Winderesting

The wind brought us together, and so all the volunteers and our guest Søren found themselves at the end of the world in Grenen: World’s End 3. The beach was flooded by the strong westerly wind (too strong to open the nets at KAB) and there were lots of gulls and terns flying around the large lagoon. Right from the start, I began counting the Arctic Terns (Havterne), as their numbers had so impressed me yesterday. Today there were significantly more again, and I managed to count 152 adults and 2 juveniles. Brilliant! As well as my regular count of terns, I naturally couldn’t help but keep an eye on the sea.

Jule watching the Sea during the pretty sunrise.

Here, the wind finally brought in a few more seabirds, such as three Arctic skuas (Almindelig Kjove), which delighted us with some magnificent views. Suddenly, a Great Skua (Storkjove) appeared. For Jule, this was a new species, and she caught a brief glimpse of the bird just before it landed on the sea. There were only a few Fulmars (Mallemuk) about until, behind a fishing boat, 30 of them suddenly appeared. In the end there even was a young Little Gull (Dværgmåge) foraging. All in all, a successful morning.

The evening was filled with sorting stuff, baking cake and our daily tasks. You see - we used the time wisely that we gained by not being out ringing today. We already miss having birds in the hand though.

In the evening our new guests arrived. Since everyone was motivated to go ringing, but the weather forecast does not look good for the next two days, we decided to give it a go in the lighthouse garden. This was a good decision, since we caught a pretty Barn Swallow (Landsvale). An old male, which we can tell by the very long tail steamers.

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

People: Mio Brix, Simon Kiesé, Søren Roed, Jule Tappe, Sofie Bugge Kobberø, Leona Gottschalkson, Sebastian Jurr, Mette Breede.