No Stormsvale but a very cool Warbler

Hallojsa and Juhuu- I am back at Skagen Fuglestation!! And it already started with many interesting activities. During the night we tried to catch Nightjars (Natravn) and Storm Petrels (Stormsvale).

Setting up the Stormsvale net

Luckily, there were no people on the beach when we started the Stormsvale playback. A canon of scary noises resounded over the beach, accompanied by red lights of the speaker. That is how aliens appear in movies. During the night, we kept the sky in sight- just in case. Through the scope we were able to spot Saturn and its rings. Later in the night polar lights appeared. When Sarah and I saw pictures, the others had made of the colourful sky, we first thought it would be a joke- in real life we had to look very closely to see them. Over the night they got stronger and we could see the bright lines on the sky. That was very impressive. Together with some shooting stars they created a perfect atmosphere.

Ideal conditions to stay awake

Regularly, we were checking the nets. Between the rounds we looked out for moths that came to the moth trap we built. There were some interesting ones and after rounds with no birds in the net it was nice to see some new moths. Our favourite one was an Ennomos (probably the Canary-Shouldered Thorn/ Elle-Tandmåler) and we accidentally brought in into the house. There it was very clingy, climbing on our fingers and trying to stay in the house. But Selina managed it to bring her new friend outside again.

Our little friend the Thorn

Because the nets stayed empty, Lille Simon and Youri went out to catch some birds with the net. They came back with a Skylark (Sanglærke). So, we had a bird to ring. When it got later, the others went to bed. Lille Simon and I stayed awake to check the nets. Driven by the believe to find a Stormsvale, I was not tired. Sadly, no bird appeared in the nets.

In the morning, we had to say goodbye to Simon (it was nice to see you again, we hope you had a nice travel back) so Sarah is the only one left from the former team. And as it is often when someone leaves, after that there was a cool bird found. They caught a Barred Warbler (Høgesanger) at Kabeltromlen. I counted in the morning with Knud from worlds end 3 and when we heard that, we headed out to see the bird. When we arrived at Kabeltromlen, the ringers were busy with many birds. Besides the Barred Warbler (Høgesanger) there had been around 15 birds in the nets this round. We were all very happy to see this beautiful bird so close. With two Barred Warblers (Høgesanger) caught, this season is pretty good for the species.

1cy. Barred Warbler (Høgesanger)

One Barred Warbler (Høgesanger) later, Knud and I arrived back at the beach. There Knud focused on the gulls and read some colour rings. The sea was very calm and there was not much migration going on. Around Kabeltromlen there were many passerines in the bushes. It was again a good day for Coal Tits (Sortmejse). 265 of them flew through the area and 12 of them got caught.

Around noon we were all back at the station. After some resting and Sarahs daily swim we entered some data. After that I went on a walk to look if some passerines had hidden in Ellekrattet. There were some birds around in the wake of the trees. In the evening we said goodbye to Youri (also have a good travel home :))

Now Selina is cooking some nice food. Let´s see what tomorrow will bring. The weather forecast looks inconvenient for ringing. But maybe there will be some more migration on the sea. Vi vil se.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Høgesanger 1

Gulspurv 1

Rødhals 11

Løvsanger 1

Rørsanger 1

Sortmejse 12

Grå fluesnapper 1

Rødstjert 2

Gærdesanger 1

Tornsanger 1

Rørspurv 1

Munk 3

Lille dompap 1

Gransanger 3

Fuglekonge 1

Jernspurv 1

Total 42

Highlights from World’s End 3:

Rørhøg

Krikand

Islandsk ryle

Kaspisk måge 7

Gråstrubet Lappedykker

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

People:

Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Simon S. Christiansen, Youri Van der Horst, Simon Kiesé, Knud Pedersen, and our guests Helle and Johan.