Nocturnal recording at its best!

This morning, Olga and I were at the migration count from sunrise and onwards. As the wind was coming from the west, we decided to sit a bit down of the dune so we were sheltered and can hear some of the birds better. It was a nice count with some great species like 4 Great Northern Divers (Islom), 4 Rosefinches (Karmindompap), 5 Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) , 3 Great White Egret (Sølvhejre) and 1 Temminck’s Stint (Temmincksryle). Even though the winds weren’t ideal there were still birds to see!

The ringing was still difficult in these windy conditions, but they were still able to catch a few birds like a Bullfinch (Dompap), Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper) and a Chaffinch (Bogfinke). When the winds come from the west, it makes it difficult to open a lot of nets as they move around a lot when it is windy, making it impossible to catch birds as they can see the nets.

Ringing set up for when it is windy

In the early afternoon, János, Jørgen and I went to look for some gulls near the harbour and a bit south of the town. There were quite a few gulls feeding along the coast, the most common species being Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) and Common Gull (Stormmåge) but we did see a couple Kittiwakes (Ride). János also found a female-coloured Montagu’s Harrier (Hedehøg) which is always lovely to see. We also stopped to look at the harbour on the way back to look through the gulls. We found a Great Black-backed Gull (Svartbag) with a black colour ring and a possible hybrid between a Caspian and Herring Gull (Kaspisk x Sølvmåge). When we were watching from the car, we were able to get super close to the gulls to see all their features.

The gulls didn't seem to mind the car!

Caspian x Herring Gull (Kasisk x Sølvmåge)?

Once we were back, János looked through the recordings on one of the passive recorders that has been left out recently. The passive recorders have done very well so far this spring with finds like Black-headed Wagtail (Sorthovedet Gul Vipstjert), Iberian Chiffchaff (Iberisk Gransanger), Quails (Vagtel), Avocets (Klyde) and a Spotted Crake (Plettet Rørvagtel). But the next cool bird was even better. On the night of the 20^th May a Little Bittern (Dværghejre) was recorded migrating over the recorder. This represents the second record for Skagen and is the first to be recorded flying at night. These records really show how amazing these passive recorders can be.

Tomorrow, the winds look very windy so we might not be able to ring. But let’s hope the conditions get slightly better for everyone’s sakes!