Easter Fun Day

Because of the strong easterly winds, there was no ringing today. I went to Nordstrand for the migration count to meet Knud and later Julian joined us. There was only little passerine migration, and the sea was also mostly calm, but the Raptors made up for it. We counted a total of 34 Hen Harriers (Blå Kærhøg), as well as good numbers of Kestrel (Tårnfalk) and Sparrowhawks (Spurvehøg). A couple of White-tailed Eagles (Havørn) and Ospreys (Fiskeørn) were also nice. It was interesting to see that many Harriers in such a short period, which allowed for a nice comparison between the age classes. We also saw the Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) again.

White-tailed eagles (Havørn)

The bike ride back was quite exhausting, with 20 m/s wind slowing us down. When we arrived at the lighthouse, we had lunch and checked the moth trap. We didn't find any moths in the trap, which was probably because of the strong wind in the night. Then we eat the pancake cake I had made yesterday.

Pancake cake

In the afternoon Joey needed to leave again. It was nice to have him at the station, and we hope he enjoyed his stay. The others had used the morning to catch up on much-needed sleep and a bit of cleaning.

Later Simon came over to celebrate the Easter Fun Day, which is a tradition of the Observatory. We painted some eggs and had an omelet and beer. The evening ended with more data entry tasks and a delicious dinner by Dylan.

Painted eggs

Highlights from the observations:
Hen Harriers (Blå Kærhøg) - 34
Glaucous Gull (Gråmåge) - 1
Black Kite (Sort Glente) - 3
Merlin (Dværgfalke) - 7
Ospreys (Fiskeørn) - 4

No ringing today