Bluethroat arrival

Dylan and I got up a tiny bit earlier today, since we wanted to check the beach for wading birds after opening the nets. Yesterday evening Dylan had gone out to the tip in the rain, where he saw 120 resting wading birds, mostly Dunlins (Almindelig Ryle) and Common Ringed Plovers (Stor Præstekrave), but also a Little Stint (Dværgryle) as a highlight, which is quite rare in Skagen in spring. Unfortunately, the small rainwater ponds at Sandklit had dried out overnight, so no wading birds today. The ringing went very well this morning, though. We had a good amount of birds every round and a nice diversity, with notable birds being three Spotted Flycatchers (Grå Fluesnapper), two Redpolls (Gråsisken) and a Siskin (Grønsisken). The best birds however, have been a male svecica Bluethroat (Blåhals) and a Chiffchaff (Gransanger) with a ring from Portugal.

Bluethroat

We also had a Rosefinch (Karmindompap) singing at the site and a few Great Northern Divers (Islom) as well as a Montagu's Harrier (Hedehøg). Later in the morning, I and Dylan were also joined by Olga and Simon to help with the ringing.

In the meanwhile, Alvin and Julian had a productive morning obs. They saw a Little Gull (Dværgmåge), a Little Tern (Dværgterne) and a close light morph Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove). Alvin also spotted a female Bluethroat (Blåhals) in the scrubs behind the dune. This morning they were joined by Rolf, who had left WE1 because of the poor view caused by fog in the early morning. They had a fun conversation, and Rolf added a few sticks to the „Dylan-Mark“ and a bench to the dune. At the end of the count, they also got rewarded with a flyover Rosefinch (Karmindompap).

After coming back, we had a lunch break, and Alvin and Rikke went to Skagen to do some shopping, but also to visit a doctor. Alvin had cut his finger a few days ago and was worried it could be infected, but luckily they could assure him it was fine. Shortly after they came back, I and Rikke went out to Skarvsøen to prepare the site for the CES ringing tomorrow and to count the breeding cormorants (Skarv). The trees had started to grow leaves since our last visit, so it was getting more difficult to find all nests, but it was nice to see the first juvenile Cormorants (Skarv) of the year.

Counting the Cormorants (Skarv) at Skarvøen

Later I and Dylan went for an evening walk to collect a passive recorder and also made a short seawatch were we saw an Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove).

Ringing (Kabeltrommeln):
Gransanger - 2
Rørsanger - 1
Rødhals - 1
Gærdesanger - 2
Grå Fluesnapper - 3
Lille Gråsisken - 2
Løvsanger - 1
Grønsisken - 1
Nordlig Blåhals - 1
Gulbug - 1
Havesanger - 7
Tornsanger - 3
Rørspurv - 2
Munk - 2
Total = 28

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

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