It's World Migratory Bird Day

Today was World Migratory Bird Day, so we decided as a team that we should try and see as many species as possible in Skagen as a team.

One half of the team went to Sandklit to do the migration count, and the other half went to Kabeltromlen to do the ringing.

The winds were quite calm from the southeast today, so we were very excited about what the day could potentially bring. In the standardized migration count we saw a very nice migration of Yellow Wagtails, a Great Northern Diver (Islom) migrating inland, and a Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) straight overhead. The kite was a goal species for Jesper & Mette, and they got to see it.

Back-winged Kite (Blå Glente)

In the standardized ringing we had a Wood Warbler (Skovsanger), Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper), Wheatear (Stenpikker) and an Icterine Warbler (Gulbug) which were all new species for the spring.

Wood Warbler (Skovsanger) to the left, Chiffchaff (Gransanger) in the middle and Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) to the right

Wheatear (Stenpikker)

On the last net round we also caught two Yellow Wagtails of the Thunbergi subspecies (Nordlig Gul Vipstjert). This is the first time ever the station has caught this subspecies and the second time Yellow Wagtails (Gul Vipstjert) have been caught here.

Yellow Wagtail (Gul Vipstjert) of the Thunbergi subspecies

Wing picture of Yellow Wagtail (Gul Vipstjert) of the Thunbergi subspecies

Due to the slightly cold night, we didn't have a lot of moths in the moth trap. But one of the two moths was an Emperor moth (Lille Natpåfugleøje). Quality over quantity, I guess :)

Wing picture of the Emperor moth (Lille Natpåfugleøje)

After lunch Julian went to the industrial area, and Dylan went to Flagbakken to do some birdning. Together they saw a Black Redstart (Husrødstjert) and two Honey Buzzards (Hvepsevåge).

János' brother, Mika, also arrived at the station today and will be staying with us for some days.

In the evening we went out to try and catch more Yellow Wagtails (Gul Vipstjert) by setting up nets in the reeds at the end of the sandormenspår. We didn't catch any birds, but we will try again tomorrow morning, hopefully that works better. In the meantime, Dylan also found a Red-footed Falcon (Aftenfalk) at Skarvsøen.

At the end of the day we saw 151 species in Skagen as a team which is very cool and a very high number of species :)

Highlights from the observations
Great Northern Diver (Islom) - 1
Black-winged Kite (Blå Glente) - 1
Red-footed Falcon (Aftenfalk) - 1
Shorelarks (Bjerglærke) - 2
Thrush Nightingale (Nattergal) - 1

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):
Stenpikker - 1
Havesanger - 1
Munk - 8
Tornsanger - 2
Gul Vipstjert - 2
Skovsanger - 1
Gærdesanger - 13
Løvsanger - 8
Gulbug - 1
Rødhals - 1
Grå Fluesnapper - 1
Gærdesmutte - 1
Gransanger - 2
Total: 42

Ringing (Jenne sø):
Gransanger - 4
Bogfinke - 1
Rødstjert - 1
Gærdesanger - 1
Lille Gråsisken - 1
Rørspurv - 1
Løvsanger - 1
Munk - 1
Total: 11

Ringing (Nordstjernevej):
Dompap - 1
Gærdesanger - 1
Total: 2

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

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Mika Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Sverre Dahl Porsgaard, Jesper & Mette