My highlight was the strawberry cake

The length of my blog post reflects the number of birds spotted today, which is why it’s going to be a short one (spoiler: it's not). The reason for this was the increasing westerly wind.

During the ringing session, we were particularly pleased by the good company, but also by a young Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper). Nevertheless, it’s lovely to see birds flying about, such as Honey Buzzards (Hvepsevåge) and a Mistle Thrush (Misteldrossel).

Alexander and Jule spent the morning at WE3, where at least a few waders, such as Bar-tailed Godwits (Lille Kobbersneppe), were resting. A young (1K) White-tailed Eagle (Havørn) flew so close that it almost took their breath away. Jule also finally spotted her very first Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom). Jule was watching Sule (and perhaps the gannets were watching Jule too).

Literally the only picture taken this morning, but a nice one. Taken by Jule.

In the afternoon I played some guitar. Mette gave us delicious Strawberry-Cake, which rounded up Mio's nice dinner. After that, we had some free time, that we wanted to use for one of our favorite activities: birding! So we went out to Grenen. Since I took my camera with me (it has been a while since I did that), you are privileged to see the following story in many pictures!

While walking out towards Grenen, there were already many Terns (Terner) flying around. Also my favorite one, the Arctic Tern (Havterne):

Pure elegance: adult Arctic Tern (Havterne). Picture by Simon Kiesé

Yellow-legged Gull (Middelhavsølvmåge) in between Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Both have yellow legs, but this is not a helpful criteria, since Herring Gulls (Sølvmåge) can also show this leg colour. Therefore we only identify YLG by its primary patern. Picture by Simon Kiesé

Young Arctic Tern (Havterne) waiting nervously for the partent bringing tasty fish. Picture by Simon Kiesé

We quickly spotted several Mediterranean Gulls (Sorthovedet Måge) in the flock. Even though we see them now every day, we directly noticed, that there were quite many. In the end we counted 14 young ones (3 with german rings): a new Skagen highcount!!

Young Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Måge) - one of 14 birds today: a new Skagen highcount! Picture by Simon Kiesé

After these results (the pictures are not edited, just cropped), I was really satisfied and coult not wait to check the pictures on my laptop. That's why I now write this blog at 11.50 pm. Time to go to bed.

*Since the hosting had problems, I was not able to update the blog. So this version is updated now finally (yayyy) on the 3rd of August.

Quiz picture: can you identify both species? ;-)

Ringing (KAB):

Total: 14

Highlight in today's observations:

Yellow-legged Gull (Middelhavsølvmåge) - 1 (known 4K bird still present)

Mediterranen Gulls (Sorthovedet Måge) - 14 (New Skagen highcount!)

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

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