Happy Birdsday!

It’s János’ birthday today, and, appropriate for this occasion, we had pretty nice weather in the morning already, with a much clearer view compared to the past days, the sun and clouds taking turns and cold winds blowing from the north.

Grenen this morning.

At Grenen during the migration count, we were able to observe quite a decent amount of birds with especially high numbers of Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) and Common Buzzards (Musvåge).

In general, we could follow our daily routine without any unexpected interruptions, only once we were surprised by a Woodcock (Skovsneppe) landing right next to us in the dunes, and, after a brief moment, flying back to where it came from. Maybe it just wanted to congratulate János for his birthday, who knows…

After four hours of counting and sitting rather exposed to the winds, we were content with our work and at the same time happy to go back to the station and warm up again over some hot chocolate.

The afternoon was predominated by indoor activities such as baking several birthday cakes, drawing, testing a ringing tent and entering data.

After dinner, Simon and Lisa picked up Alvin, Alix and me for night catching, which ended up successfully: Alvin managed to catch a Woodcock (Skovsneppe), that János then ringed at the station. To celebrate, we all went up to the kitchen to enjoy the delicious and pretty cake Alix prepared, with 20 little paper birds on top. What a way to end this day!

Woodcock (Skovsneppe)

János with his birthday cake

Ringing (Nordstjernevej)

Dompap - 3

Jernspurv - 2

Blåmejse - 33

Bogfinke - 5

Grønirisk - 4

Musvit - 3

Total: 50

Highlights from the observations: 

Whooper Swans (Sangsvane) - 817

Common Buzzards (Musvåge) - 247

Grey Plover (Strandhjejle) - 1

Black Guillemot (Tejst) - 1

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Sildemåge) - 1

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

People: János Schadl, Alix Bortolussi, Alvin Johansson, Julian Helbig, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Michael Ancher