Records nearly broken!

Janos and Julian went out to do the migration count at the top of one of the dunes at Sandormsvinget, and I joined them later. Thomas W. Johansen was also present. We saw many nice birds, even though it was a quieter morning. We really enjoyed a great skua (storkjove), which was seen flying close to us. At least eight common loons (islom) were seen, as well as some black-throated loons (sortstrubet lom).

Observation setup

To the joy of the many birders at the dunes and at “Verdens ende”, we saw at least seven golden orioles (pirol) and also a European bee-eater (biæder). A rosefinch (karmindompap) and a bluethroat (blåhals) were singing in the bushes, plus a lot of red-backed shrikes (rødrygget tornskade). And this made us all laugh at the afternoon meeting, when everybody said the bird name in Danish, one of the harder names to pronounce. 

Two records were almost broken today, the eight common loons (Islom) and the seven orioles (pirol)! The most seen in one day is nine common loons (Islom) and the ten orioles (pirol)! 

After the migration count Janos and Julian went to join the ringing at Kabeltromlen, where Olga, Alvin and Dylan had been before sunrise to open the nets. When Olga, Alvin and Dylan arrived, there were lots of singing birds, which also resulted in many birds being ringed today. In one of the rounds, there were more than twenty birds. The highlights were red-backed shrike (rødrygget tornskade), seven Icterine Warblers (Gulbug)  and a spotted flycatcher (Grå  fluesnapper). This year’s first march warbler (kærsanger) was also caught, and this was a great opportunity to compare the marsh warbler (kærsanger) and the reed warbler (Rørsanger). Because of the many birds today the nets were open for eight and a half hours, which is longer than usual.

Female Red-backed Shrike (rødrygget tornskade)

Simon went to Ellekrattet and the old garden (Fyrrehaven) and found seven of the “hard to pronounce bird” the red-backed shrike (rødrygget tornskade). At Stald Grenen he saw 41 yellow wagtails thunbergi (Gul vipstjert).  

After I took Alvin to the station, so he could go to Blåvand Fuglestation for some days, I went to Flagbakken. There I succeeded in identifying a black kite (sort glente) for myself for the first time. This is in fact my last day here at Skagen Fuglestation as a visitor, and I really enjoyed all the birding and the company of the very kind volunteers and Simon, who included me in their team and taught me a lot.

When it started raining in the early afternoon, we all went back to the station to do administrative tasks and some also got some much-needed sleep.