closing rounds are the best rounds?

This day started, just like the days before, directly at midnight, when we were trying to catch Great Snipes (Tredækker) in fields in the south of Nordjylland. Unfortunately, we didn’t succeed, but it was still nice because we caught some Skylarks(Sanglærke) and also two Meadow Pipits. After this night came to an end, we all drove back to the station and then, more or less directly, started our daily morning task in the field at Kabeltrommlen or World’s End 3.

Ringing Skylarks (Sanglærke) at night

So Simon, Jule and Johanna went to Kabeltrommlen to do the ringing. In total, they didn’t catch many birds today, but in the last round, the closing round, they caught a Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade). That was a cool experience for all the ringers, and even Florian and Amira, who were here for the whole autumn season last year, went from World’s End 3 to Kabeltrommlen to see the bird. There is something special about the closing round during the last few weeks: On many ringing days, that was the round with the best bird. Like here with the shrike, but also before with a Whinchat (Bynkefugl), for example.

 Red-backed Shrike (Rødrygget Tornskade)

The morning count at World’s End 3, which Cora, Jan and I did, was quite good! We were also joined by Florian, Amira and later by Knud. We started directly with a young Little Gull (Dværgmåge), and during the count, some more appeared. The battle which bird/observation was the Highlight today is between a young intermediate-type Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove) and a migrating Cuckoo (Gøg), which was comming form the sea. And again, the Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove) was nice to compare it with a young light-morph Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove), which just passed over the swimming Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove). So, all in all, it was a nice morning with some good birds!

Apart from good birds, good numbers are also very exciting! Today, we counted over 1400 Herring Gulls (Sølvmåge), which was way more than on the days before!

After napping for quite a long time, we had a nice dinner prepared by Cora, who made summer rolls today! They were very delicious!

After dinner, we went out to Grenen for evening observations. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really much happening, but we got some good views of a young Arctic Skua and Fulmars (Mallemuk).

And with that, another awesome day at Skagen Fuglestation came to an end. Let’s see what the next days will bring! 

Highlights from the observations:

Long-tailed Skua (Lille Kjove)-1

Little Gull (Dværgmåge)-6

Cuckoo (Gøg)-1

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Reed Bunting (Rørspurv) - 1
Bullfinch (Dompap, Lille) - 1
Redstart (Rødstjert) - 2
Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) - 1
Reed Warbler (Rørsanger) - 1
Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger) - 1
Red-backed Shirke (Rødrygget Tornskade) - 1
Total: 8

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

People: Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Jule Tappe, Simon Kiesé, Johanna Ventjeer, Magnus Houen Lauritsen, Simon S. Christiansen, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, Jan Hjort Christensen, Kristine Kleffel.