Lots of ducks and Golden Eagle

This morning János, Alvin and Lars Bo woke up at 05:15 to start today’s ringing session. The conditions were really nice which meant they were able to catch some nice birds. On the first round they had a really nice surprise in the shape of a lovely 3K+ male Sparrowhawk (Spurvehøg) that János found in the first net. The first one of hopefully a few birds that we will catch throughout the spring. Though I think this one will be hard to beat looks wise! Later in the morning they caught lots of Blue Tits (Blåmejse) again. The number of Blue Tits (Blåmejse) caught has been much higher than usual because lots of these birds passed through Skagen in the autumn and are migrating back North to their breeding grounds. Other sightings by János and Alvin were 1 2K Goshawk (Duehøg), 10 Red Kites (Rød Glente), 84 Buzzards (Musvåge) and 3 Bearded Tits (Skægmejse).

3K+ male Sparrowhawk (Spurvehøg)

Julian and I got up a bit later to do the morning migration count. It was a fairly quiet day, but we counted a very high number of Common Scoter (Sortand), a type of sea duck that passes the tip in large numbers throughout the sping. We also had some really nice views of two male Hen Harriers (Blå Kærhøg) and two Brent Geese (Knortegås). Unfortunately, some fog arrived at the tip which meant less birds were migrating, but it did mean that the view was very atmospheric. The mix of the fog, sea and sun was amazing. Sadly, Alix did not join us as she was not feeling well. So she had some extra rest to make herself stronger for the coming days.

Fog and sun!

The Grey Lightouse from Grenen at sunrise

After lunch we completed the days data entry and heard news that the Golden Eagle (Kongeørn) had returned from yesterday. Given that none of us had seen the bird yesterday we were very pleased to have nice views of the bird. We were able to get some nice views of it with an immature White-tailed Eagle (Havørn). Later on, János and I saw the Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) flying towards the harbour with other large gulls. I think it will be sticking around for a while longer so we should be able to get some more nice views of it.

2K Golden Eagle (Kongeørn)

The weather for tomorrow looks nice so we all hope that the ringing and migration will be good. We are still waiting for our first big finch migration. Maybe tomorrow will be the day…

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

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Dylan Daunt, János Schadl, Alix Bortolussi, Alvin Johansson, Julian Helbig, Johan Thor, Lars Bo