long distance migrants from Scandinavia (and Oldenburg)

Slowly, the first glimmers of sunlight could be seen over Grenen. By this point, Moritz and Simon had already opened all the nets and were setting off on their first round deep into the tangle of Kabeltrommelkrattet. After the next rounds, more and more visitors began to arrive at Kabeltrommeln. At first, there was a brief fear that there might end up being more visitors at Kabeltrommeln than birds in the nets, but the long distance migrants, such as Willow Warblers (Løvsanger), a young Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) and even a young female Whinchat made that impossible. What a lovely combination: lots of interesting conversations with interesting people and also fantastic birds to ring! 

Many vistors at Kabeltrommlen. Foto: Simon S. Christiansen

Today’s migration count was interesting in a different way. We (Knud, Cora, Jule and I) all set off for the Worlds End 3 dune with high hopes (especially Knud, who, in his enthusiasm, arrived a bit earlier than the rest of us and even overtook Jule on the way). Why were our hopes so high today? As you might have read from previous blogs , we’ve been experiencing a prolonged period of strong westerly winds, which are now almost completely dying down today. This is ideal for spotting birds such as shearwaters, which are blown into the Kattegat by the strong wind and then fly back out again when the wind drops. Unfortunately, neither Shearwaters (Skråpe) nor a single Skua (Kjove) made an appearance today. Nevertheless, we were able to pass the time by observing a few migrating Waders (Vadefugl) and Fulmars (Mallemuk).

Today it is Moritz’s last day at the station. To round off his stay in Skagen we decided to enjoy the view over the whole Skagen area from the lighthouse. 

View from the Lighthouse. Foto by Mio Brix

Afterwards, we headed to Kap Gadagung to look for some raptors. We enjoyed the view up there and were able to see a 1K Goshawk (Duehøg), as well as some overflying Greenshanks (Hvidklire) and Bar-tailed Godwits (Lille Kobbersneppe).

On our way back across Reservatet, we spotted around 18 Whinchats (Bynkefugl) and 6 Wheatears (Stenpikker).

Meanwhile, Simon Sr and the guests from Oldenburg had been at the transmitter in Reservattet to check if it still receive data from tagged birds, like the Kestrels (Tårnfalk), which were tagged the last years around Skagen

Checking transmitter. Foto by Simon S. Christiansen

In the evening, we set up two nets at Grenen Parking to catch White Wagtails (Hvid Vipstjert). While the nets were being set and we enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Simon, a total of 10 White Wagtails were caught in the nets!

We are hoping that we can continue this catching success in the next episode of night-catching Storm-Petrels (Stormsvale) and Nightjars (Natravn). Find out how it went in our next blog post!

Highlights from the observations:

Goshawk (Duehøg)-1

Whinchat (Bynkefugle)-18

Green Woodpecker (Grønspætte)-1

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Total: 22

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, Alma Wingård, Lisa Vergin, Simon S. Christiansen, Ole Jørgensen, Brigitte Jørgensen, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Kabel (+Igor), Laima Bagdonaité, Jule Koch, Thiemo Karwinkel, Hugo Bassuyaux, Sophie Booker, Emmeli Agerskov Claré, Páll Van Kjærbo.