Raptor Chaos

Shortly after arriving at Kabeltromlen in the morning, János heard a Spotted Crake (Plettet Rørvagtel), which is the first observation in Skagen this year. Dylan and Saxe, being awakened by János's zello call, immediately got out of bed and jumped on their bikes to go hear it, but unfortunately they were too late.

The ringing was very calm despite all 26 nets being open, and in five hours, five birds were caught. Although slow, it was still enjoyable with some nice sun and with no wind.

In the afternoon some of us went out to prepare the nets for the “constant effort site” we will be ringing at in a week and onwards until September.

The creation of a new netline 

Immediately after coming back, the Eastern Imperial Eagle (Kejserørn) was spotted further south as well as a Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente). 

The Eastern Imperial Eagle (Kejserørn) spotted in Skagen (Photo by Egon Østergaard)

Saxe, János and Dylan biked to try and see them. To their disappointment, the eagle had seemingly flown further south, not to be seen by us from the station, and the kite must have passed overhead while they were biking. 

After some further looking thought, they saw the Glaucus Gull (Gråmåge) flying very distantly. Then, János spotted the Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) at Grenen. After having gotten some pretty good views of the bird, Simon found a second Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) in the same area! And they could later be spotted as close as a meter beside each other for the rest of the evening. For me and Julian, it was our first time seeing this species, and to see two at the same time was very cool!   

Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) resting in a pine at Grenen

Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) flying at Grenen

 The two Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) flying together at Grenen

Highlights from the observations
Eastern Imperial Eagle (Kejserørn) - 1
Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) - 2
Glaucus Gull (Gråmåge) - 1
Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade) - 1