Birds & Landscape

The morning started well when I heard a Kingfisher (Isfugl) west of the Sandormen tracks on my way to Worlds End III. After arriving at the observation site, Sarah and I were soon greeted by a beautiful Goldeneye (Hvinan) flying nearby. Of all the species at sea, this beautiful sighting was probably one of the highlights. After that, there wasn't much movement. Things went better for passerines in terms of numbers. Increasing numbers of arriving songbirds were fun to count. It was the first day we reached the threshold of 100 arriving meadow pipits from the sea.  These numbers are likely to rise significantly in the coming weeks, but we have already had a nice taste of what is to come. I tried all the time to find a rarer bunting among the many resting and attempting to migrate Reed Buntings (Rørspurv). Therefore, I also photographed as many flying birds as possible. So far, nothing rare has turned up, but I hope that one day, if I keep doing this long enough, I will get a record shot of a top rarity this way ;)


A small part of todays Reed Buntings (Rørspurv)

Simon made a nice sighting today when he spotted a Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade) from Kabeltromlen. Due to the wind, not all nets were open again, so today 15 new catches and 12 recaptures ended up in the net. The highlight for the ringers, Gabriel, Miles and Amira, were two Blackbirds (Solsort), a beautiful adult male and a very young individual.


Beautiful Blackbird (Solsort) Male

In the afternoon, we all went on an outing to the large migrating sand dune Råbjerg Mile. Of course, we also took the opportunity to do a lot of birding in the surrounding area. About a dozen Stonechats (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl), two Hen Harriers (Blå Kærhøg) and a very close flock of Red Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb) were really nice to see. But the fantastic forest, the heathland and, of course, the dunes were probably the most impressive highlights.


Birding on Råbjerg Mile

Ringing (Kabeltromlen)
Solsort 1
Rødhals 1
Munk 2
Fuglekonge 8
Blåmejse 1
Gransanger 2
Total 15

Highlights from today's observations
Gråstrubet Lappedykker 1
Hvinand 1
Isfugl (Sandormen Track) 1

Today's observations from the area can be seen here. 

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Simon S. Christiansen and our guest Otto Clemmensen.