First Søkonge of the Season

After such a good day of ringing yesterday, I (Miles) was excited to join again. It was quite foggy in the morning, but Amira, Mara, and I were still able to open the nets. It was chilly this morning, and with the fog, felt quite autumnal for the first time this season. There have been quite a lot of visitors at the ringing table this week, and though we have been a bit busy, it has been really rewarding to show the ringing process (and the cool birds) to so many people! Simon was able to join the ringing for the start, but left midmorning to teach a course for nature educators about teaching to children.

Simon's course about nature education for children. Photo by Simon

There were still many Bearded Reedlings (Skægmejse) in the area, and we caught and ringed another 4 today! Bearded Reedlings are a colonial breeder and have a highly localized breeding distribution within reedbeds. In the fall, they form large flocks and disperse to new reedbed sites. During this period, young birds pair up, which has resulted in us catching a lot of males and females together. While it is unclear if they keep these pairs into the breeding season, there is evidence these pair bonds are maintained through dispersal behavior, which may be a strategy to ensure there is an even sex ratio following dispersal.

A pair of Bearded Reedlings (Skægmejse). Photo by Amira

The fog prevented the observers (Sarah and Florian) from starting the migration count right away, so they joined us at the ringing for the first hour. Once the fog cleared, there were many auks (alkefugle), including our first Little Auk (Søkonge) of the season! This was a lifer for Florian and brought much excitement. They also saw a Great Northern Diver (Islom), also called a Common Loon and many European Golden Plovers (Hjelje). After the count, Florian searched for passerines in the sea buckthorn (havtorn) west of Worlds End 3 but unfortunately didn’t find much more than a thorn in his boot. However, when he reached the sandormen track he heard a Red-throated Pipit (Rødstrubet Piber) calling and was able to see it as it flew overhead. He was able to obtain a good recording, which can be found in the observation on DOFBasen.

Sarah and Florian enjoying danish pastries at the bakery in Skagen. Photo by Miles

Upon returning to the lighthouse, we quickly ate lunch and then headed to the bakery in town to get a cinnamon waffle (kanelvaffel) before they sold out. These are Sarah’s favorite cakes, and she has been very excited to introduce the rest of the crew to them. While in town, we visited some secondhand stores and Sarah found a very nice winter jacket, which will likely be quite useful when she goes to the Faroe Islands in a week. This evening, Amira gave us a true British cultural experience by cooking jacket potatoes with baked beans for dinner. They were delicious!

Today’s observations from the area can be found here

People: Mara Glane, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Michael Ancher, Simon S. Christiansen, and our guests Mette and Jesper.