From Morning Madness to Evening Feast

Cora and Simon junior began the day by putting up the nets, and soon Yuri, Lisa, and I joined them for the first round. And what a rining day it turined out to be. The first round already brought some exciting birds, including a garden warbler (havesanger) and a pied flycatcher (broget fluesnapper). 

Not long after Simon senior, Agnethe, Erik, and Jørgen joined us. Almost immediately Simon senior spotted a barred warbler  (høgesanger) in a bush nearby - and soon after, there were two!

The second  round was just as thrilling, with highlights such as an adult male redstart (rødstjert), a tree pipit (skovpiber), and another pied flycatcher (borget fluesnapper). Then, all of a sudden, a Zello call came through: Yuri and Markus had found a barred warbler in the net! We quickly called Sarah and Rose so that everyone could share the experience. Not only did we get to see the bird in its natural environment in the bush, we also had the chance to ring one and admire it up close. 

Barred warbler (høgesanger) caught at Kabeltrommlen

However, the morning was not only smiles - we also had to say goodbye to Markus, Cora, and Rose (we already miss you guys!) We gathered at Kabeltrommlen to wish them farewelll (or rather "see you later"). Just when we thought the day had peaked, Simon Jr. spotted an unusual-looking gull slowly approaching Ellekrattet. It turned out to be a long-tailed skua (lille kjove)! It flew right over our heads, and Lisa and Sarah even saw it from their position at World's end III. What a day!

The long-tailed skua (lille kjove), which flew over Ellekrattet (this amazing photo was taken by Erik Christophersen)

Meanwhile Sarah had a beautiful morning of observations at World's End III, first joined by Rose and later by Lisa. In addition, to the barred warbler and the long-tailed skua, they also spotted redshanks (rødben), greenshanks (hvidklirer), and razorbills (alk). 

After such an eventful morning, we all gathered for an early meeting at the lighthouse followed by a well-deserved nap. When I woke up, I went shopping to prepare dinner. However, just as I had finished unpacking the groceries, we got a surprise visit from Matilde from the restaurant Blink - bearing gifts: lots of food and wine! So instead of my planned menu, Sarah whipped uo a feast while Simon and I entered ringing data. The spread included fish, chickpeas, salad, fish sauce, and corn - and yes we may have sampled a glass (or two) of the wonderful wine. A huge thank you!

Sarah with the huge amount of food we got from Blink (again thank you so much. I was so delicious)

In the evening Simon Jr was picked up by Simon Sr. to go night-catching for great snipe (tredækker). We wish you the best of luck for your night experdition Sarah and I stayed behind and enjoyed a quiet evenin at the station. 

This is my last night here at the station. Time to pack my bags and write in the guest book. Thank you so much for this opportunity to be part of this - it has truely been an honor and a once-in-a-lifetime experience (maybe not once-in-a-lifetime: as you say in danish "jeg har fået blod på tanden" and it is definitely not the last time I volunteer at a bird observatory). 

until next time!

Today’s observations by observers in the area of Skagen typed into DOFbasen can be found here. 

Ringing at KAB: 

1 Høgesanger (barred warbler)

1 Gransanger (chiffchaff)

1 Rørspurv (reed bunting)

5 Tornsanger (common whitethroat)

1 Skovpiber (tree pipit)

2 Havesanger (garden warbler)

7 Munk (blackcap)

8 Sortmejse (coal tit)

1 Kærsanger (marsh warbler)

1 Rødhals (robin)

1 Rødstjert (restart)

7 Rørsanger (reed warbler)

1 Løvsanger (willow warbler)

2 Broget fluesnapper (pied flycatcher) 

1 Musvit (great tit)

total: 40 

People: Simon Käse, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen, Youri Van der Horst, Johan Funder, and our guests