Skuas and a surprise in the heath

Shortly after the rain stopped in the morning, Miles and I headed to Worlds End III just in time for sunrise. The wind blew strongly from the southwest, but that didn't stop us from counting everything and being motivated to search for rarities. Knud supported us again this morning. We were actually rewarded with a good number of skuas. It was really nice to see again a Great Skua (Storkjove), a juvenile Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove) and once, three Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove) flying together. Once again, good numbers of Kittiwakes (Ride) made today's migration count exciting. Our hearts sometimes skipped a beat when juvenile individuals in the distance strongly resembled Sabine's gulls (Sabinemåge). However, we didn't see any of those today. A young Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Måge) roosted on the beach though.

1 cy. Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Måge) together with Kittiwakes (Rider). Photo: Knud Pedersen

The passerine migration is gradually increasing the last days. The many resting and attempting to migrate reed buntings were difficult to count, but also nice to watch. Another nice passerine was the well-known Citrine Wagtail (Citronvipstjert), which Simon was able to observe briefly today at the parking lot before he went to do the ringing. Due to the wind, they started ringing a little later and did not open all the nets today. That's why there were very few birds in the net today.
After the migration count, Miles and I searched again for the Citrine Wagtail (Citronvipstjert) and checked Ellekrattet for some passerines but both not really successful.


Florian searching some shelter from a rain shower while searching for the Citrine Wagtail

In the afternoon, Simon took us by car to see some good birding spots around Skagen.


Birding in the industrial area

A very unexpected sighting was a Kingfisher (Isfugl) flying over the heath east of Højen Fyr! It’s only the 44th record in Skagen. We also checked some bushes, which resulted in a few lifers for Amira and Miles! Very successful, I would say!


Simon greeting some norwegians on a boat at the harbour

Back at the house, we welcomed our new guests Ole and Birgitte, who joined the evening meeting. Afterwards, Miles cooked a delicious dinner for us.

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)

Rødhals 2
Munk 7
Gransanger 2

Total 11

Ringing (Jennes Sø)

Blåmejse 2
Gransanger 3
Munk 2
Gærdesanger 1
Rødhals 1
Jernspurv 2
Grønsisken 2
Gråsisken, Lille (ssp. cabaret) 7 

Total 20

Links to todays observations in Dofbasen from the Skagen area

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Miles Scheuering, Amira Nuseibeh, Simon Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Michael Ancher