Rarities & Rainbows

Today we have some exciting belated news to share with you!

On 10th of August this year, Simon Kiesé spotted an interesting tern at Grenen. After extensive analysis, it is now clear that it was a Roseate tern (Rosenterne)! Here you can find photos und a video of this beauty. 

Furthermore, we can announce that a Citrine Wagtail (Citronvipstjert) showed up at Grenen yesterday! We have updated yesterday's blog, so you can find more details about the bird there.

Enough about the past, let's talk about today.
Janna, Gabriel and I were stationed at Verdens Ende III again, where Knud joined us shortly after our arrival. Today we counted nice numbers of migrating Teals (Krikand) and Wigeons (Pibeand) and got good views on a flock of Light-bellied Brent Geese (ssp. hrota) (Lysbuget Knortegås). This subspecies was actually a lifer for me! But it shouldn't be the only one today. Stay tuned!


Flock of Light-bellied Brent Geese (Lysbuget Knortegås)

In fantastic light, we saw a big flock of Gannets (Sule) foraging. We counted 581 resting individuals today! 


Huge flock of Gannets (Sule) in magic light

As in the days before we managed to spot some Arctic skuas (Almindelig Kjove). But one far distant bird looked a bit different. Thanks to the many years of experience Knud has, we were able to identify the bird as a Long-tailed skua (Lille Kjove)! But things only got better today. It didn't take long before Knud said: “Sooty shearwater flying northwest!” Sodfarvet Skråpe would be the next lifer for me and for Janna too! And indeed: we all saw the shearwater surfing through the waves. They are fantastic flyers and just amazing birds! As if that weren't enough, a short time later Janna spotted a small falcon flying out to sea. Even through the binoculars we could clearly see: It's a juvenile Red-footed falcon (Aftenfalk)! We were able to follow the little fellow for a long time as he flew further and further out until we finally lost sight of him in the far distance.


Juvenile Red-footed falcon (Aftenfalk) migrating out to the sea

As a little treat on the way back, we saw a White-tailed eagle (Havørn). The ringers at Kabeltromlen were even able to watch two individuals performing some acrobatics in the air.

The ringing was also quite successful today with lots of birds, especially in the first round. The highlight was a handful of Pied flycatchers (Broget fluesnapper) today!

After lunch, Simon gave us a lesson on the moulting strategies of passerines. For some of us, it was more of a repetition, but for me, there is still much to learn.
While working comfortably indoors in the afternoon, we were able to enjoy the sight of a triple rainbow!


Only barely visible in the photo: the triple rainbow

To round off the day, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of tarte flambée, which Janna had made for us!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Gærdesmutte 1
Sortmejse 9
Løvsanger 3
Rødhals 4
Rørsanger 1
Jernspurv 1
Broget fluesnapper 5
Rødstjert 5
Munk 10
Blåmejse 2
Gransanger 4
Lille Dompap 1

Total: 46

Highlights from World’s End 3

Lille Kjove

Sodfarvet Skråpe

Aftenfalk

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Selina Veng, Janna Ouedraogo, Sarah Partridge, Óscar Pachá Guerras, Knud Pedersen, Simon Christiansen.