CES group trip

Today we started very early in the morning at 3am for the CES ringing at Skarvsøn. Luckily our new guests Søren and Karen offered to drive us there in the morning, which saved us the exhausting bike ride and made it easier to transport everything we needed for the ringing. So, thank you for that! Because we were a large group, and we had a steady amount of birds each round, there was plenty of time for everyone to ring a few birds and for Janos and Dylan to explain things. Some highlights have been two Reed Buntings (Rørspurv) and several Reed and Sedge Warblers ((Rørsanger and Sivsanger).

male Reed Bunting (Rørspurv)

For me it was a great opportunity to learn, as it is my first stay in Skagen. It was also the first day for Olga, she will stay at the station for a month as part of a Scandinavian triple. Earlier this spring she already visited the Ottenby and Gedser Bird Observatory.

Group picture of the ringing team this morning

In the meantime, Alvin and Julian were busy with the migration count at Sandklit. Although it was very cold and the numbers were not overwhelming, they could see a close Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove), some Shags (Topskarv) and Fulmars (Mallemuk).

After 8 hours of ringing and observing, we got together again for lunch.

While some of us were already very tired from the day and were resting, Julian and Alvin decided to drive to Frederikshavn to witness Denmark's first sighting of a Dartford Warbler (Provencesanger).

Unfortunately, they had very bad luck, and even though there were many people looking for it, they could not relocate the bird during their 2-hour stay. Nevertheless, the trip was not entirely in vain for them, as they could see some waders at the beach, including a Spoonbill (Skestork) and a Whimbrel (Småspove).

Dylan, Simon and Olga decided to go to the industrial area for birding and ended their trip with some shopping in Skagen.

Søren and Karen went to Troldkaer, a promising area for butterflies. Unfortunately, the area is very dry this year, which also has an effect on the number of butterflies.

We had a delicious dinner by Dylan and afterward János and Dylan went out to do some evening birding without noteworthy sightings, though.

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

Summary of today's raptor migration in DOFbasen

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Mika Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Sverre Dahl Porsgaard, Anton, Ole, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Karen Marie & Søren