Snowbunting ringing

The day started early at 4:30. After a small breakfast, we packed the ringing equipment and exited, and full of expectations, we walked to Grenen. Two things made the day special. First, it was Dylan's first day at the station, and second, we had decided to try and catch the resting Snowbuntings (Snespurv) at Grenen.

Morning walk to Grenen

We had planned this for a long time and had started to feed them with seeds on the beach a week ago. When we arrived, we set up the nets, put some more seeds out, and went a few dunes further away, where we could watch them from a distance. The conditions were nearly perfect well before sunrise, with thick fog limiting the view and hiding the net. It didn't take long until the first Snowbuntings (Snespurv) came to the feeding spot, and a few bird ended up in the net. We managed to ring four birds, two females and two males. All 2nd CY birds. It was a new species to ring for all of us, and they were so cute! What a nice first day for Dylan!

Snowbunting (Snespurv), 2CY male

Snowbunting (Snespurv) ringing

We also caught a Reedbunting (Rørspurv) which we unfortunately couldn't ring since we didn't bring the right rings for the species.

Since the view was very bad, we decided to go back to the lighthouse. But when on the way back the tiniest bit of blue sky showed, I decided to head back and start counting. The fog didn't really go away, but there were a few moments of decent counting conditions, and a Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) and 33 Common Buzzards (Musvåge) were all nice. After some time, Dylan also joined me, and we counted until the end of the standard time.

We had some lunch and a short nap before we went to Kabeltrommeln with Simon to start setting up the nets. It was a lot of work, and there is still much to do before the start of the standardized ringing on Friday.

Alix and Julian with the new ringing tent

When we came back, Alix and Alvin made use of Simon's car and bought enough food until the end of the week. For dinner we had tortillas made by Alix.

Highlights of today: 

1 Black-throated Divers (Sortstrubet Lom)

54 Snowbuntings (Snespurv)

Highlights of the ringing:

4 Snowbuntings (Snespurv)

1 Reedbunting (Rørspurv)

total: 5

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

Summary of todays raptor migration on DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Alix Bortolussi, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Simon S. Christiansen.