Red on Blue

When I went out to Sandormensvingen (a little bit west of Sandklit) with János and Olga this morning, I expected it just to be a perfectly normal migration count, like I haven’t had one in a while. A matter of routine.

Sandormensvingen before sunrise – in the foreground the recently established “Dylan mark”.

And at first it started off as expected: Not very busy migration wise, especially on the sea, but a lot of Barn Swallows (Landsvale) and Yellow Wagtails (Gul Vipstjert), and just a calm and wholesome atmosphere. But one and a half hours in, Simon called us from Kabeltromlen saying they caught a Red-spotted Bluethroat (Nordlig Blåhals)! Olga and me left the observations to go see it, while János duteously continued counting completely on his own. We weren’t the only twitchers, when we arrived at Kabeltromlen, many other people came by to see not only the Bluethroat (Blåhals), but also the Wood Warbler (Skovsanger) they caught in the same round. Overall they had quite a lot of birds, including two Reed Warblers (Rørsanger), a Siskin (Grønsisken), multiple Garden Warblers (Havesanger) a Sedge Warbler (Sivanger) and more. Rikke was at the ringing too, and really enjoyed seeing here first Bluethroat (Blåhals) as well as all the other birds up close in hand. We also saw a Golden Oriole (Pirol) flying past Kabeltromlen. For Alvin it was actually the first one he’s ever seen, he only had heard them before.

Red-spotted Bluethroat (Nordlig Blåhals)

Wood Warbler (Skovsanger). According to Simon the prettiest of the Phylloscopus.

Ringers and twitchers at Kabeltromlen.

After our little visit, Olga and I biked back to the migration count, but only ten minutes later, Simon called again. He said they could need some extra sheets for the protocol and help with all the birds. We decided that I should bike back to the station, get the sheets and then support Alvin and Dylan at Kabeltromlen. In the meantime, János and Olga continued the observation, with the highlights being a resting Grey Plover (Strandhjejle), a Spotted Redshank (Sortklire) and a Temminck’s Stint (Temmincksryle). On his way back, Dylan had a female-coloured Red-breasted Flycatcher (Lille Fluesnapper) that flew over the Sandormen Tracks, and then landed in the reservation area.

After good lunch and entering all the data from this morning, we all went for some rest, which we might need later this day. Also, we are now done with all the feather samples we need for the DNA-project about vagrants by the university of Aarhus, after having taken the last sample of a Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) today. Later, Simon took Dylan and János on a trip to Kandestederne a bit further south, where they wanted to ask the owner of the patch in which the Great Snipes (Tredækker) have been singing the past nights for permission to enter the area and try to catch and ring them. We got the permission and will go there late at night today, wish us the best of luck!
After that, they went birding in the area for a while. They saw many Wheatears (Stenpikker), a singing Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade) and a Corn Bunting (Bomlærke). In the same time, the rest of us up here went out for a bit too: Rikke went to Grenen first, where she and others heard a singing Ring Ouzel (Ringdrossel), later she watched some raptors at Saftevandsbakken. The Black Kite (Sort Glente) was a lifer for her. Alvin went to town, and had a Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge). I wandered about through the heathlands. On my way back, I observed a Cuckoo (Gøg) hunting for larvae close to the lighthouse. After the rainy days before, we all finally enjoyed the sunny and warm weather again.

The sea is blue again

People: Alvin Johansson, János Schadl, Julian Helbig, Dylan Daunt, Olga Fernández Enríquez, Simon S. Christiansen, Rikke Jakobsen