A great (skua) day

This morning, Simon K., Katia and Moritz cycled to Kabeltromlen for ringing while Mio, Cora and I went out for counting. And while it was still a rather slow day bird-wise, we were all rewarded with nice birds and experiences:

During the count, we were joined by Erik, Knud and Simon, with the last one simply appearing out of nowhere and jumpscaring everyone a little. We spotted some of the birds that have become good friends with us over the last couple of days like the Great Northern Diver (Islom) whose photo you saw in yesterday’s blog or the male long-tailed duck (Havlit) that has been resting between Eiders (Ederfugl) in Kattegat for about four weeks now. And while there was low activity of migration in general, one species was really prominent today: Great Skuas (Storkjove)! We managed to count nine of them within two hours. This high count might be a good sign for the population whose breeding numbers declined heavily in the past couple of years due to Avian Influenza.

Knud, Cora, Mio and Jule counting a World's End 3. Foto: Simon S. Christiansen.

In the meantime, the ringers managed to catch 18 birds, including a foreign recapture of a Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) from Norway.

There were also high number of Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) caught, creating a nice rining session altogether. It was perfected of an observation of insect-kind: The ringing team spottet three seabuckthorn flies (Rhagoletis batava, Havtornflue) with two of them copulating! This is the second, third and fourth record of this species north of Copenhagen for Denmark. This means that the species might a have stable population here in Skagen!

Seabuckthorn Flies (Havtornflue) on a leaf of seabuckthorn creating new flies. Foto: Simon Kiesé.

While closing nets at around 10 am, the counting team met the ringing team at Kabeltromlen to eat cookies and have nice company. Some raptors and waders occuring over Storsig made everyone pause on the way back to the lighthouse for birdwatching.

Around noon, everyone was busy with breakfast/lunch, data entry and a nap. This included a delicious seabuckthorn tea by Simon and Katia. Suddenly, Simon called and we all went to the lab because he had brought sparrowhawk (Spurvehøg)! The bird had been lured into his neighbour’s greenhouse by a smart passerine, making the greenhouse into a raptor trap!

Second year male sparrowhawk (Spurvehøg). Foto: Simon Kiesé.

We ringed this very pretty bird and got ready for an afternoon birding session. Cora, Moritz and Mio went for a walk around Grenen, Storsig and Jennes Sø and saw Northern Wheatears (Stenpikker) and several Red-backed Shrikes (Rødrygget tornskade). I went on a walk around Storsig and Ellekrattet.

After that, we all met for evening meeting, greeting our new guests Ole and Brigitte. It’s their fourth visit to the lighthouse and the station already, so they are old friends at this point really. Good to have you back!

In the evening, it was time for more data entry, photo archive and spreadsheet work while finishing the day with a delicious dinner cooked by Mio.

Link to today's observations in the DOF base from observers in the area.

People: Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Jule Tappe, Moritz Morteani, Simon Kiesé, Katia Kit, Simon S. Christiansen, Erik Christophersen, Knud Pedersen, Ole Jørgensen, Brigitte Jørgensen