Birding to the bitter(n) end

After the westerly winds had lessened over night, we were finally able to do some ringing today! Simon K., Mette and I went to Skarvsøen for CES ringing. We arrived at 4:15 in the morning and before having put down baggage, we already came across a highlight: A bittern (Rørdrum) flew over the lake and even called! They are such mysterious and cool birds that you get see rarely! In good spirit, we set up the nets and were joined by Páll, Leona and Sebastian for the first net round. While the first couple of rounds only offered a small number of birds, by the third round, we caught about 5 birds per round, making us busy but giving us enough time to study moult. We mostly caught Common Reed Warblers (Rørsanger), Chiffchaffs (Gransanger) and Lesser Whitethroats (Gærdesanger). Many of the warbler were recaptures from previous ringing sessions, with one Reed Warbler ringed as an adult in 2022. This means it is now at least 5 years old!

One of the adult Reed Warblers (Rørsanger) we caught.

In between net rounds, we watched the birds on the lake, among them Wood Sandpipers (Tinksmed), Common Snipes (Dobbeltbekkasin), Northern Shovelers (Skeand), a Little Ringed Plover (Lille præstekrave) and the Spoonbill (Skestork) that you might remember from yesterday’s blog. After ringing, Leona and Sebastian left to continue their journey around Scandinavia.

In the meantime, Alexander and Mio were doing the migration count from World’s End 3. Unfortunately, they had sea fog that blocked their view on the horizon but still managed to experience some nice observations. There was a Yellow-legged Gull (Middelhavssølvmåge) and four Mediterranean Gulls (Sorthovedet Måge) resting on the beach, several Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove) on the sea and two Black-throated Divers (Sortstrubet lom).

First calendar year (left) and second calendar year (middle) Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Måge) next to each other.

Apart from birdwatching, there was also some mammal-watching going on as three Bottlenose Dolphins (Øresvin) swam around Denmark’s tip into Kattegat. A very cool sight! After the count, Mio and Alexander read rings of terns (Terne) and Gulls (Måge) on the beach.

By noon, we were all back at the lighthouse, entered data from the morning and took a nap. Alexander, Mette and I went into town to buy some groceries and also returned a lot of bottle deposits that had accumulated over the past couple of months. Thank you for driving us, Mette! After a delicious meal prepared by Simon K., we set up the nets on the beach for what’s about to happen tonight: We are going to try to catch European Storm Petrels (Lille stormsvale) and Nightjars (Natravn) again! Fingers crossed that there will be good news about that on the blog tomorrow!

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

People: Mette Breede, Mio Brix, Simon S. Christiansen, Leona Gottschalkson, Sebastian Jurr, Simon Kiesé, Páll Vang Kjærbo, Alexander Nyholm, Jule Tappe