Super Rare Vulture – or: Bye-bye Spring Team!

Alix and Alvin left this morning. At around half past ten, Simon came by to pick them up, and it was time for me to say goodbye to my dear team members, fellow birdwatchers and great friends. I wish them the best of luck and a fantastic time at Ottenby, their next destination, and Lista later this year. We’ll meet again, that’s for sure, and I’m already looking forward to that day! For now I’m left all alone at the station. I’ll miss my team. But of course I’m also looking forward to meeting the new summer team tomorrow evening. When Simon was home again, there suddenly was a Zello call by Claus F. Madsen that let excitement rise quickly: A possible Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib) just south of town! After being seen by other people too, it could be confirmed as one. Simon tried to find it from his home, but he couldn’t. He got a little nervous and headed for his car, then drove south to Hulsig Hede as fast as he could. Down there, he met Jørgen Kabel, and together they re-found this super rare and enormous bird, and had some of the best possible views on it, as it slowly flew just past them. The vulture is wearing a ring from Spain and will thus be accepted as the first spontaneous wild Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib) ever for Denmark (category A).

Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib)!!! Photo by Jørgen Kabel.

During all that, I was stuck at the station, since I didn’t have a possibility to leave Skagen fast enough. But at around half past twelve, Simon came up to the station again to pick up Mette B. and me. Unfortunately though, we couldn’t find the vulture again after that, and it has also not been seen by others. We spent quite some time scanning the area from one of the southernmost watchpoints, but without any luck. Only a big flock of Lapwings (Vibe), a singing Quail (Vagtel), a family of Stonechats (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl), some Starlings (Stær). A little bit disappointed we drove back to the Station, although we already knew before that we would have needed a lot of luck. But then at 15:00 the vulture was seen again, already at Nedermosen! This time Mette and I could go together in her car, since it has been fixed in the meantime. As we knew the bird was moving south again, we first drove past Engklit and then to the northern part of Hulsig Hede. From the hills there, you can have a great overview over the area, and we scanned for quite a while, before finally spotting the Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib)! What an excitement, what a chaos!

Hulsig Hede

It was very far away though and only moving further south, so we decided to try and follow it. We went all the way down to Råbjerg Mile, but lost the bird somewhere along the way, and couldn’t find it again. Still we were really happy with this observation, a lifer for all of us. After all of that I had a late lunch, later Simon came over for an evening meeting with only the two of us. In the evening, the Cinereous vulture was actually found again, going for roost in the dunes at Hulsig Hede – what a sight! Many people, including Simon, went out again to see it there. Chances are it will move up again tomorrow, so we all should definitely keep our eyes out for that and have our fingers crossed!

The Cinereous Vulture (Munkegrib) in roost. Photo by Erik Christophersen.

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

People: Julian Helbig, Simon S. Christiansen, Mette Breede, Jørgen Kabel, Knud Pedersen