaning day, that also had to be done. In the afternoon, Rose, Cora and I headed to “Sandormspurv” (how I call it). Few birds but good snacks and good talks were really refreshing. Best bird was a young Black Guillemot (Tejst) though.

The wind will finally die down the next days, so we are looking forward to some birds in the ringing and hopefully our first attempt on the Great Snipes (Trædekker) soon.

Ringing (Det Grå Fyr: Fyrhaverne): 

Tree Sparrow (Skovspurv) 1

House Sparrow (Gråspurv) 1

Total: 2

Ringing (Jerup):

Oystercatcher (Strandskade) 1

Redshank (Rødben) 2

Red Knot (Islandsk Ryle) 2

Total: 5

Highlight of the observations:

Sabine's Gull (Sabinemåge) - 1 K2+

Manx Shearwater (Almindelig Skråpe)

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

People: Rosemary Frikke, Markus Kemp Clément, Simon Kiesé, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Sarah Partrige, Cora Köberle, Lars Bo Jacobsen, Johanna Veentjer and Magnus Houen Lauritsen (better known as MHL).