Great Snipes!

Today's blog must start with yesterday evening when we went out for the Great Snipes (Tredækker) at Wester Ingklit. They had been found the night before, and we were hoping to see them display and maybe even try to ring them if the situation allowed it. When we arrived at the location, it didn't take long until we heard the first song notes, and when it got darker, we had a full hour of display with five birds singing and dancing. It was a lifer for many of us, and what a show!

 

Thermal image video

This morning also started early for me and Alvin when we got up after three hours of sleep to try our luck nightcatching again. We walked over the Sandormentracks, the new ponds at Sandklit, and to the tip at Grenen. We got close to a Short-eared Owl (Mosehornugle) and a few Common Sandpipers (Mudderklire) and Ringed Plovers (Stor Præstekrave). Not only that, but we also tested opening nets at Kabeltrommlen, but the strong winds made it impossible to ring this morning, unfortunately.

It was sadly also the last day of the visit of my brother Mika, who stayed here at the station for a week. It was very nice to see him again, and I think he really enjoyed his stay at the station and learned a lot of new things about birds. 

As there was no ringing this morning we were quite a few observers this morning at Sandklit, where we also went down the dunes a bit to be better sheltered from the strong southerly winds. It was one of the best migration counts we had so far, with several Great Northern Divers (Islom), Shags (Topskarv) and Temminck's Stint (Temmincksryle) migrating and resting at the beach.

Temminck's Stint (Temmincksryle)

Great Northern Divers (Islom)

A highlight was also a 2nd CY Arctic Tern (Havterne) resting and feeding close to the shore. This is a very rare plumage in spring in Europe and is not annually recorded in Skagen, as most immature birds spend their first years south of the equator.The best bird of the morning, however, was a light morph Pomarine Skua (Mellem Kjove) giving prolonged views at a medium distance. Again, a lifer for many and for me the first light morph adult.

 

Video Pomarine Skua (Mellem Kjove)

After the count we immediately went to Storsig to look for raptors, where we also saw an adult male Montagu's Harrier (Hedehøg) but not much else. We took a nap on the hill before we went back to have lunch.

Napping volunteers at Storsig

There were also two talks in the afternoon, one about GPS tagging of Common Buzzards (Musvåge) and one about the raptor migration in Batumi (Georgia), a major bottleneck for bird migration in eastern Europe. Beside that, it was raining again, so we used the time to get the office work done and have some rest.  

 

Talk about GPS tagging of Common Buzzards (Musvåge)

I was planning to go see the Great Snipes (Tredækker) again and was already thinking of biking there, when Jørgen offered to take us. While Alvin, Dylan, and Saxe went out to Vester Engklit to look for them, Julian, Jørgen and I had an amazing time with the Snipes again. Although there were many more people than the day before (probably over a hundred), the birds did not seem to be disturbed by that.

I also managed to get some good recordings of the song, and we got lucky seeing a bird sitting well before sunset and got good views of it.

 

Great Snipes (Tredækker) display song

 

Amazing views of a resting Great Snipe (Tredækker)

 

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, Jørgen Hulbeck, Saxe, Gustav