Exciting visits from Iceland and Britain

This morning started with another beautiful sunrise and even the moon showed at the start of the count. 

(The full moon in the start of the obs.)

The weather was really nice this morning, the sun was showing and a light breeze blew from SW. Our migration count started well with a lot of passerines and a lot of Northern Gannets (Sule). We had good numbers of Skylarks (Sanglærke), Reed Bunting (Rørspurv), European Starling (Stær) and over 2300 Jackdaws! The sea was quite quiet today, still good numbers for Kittiwakes (Ride) and Red-throated Diver (Rødstrubet Lom)

One of the day's best birds was a Pied Wagtail (Sortrygget Hvid Vipstjert) flying past the counting site, landing briefly on the beach before it continued southwards along the beach. A very nice bird and the biggest highlight of the day, or at least we thought...

(The Pied Wagtail, Motacilla alba yarrelli on the beach by Verdens Ende 3)

Jørgen Kabel paid us at short visit, and just before he left, he got a message from Rolf that an 3cy Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge) was resting at the shore just north of the Sandormen Track! We quickly went down on the beach and found the gull sleeping quite a long way out on the water. Since it was only looking up in very short periods of time while preening its feathers, it was hard to get a good look at. Still a nice bird and a lifer for Alvin, János and Alix. 

(The Iceland Gull looking up for a short moment)

After watching it closely for some time, and it still only rarely looking up, Alix and Alvin went back to the station and took a swim in the ocean, me and Saxe also going back a little after. János stayed with the gull, but it disappeared before it gave better views. Alvin and Alix got groceries and when they came home, we tried to catch Rock Pipits (Skærpiber) and the Black Redstart (Husrødstjert) that has been in the lighthouse garden for a few days now. The Black Redstart was jumping and sitting right next to the net, somehow avoiding them. The Rock Pipits managed to get the worms out of the ringing traps, also avoiding getting caught

In the evening Alix sent in the data for the ring we found on a dead Cormorant (Skarv) on the beach walk, and Alvin made a very nice dinner for us all.

Highlights of today:

Iceland Gull (Hvidvinget Måge) - 1

Pied Wagtail (Sortrygget Hvid Vipstjert) - 1 

Slavonian Grebe (Nordisk Lappedykker) - 1

Link to today’s observations in DOFbasen from observers in the area