Arctic skuas and big sticks

Good evening to all of you. Today János, Dylan, Mika, Ole and I did the morning observation from sandklitten. It was a very quiet morning, with very limited movement due to the northwestern wind. We had three nice arctic skuas (almindelig kjove), two light and dark morph as well as a great northern diver (Islom). Quiet does not mean boring though, and Dylan spend some time building a woody sort of statue (I think?), whilst listening for migrating passerines.

- Dylans stick artwork

Afterward we went to saftevandsbakken to look for raptors and butterflies. No dice, but some of us enjoyed a nice nap in the sun. Mika took the bike to the big city of Skagen to see the art museum. Sounds like he thoroughly enjoyed it:)

The ringers (Julian, Alvin, Anton, Simon and Karen Marie) caught 13 birds today of six different species. From what I hear they took great pleasure in catching an adult male pied flycatcher (broget fluesnapper), they are truly stunning with their black and white color palette. In between rounds they also enjoyed watching Dylans architectural skills unfold.

In the afternoon Karen Marie drove to Råbjerg hede to look for the Marsh Fritillary (Hede pletvinge). A rare and extremely beautiful species of butterfly. They saw five freshly hatched specimens and were kind enough to show me on a map where I might see them as well. Congratulations on the find to them.

The team is also working on a sound analysis on an Iberian chiffchaff (Iberisk gransanger) that Dylan heard at kabeltromlen two days ago, luckily Alvins recorder caught a lot of good calls. It is looking quite good, but we will wait for a final confirmation of this extremely rare species, before we pop the champagne.

János had made a tasty berry brownie with whipped cream today, we had a massive piece each and still have plenty for the coming days.

This is unfortunately my last full day at Skagen bird observatory. I have really enjoyed my stay here, and I have learned a lot about aging passerines and sound ID. I particularly enjoyed walking around in waders, and the outdoorsy ringing at kabeltromlen and staying with all of the nice people at the station. I will still be in the area until Sunday, as I join DOF-Ung for their upcoming trip. So if you see a young birder with a ponytail wearing a red spiderman hat, do not hesitate to say hi. I will be back at Skagen bird observatory again someday:)
- Sverre

Highlights from the observation:

Three arctic skuas (almindelig kjove)

Great northern diver (Islom)

Wonderful gannets (fabelagtigt smukke suler)

Ringing Kabeltromlen:

Gærdesanger – 3

Løvsanger – 6

Broget fluesnapper – 1

Munk – 1

Tornsanger – 1

Solsort – 1

Total: 13

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, Sverre Dahl Porsgaard, Anton, Ole, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Karen Marie & Søren