Perfect pace of kittiwakes

It was another chilly morning when Amira, János, and Florian headed out for observing, but activity was once again quite good. Yesterday there were many Black-legged Kittiwakes (Ride) and today there were even more! There were many in the first two hours, and even though it could be slightly overwhelming, with over 600 in one hour, Florian still described it as “the perfect pace of kittiwakes.” That pace slowed in the last two hours, but the observers were excited to reach the 2000 mark, so they stayed an extra 30 minutes, even counting down until they all saw the 2000^th bird! Auks (Alkefugl) were also numerous. Yet again there were over 2000 Razorbills (Alk) with another 1700 Razorbills/Guillemots (Alk/Lomvie). The observers also spotted a Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe), and although we have seen many this fall, it is always a pleasure to see one quite close.

János and Florian bundled up in their boiler suits during the mornings migration count at Worlds End 3. Photo by Amira

Lise and I took an “office day” and spent the morning reviewing guidelines, catching up on cataloguing photos in the picture archive, and working on some graphs comparing this autumn’s ringing to last years. Around midmorning we headed out to Kabeltromlen to finish retrieving the rest of the ringing equipment. We brought out an old cart that was sitting in the lab, with the hope it would make carrying things more efficient. I’m not sure it did make things more efficient, but we managed to get everything moved.

Lise happily transporting the empty cart to Kabeltromlen. The return trip was not documented but I can say that it was significantly slower and less happy. Photo by Amira

In the afternoon we dispersed on various outings. Amira went to the woods at Stald Grenen in search of a Christmas tree for the apartment. It was hard to choose the right one, but I think the one she found is perfect for the apartment! We plan to decorate it tomorrow night, so hopefully we will have a photo for the blog then. Florian went out to Flagbakken for the first time and was impressed by how pretty the landscape was. He did not see so many birds, but Coal Tits (Sortmejse) and Crested Tits (Topmejse) were both nice!

It is a quiet weekend, as Simon is visiting Blavånd Fuglestation. We completed our weekly cleaning this evening, while Lise cooked a delicious zucchini (courgette) soup, with gluten-free rolls and a kale, cabbage, and apple salad. Amira is generally not a fan of apple in salad, but recently she has discovered it can be quite good!

Standard ringing finished

Link to today’s observations from the area.

People: Miles Scheuering, János Schadl, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Lise Mastrup