White winged and White billed birds

When we woke up this morning, we first checked the weather forecast, as yesterday it was said that it might rain. But since it looked quite acceptable, there was no sleeping in, but instead everyone went out for the migration count. As the wind was quite strong, we decided to go to Nordstrand, where we could sit in a more sheltered spot than at World's End III. The start was rather uneventful, and there were fewer Kittiwakes (Ride) and Auks (Alkefugle) on the move than in recent days. A few Long-tailed Ducks (Havlit), a Goosander (Stor Skallesluger) and a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers (Toppet Skallesluger) were still great, though. As we had been talking about possible rare gulls over the last few days that might appear here, I kept looking at the gulls that were flying around of course. Suddenly, my attention was caught by a bird circling high above, which showed extremely light-coloured primaries. I zoomed in and when the bird showed its upper wing, I saw what I had been hoping to see. I immediately called out that there was a Glaucous or Iceland Gull (Gråmåge eller Hvidvinget Måge) flying. The somewhat different brown tone in the plumage of this young gull was interesting, as well as the primaries, which faded completely into white without any dark coloration. The bird circled further and further away and was blown north by the wind, making it difficult to find. However, the others were also able to catch a look at it before it disappeared into the distance. Although its shape suggested it was rather an Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge), the observation conditions were too poor for us to be sure about the identification. An aberrant Herring Gull (Sølvemåge) seems very unlikely, but of course cannot be ruled out 100% either. So many of us will have to wait a little longer for this Lifer.

However, excitement was high, and when two Little Auks (Søkonge) flew west shortly afterwards, it was evident that it was once again a good seawatching day. Still in the same hour, I was happy when I saw a diver that was bigger than the Red-throated Divers (Rødstrubet Lom) just before. It was flying directly towards us, so it was looking a bit weird, but I announced it as a Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) first. However, when the bird turned to a better angle, I realised: “No, it's a White-billed!” Luckily, the Hvidnæbbet Lom was close enough to get a (poor) record shot. Everyone could see it, so we got in an even better mood. A few funny jokes, sayings and group laughs later, a Great Northern Diver (Islom) showed up, making the day even better!


White-billed Diver (Hvidnæbbet Lom). Some yellow pixels in the bill are even visible on this picture

After the count, I stopped several times on the way back and was lucky to see a young Goshawk (Duehøg) at Batteriskoven. When Miles returned from a brief and chilly visit at the industrial area and Amira and Lise came back from their run, it was time for Amira and Miles to go for a swim in the sea once again. The waves were a bit high, so they came back relatively quickly and awaited a warm shower. Janos and I set off to look for gulls at Grenen and in the harbour, hoping to find the bird from this morning again. Sadly, we didn't have much success with the gulls, but we did spot a flock of at least 55 Snow Buntings (Snespurv) on the beach.


"Gulling" at Grenen

And on the way to the harbour, Janos spotted a very dark White Wagtail (Hvid Vipstjert), which could be a good candidate for the British subspecies yarrellii. Amira and Miles also came towards the harbour later, but by then it was already quite dark. On her way back, Amira spotted two Woodcocks (Skovsneppe) on a horse field just as there was still enough daylight to see them. We rounded off this successful day with a tasty dinner made by Janos.

Standard ringing finished

Link to today’s observations from the area.

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