From midnight to midnight

Today the day for me and Brian started extremely early, since we wanted to catch some birds at night. Brian went out to Kabeltromeln and tried to catch Common Snipe (Dobbeltbekassin) or other waders in the muddy patches along the paths, while I opened the net for nightjars (Natravn) again. After many sleepless hours, both of us remained unsucessful unfortunately. Maybe next time!

But our day wouldn’t have to stay without any birds, since there was CES-Ringing at Skarvsøen awaiting us. While Simon K., Brian, Páll and I participated in the ringing, Jule carried out the migration count at Worlds end 3 together with Knud. Above the calm sea without any wind, not much activity was to be seen today. But her morning was not without any highlights: a new highcount for the season of five Mediterranean Gulls (Sorthovedet måge) showed up, as well as one migrating Long-tailed Duck (Havlit). At the same time, our Ringing was quite successful, with 31 ringed and 9 recaptured birds in total and some pretty cool catches. We recaptured an over 6 year old Common Whitethroat, which must be familiar with Simon K. by now. According to our data, it was in his hand in 2024 and 2025 before!

Over 6 year old Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger), captured in Skagen every year since 2023!

We were also happy to capture our first Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger) for the season and see the comparison between Marsh- and Reed Warbler (Rørsanger). Later I had the opportunity to extract a beautiful adult Eurasian Jay (Skovskade), which might be the coolest bird I have ever taken out of a net by myself! Brian got to ring his first ever Steel-ring and learnt some handling techniques for such a big bird. We all were left with some pecks and bruises, but it was super exciting to admire the starring eyes and wings of a Jay from up close. On the last net-check, Brian got treated with a glowing red male Bullfinch (Dompap), which was one of the species he was hoping to get good looks on since he arrived at Skagen.

Adult Eurasian Jay (Skovskade)

Male Bullfinch (Dompap)

After the Ringing was done, many Raptors showed up again and were flying with the warm winds on this bright sunny day. There were a lot of Honeybuzzards (Hvepsevåge) and even a White-tailed eagle (Havørn) amongst them. After watching them for a bit, everyone returned to the station and went for a much needed nap. After our evening meeting,Simon K. prepared delicious Dinner and I made some warm Apple crumble. Afterwards I took a short walk along the beach, where a dark-morph Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) flew by. Later in the night Jule and Brian went out to try and catch waders again. Unfortunately, they were without success. Luck doesn’t seem to be on our side at night!

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

People: Juliane Rößler, Brian Browne, Jule Tappe, Simon Kiesé, Páll Vang Kjærbo, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Søren Roed