After the storm

The storm was fading this morning, although it was still too windy for ringing. However, it is possible to do migration counting. Alix, Alvin, János, and I went out early in the morning for the migration count. We managed to find a sheltered place at Grenen and started at 6 am and finished at 11 am, with 80 fulmars (Mallemuk) in total being one of the highlights. We also saw some ‘new’ wader friends, including 5 curlews (Storspove), 3 bar-tailed godwits (Lille Kobbersneppe), 5 shelducks (Gravand), and 2 turnstones (Stenvender).

There were not many tourists on the first morning after the big storm, but the sunrise was beautiful.

The beautiful sunrise while we were busy counting migrating birds.

Alvin counting migrating birds.

When we came back, Julian had already made some lovely Easter bunny buns!

Julian’s bunny buns with an Easter egg. I thought no one would mistake these cuties for chickens, Simon.

Afterwards, we did some indoor work. Julian worked on the picture archive, while Alix and Alvin tried to set up the moth trap. Meanwhile, János and the others were busy cleaning the gear, which was apparently a big job after the storm.

In the afternoon, Joey Vestermark joined us and will be staying with us for five days. I’m glad that the storm is over and that everything should be back to normal with him joining us. We then had a catch-up meeting with Simon about our plans. People shared their planned topics for the presentation sessions in the coming days, which sounds exciting. Simon also recommended some useful books for understanding the molting and aging of birds.

After that, János and Dylan went shopping with Simon to fill up our food storage. We can now survive another storm!

Alvin and Alix made us an amazing chili sin carne for dinner, which felt like the perfect end to the day.

Tomorrow will be the first ringing day after the storm! Let’s hope we have a good count and catch.

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Alix Bortolussi, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Shuyu Deng, Joey Vestermark